AICA Core v4.4.0

[eeberhard]

Version 4.4.0 of AICA Core continues to improve the usability of AICA Studio with more advanced interactive capabilities in the 3D viewer, improved trajectory controllers and better documentation of core components.

AICA Studio

This version of Studio makes significant improvements to the 3D viewer with the addition of interactive application frames at run-time, support for dynamic robot reference frames and better creation and recording of frames and joint positions. This version also includes other quality of life improvements and fixes to the UI for displaying time formats, descriptions and elements such as the toggle buttons.

Features

• Revamp display format for timestamps across the app
• Update to application schema 2-0-4
• Support live interactive frames at runtime
• Support dynamic robot reference frames
• Add frame creator and joint positions recorder to 3D settings menu
• Add option to hide frames in the 3D view with persistent state
• Show component details field in parameter view

Fixes

• Set the correct core version in new applications
• Fix the layout of the table in the live topic visualizer
• Expand categories when searching for components
• Update input array modal for int arrays
• Prevent crashes with missing hardware and controllers in the 3D view
• Properly check signal compatibility for signals with non-standard message types
• Validate frame and joint position names in 3d view recorder
• Update toggle button style for better clarity

Event Engine

The Event Engine has a minor update to support application schema 2-0-5 with null parameter values and more permissive frame and parameter names. It also includes better lifecycle management of hardware interfaces and a safety improvement in database interaction.

API Server

This release upgrades the capabilities of the rosbridge to allow publishing frames to /tf and /tf_static from Studio, enabling interactive application frames. The API also now allows null values for parameters to "unset" their values.

Core Collection

This minor update adds the CartesianInversion component to invert a Cartesian signal and the SignalCircularAttractor component to generate a circular motion. It also adds a gain parameter to the SignalJointPointAttractor component, equivalent to the SignalPointAttractor.

For core controllers, this update improves the joint trajectory controller with blending options, better predicate handling and the option to generate a trajectory from waypoints in joint space. It also contains a fix that ensures that Cartesian waypoints are looked up with respect to the robot base frame.

Additionally, all component and controller descriptions have been revised with a focus on better formulation and clarity.