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Motion Studio

Motion Studio is the operator UI for manipulators. The manipulator controller node, sodero.mmc.<name>, runs the arm's real-time controller: kinematics, dynamics, trajectory generation and safety limits, from the arm's .sdd document. Motion Studio belongs to that node. It shows the arm in 3D, jogs it, defines tools and teaches poses.


1. Set Up the Nodes

  1. In the Station's Store, install sodero.actuator_gateway and sodero.mmc (Apps and Packages).
  2. Add the gateway and the manipulator controller, and connect the controller's servo_link to the gateway (Build the Graph).
  3. Upload the gateway's .gw and the controller's .sdd document (Documents and Settings).
  4. Set the gateway's Robot name and check the actuator mapping (Connect to the World).
  5. Run the World, go live, then start the gateway and the controller, in this order (Start and Monitor Nodes).

2. Open Motion Studio

On the Live page, right-click the running sodero.mmc.<name> node and choose Open … (Start and Monitor Nodes). Motion Studio opens in a new tab. If its session expires, open it again from the node.


3. Screen Layout

Item Description
Pages Home, Tool and Pose
3D view The arm in its current pose, with the 3D model of its .sdd
Joint Status Per joint: position, target position, velocity, target velocity, effort and residual effort
TCP Status Position and orientation of the tool center point (TCP), and its linear and angular velocity
Active Tool Status The active tool's TCP offset, center of mass and payload mass
Filters Shows or hides the cards of the Home page
Item Description
Robot and role The controller node, and whether this window has control (Pilot - Control Active)
Manual / Auto Manual limits the linear speed of the TCP in the controller's own motions and jogs, 0.25 m/s by default; it does not limit rotations or Hand mode. Auto runs at the programmed speed.
Feed rate Speed override in percent (10–150 %), applied to motion in progress
Error Reset Clears a protective stop (a joint at its limit, a speed or torque limit, a detected collision) and resets drive faults. Switch the servo on again afterwards.
Units mm / g / deg or m / kg / radian
Jog Opens the jog panel
Command log Commands sent from this window
Alarm Active alarms and notifications

The mark at the top left opens the menu, with File to import and export tools and poses.


4. Jog the Arm

Click Jog in the header to open the jog panel.

  1. Switch Servo On.
  2. In JOG OPTION, choose the Mode:
    • Joint: move one joint at a time (J1…Jn).
    • Base: move the tool in the robot's base frame (X, Y, Z, RX, RY, RZ).
    • Tool: move the tool in its own frame.
    • Hand: hand guiding, for a real arm. The arm compensates gravity and the jog buttons are disabled.
  3. Choose Continuous (moves while you hold a button) or Step (5° or 10 mm per click), and the Speed: 50 %, 100 % or 150 %, about 0.04, 0.1 and 0.2 m/s at the tool.
  4. Hold − or + next to a joint or axis in JOG CONTROL. The motion stops when you release the button.

The POSE section of the panel shows the current TCP pose and joint positions.

Stop the motion before you leave the UI. A continuous jog stops when the release of the button reaches the controller. If the browser or the connection fails while you jog, do not assume that the arm has stopped: stop the controller node in the Station and check in Theater that the arm stands still. For a real arm, see Stop Controls in the Stellar X manual.


5. Tools

The Tool page defines the tools mounted on the flange.

  1. Click + to add a tool, and rename it with the pencil icon, for example gripper.
  2. Enter the TOOL CENTER POINT: the TCP position and orientation relative to the flange. The calculator icon opens TCP Calibration, which computes the TCP from 3–10 poses that touch the same point.
  3. Enter the PAYLOAD PROPERTIES: center of mass, inertia and mass. The calculator icon opens Payload Calibration.
  4. Click Save, or Save and Apply to make it the active tool at once. Set as active tool activates a saved tool.

A wrong payload makes hand guiding and collision detection unreliable. Set the mass and center of mass of every tool you mount.


6. Poses

The Pose page stores named poses.

  1. Jog the arm to the pose, then click the camera icon (Save Current Pose). Or click + (Add pose) and fill in the values.
  2. Select the pose in the list. POSE DATA shows its TCP pose and joint positions; Set from current copies the current pose into it.
  3. Under TEST MOVE, choose Joint or Linear motion and hold Hold to move. The arm moves to the pose only while you hold the button.
  4. Click Save.

Saved poses appear as markers in the 3D view. Right-click a pose to copy, duplicate or delete it. File in the menu exports and imports tools and poses.


7. Program the Arm

Motion Studio is for setup and teaching. Programs run outside it and use the same controller:

From How
AI agents The station.motion tools: state, servo, moves, stops and fault reset (AI Agents)
Your own module A module node on the Station, connected to the manipulator controller node (Apps and Packages)
Your own tools The Station API, through the Project VPN

From simulation to a real arm. The arm's .sdd document, its tools and poses, and your programs carry over to a real arm on Stellar X, which uses an EtherCAT gateway instead of the simulation gateway. A real arm needs its own checks first: see Motion Studio in the Stellar X manual.