Set up real-time connections

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We're developing a new teleoperation experience

This document refers to experimental teleoperation functionality. For more information on these features, reach out to us.

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

  1. In Formant, in the upper-left corner, open the menu and click on the device you want to configure.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click the three dots >> Configure device.
  3. 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.

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Connection field

For all real-time connections, the Connection field is the user-friendly label for that particular connection.

The following connections can be made:

Real-time connectionDescriptionAvailable connection types
Video/imageImage or video stream with optional encoding.

See below for a description of video encoding settings.
API, ROS topic, hardware
TwistFor joystick control.API, ROS topic
Boolean to deviceFor button control from teleoperation UI to device.API, ROS topic
BitsetReal-time bitset stream.API
NumericReal-time numeric stream.API, ROS topic
JSON stringReal-time JSON stream.API
Text from deviceReal-time text stream from your device to the teleoperation interface.API, ROS topic
Text to deviceReal-time text stream from the teleoperation interface to your device.API, ROS topic
MapNot currently used.API, ROS topic
LocationReal-time GPS stream.API, ROS topic
Numeric setReal-time numeric set stream.API

Video encoding settings

The following properites are available for configuration for image and video streams:

PropertyDescription
ROS versionThe 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.
BitrateDesired bitrate of your video stream. If left blank, the agent will automatically determine the ideal bitrate for the selected video quality.
Disable adaptive qualityIf disabled, Formant will keep the video quality consistent throughout poor network conditions.
Clock OverlayIf set to YES, Formant will overlay a clock in the lower-right corner of your video stream.

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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.

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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].