Optoforce Driver Description

The current version of the library is built on the top of the official library of the manufacturer (see here)

This version of the driver allows to manage more than one OptoForce device together.

The access to the devices is done in 2 steps:

• all connected devices are first found.
• any connected devices an then be accessed to get the forces measured

The class OptoforceApplication is proposed for applications looking for a basic recording of forces.

Examples of uses can be found in the directory examples.

Main developers so far: Asier Fernandez, Anthony Remazeilles

Devices configuration under Linux

• Add privileges for the user to "dialout" group

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout user_name

• Change permission to usb port.
  • Create next file

$ sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/72-OptoForce.rules

• Copy his content

ATTR{idVendor}=="04d8", ATTR{idProduct}=="000a", MODE="0666", GROUP="dialout"

Get and build the code

This package is a cmake project. Follow instrunctions bellow to build the project

# prepare workspace
cd to_you_workspace
mkdir build
mkdir src
cd src

# clone project
git clone https://github.com/tecnalia-medical-robotics/optoforce.git

# change directory to the build directory
cd ../build

# generate Makefiles
cmake ../src/optoforce

# build
make

Basic usage

As an exmple, run the following example

# change directory to build/optoforce. Next command assumens current directory is build
cd optoforce

# launch example. Before launching, be sure only 1 optoforce device is connected
./bin_array_opto_force 1

Gnuplot

If it is desired to visualize recorded data with gnuplot, follow instructions bellow:

# Set column separator
set datafile separator ";"

# Set ranges. set autoscale(default)
set xrange [1:10]
set yrange [1:100]

# Set labels
set title 'Measured Force'      # plot title
set xlabel 'Time'               # x-axis label
set ylabel 'Force'              # y-axis label

# Plot data. For example 3 Force axis
plot 'filename.csv' using 1:2 with lines title "Fx", 'filename.csv' using 1:3 with lines title "Fz", 'filename.csv' using 1:4 with lines title "Fz" 

Related Projetcs

ETH Zurich ASL: OptoForce driver