JobMonitor Application - ResgreenGroup/Botway-Documentation GitHub Wiki

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Summary

The JobMonitor Application is an accessory for BotWay that is to be used to manage staging areas. Many stations can be placed close together to create an area that facilitates staged job completion. The Job Monitor contains an array of buttons that each change job status at a particular station. Each button on the job monitor must be paired with a button command of the type "Job Status" in BotWay's "Buttons" dialogue window. The JobMonitor also includes a condensed display of the job queue and allows users to manually redirect jobs to particular robots in the staging area instead of having the first robot that reaches a station taking the job. The JobMonitor is used to expedite tasks that rely on coordination between humans and robots where the robot needs to wait for input from humans to start or complete a job.

Setting up Job Monitor

The Job Monitor is a separate feature not included with purchase of just BotWay. To work, the jobMonitor.jar file and jobMonitor.properties must be in the BotWay folder.

Characteristics of the Job Monitor can only be modified in the jobMonitor.xml file. The user can modify the number of buttons displayed, the position of each button, the text displayed on each button, and which tag each button is associated with. The Job Monitor is set up as a grid with the top left corner of the display being set as x = 0, y = 0. Positive x is to the right and positive y is down. Locations are specified by integers; 0,0 is the top left, 1,0 is right next to it, 1,1 is below 1,0, 3,1 is two spaces to the right of 1,1 and there is a gap between the two buttons.

Each button created in the jobMonitor.xml file must have an associated Job Status change button in BotWay's button editor. When configuring the Job Status Change button in BotWay, the button type must be set to "Job Status" and the Device ID must be set to whatever the Job Monitor is called in the clientData.xml folder. The number is associated with the position of the button in JobMonitor; button number 1 is the top left, button number 10 is the top right, button 11 is the first entry in the second row, button 20 is the last entry in the second row, and so on.

Using the Job Monitor

The job monitor displays information regarding the distribution status of jobs to any stations associated with the job monitor. It also displays a condensed version of the job queue display. Each button displays the tag associated with it, the last completed job, the current job in progress, the time since the job was taken, and the job status. When the station associated with a button is empty, then the button in the job monitor will be grey and display the "Requesting" status. When a robot arrives at a station and accepts a job that was staged, the button associated with that station will turn yellow and a timer will begin counting upwards on the bottom of the button. When the value of the timer exceeds the "Stage Time Limit" for the job, the button will turn red, indicating that a robot has been waiting an unacceptable amount of time before receiving a "Release" command. Each button tracks a single robot performing a single job to completion, then turns grey and displays "Requesting" again.

The job queue on the right side of the job monitor can not be interacted with in the same manner as if the user was in BotWay itself; it is just a convenient display to show how many jobs there are in each queue before a robot suddenly takes one. The user can manually reassign jobs between robots in the staging area managed by the job monitor by selecting one button, then another button, then clicking the "Reassign" button underneath the job queue. This transfers staged jobs between robots that are waiting for release signals.