Set up real-time connections
Teleoperation and real-time displays and controls are driven by real-time connections with your device. Before you can design a functional real-time or teleoperation interface, you'll have to configure these connections.
This guide will teach you how to configure real-time connections with your device for real-time observability and teleoperation.
Prerequisite: Create a device
Before you can configure a device's real-time connections, you must first add it to Formant. For more information, see Create a device.
Step 1: Navigate to real-time connections settings
- In Formant, in the upper-left corner, open the menu and click on the device you want to configure.
- In the upper-right corner, click the three dots >> Configure device.
- Click on the Real-time Connections tab.
Step 2: Set up real-time connections
Add real-time connections to the data sources you want to receive from, or send to, your robot.
ConnectionfieldFor all real-time connections, the
Connectionfield is the user-friendly label for that particular connection.
The following connections can be made:
| Real-time connection | Description | Available connection types |
|---|---|---|
| Video/image | Image or video stream with optional encoding. See below for a description of video encoding settings. | API, ROS topic, hardware |
| Twist | For joystick control. | API, ROS topic |
| Boolean to device | For button control from teleoperation UI to device. | API, ROS topic |
| Bitset | Real-time bitset stream. | API |
| Numeric | Real-time numeric stream. | API, ROS topic |
| JSON string | Real-time JSON stream. | API |
| Text from device | Real-time text stream from your device to the teleoperation interface. | API, ROS topic |
| Text to device | Real-time text stream from the teleoperation interface to your device. | API, ROS topic |
| Map | Not currently used. | API, ROS topic |
| Location | Real-time GPS stream. | API, ROS topic |
| Numeric set | Real-time numeric set stream. | API |
Video encoding settings
The following properites are available for configuration for image and video streams:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| ROS version | The ROS version of the node publishing the topic. |
Enable encoding (CompressedImage topics only) | If set to YES, Formant will encode the incoming image stream to H.264. Image streams are encoded to H.264 by default. |
| Video quality (encoded streams only) | Choose the resolution of the encoded video stream. Higher video quality will use more data. |
| Bitrate | Desired bitrate of your video stream. If left blank, the agent will automatically determine the ideal bitrate for the selected video quality. |
| Disable adaptive quality | If disabled, Formant will keep the video quality consistent throughout poor network conditions. |
| Clock Overlay | If set to YES, Formant will overlay a clock in the lower-right corner of your video stream. |
Video encoding in detail
For a deeper dive on video encoding, and a discussion of the relationship between bitrate, quality, and performance, see Video encoding with the Formant agent.
Once you've configured your real-time connections, click Save to apply your changes.
If you notice an issue with this page or need help, please reach out to us! Use the 'Did this page help you?' buttons below, or get in contact with our Customer Success team via the Intercom messenger in the bottom-right corner of this page, or at [email protected].
Updated 8 days ago