Tools

Tools is the part of the Lab that is not a lesson: small applications that each do one thing to a robot. Use them when you are setting an arm up, checking a fault, or working on something of your own.

Tools: the built-in path recorder and the plugin catalogue, searchable.

Some tools are installable — they add a capability other tools then build on, like OpenCV or the ArUco detector. Those show an Installed badge instead of opening a page.

Record paths

The one tool built into the app. Tools → Record paths, or /paths.

A recorded path: the 3D view on the left shows the waypoints, the table on the right lists each point.

A path is a list of motor positions. You add points by posing the arm and pressing Add point, which reads the live positions, and you get back a sequence you can replay.

New path	Start an empty one
Add point	Capture the arm's current pose
Raw / Angles	Show encoder counts or degrees
Loop	Replay continuously
Play in simulator	Run it on the 3D model only
Play on robot	Run it for real — a safety confirmation comes first
Add camera	Attach a camera view to the recording
Create movie	Record the 3D canvas to a video file
Share	Copy a link to the path
Duplicate, Export, Import, Delete	Housekeeping

Paths are public by default, which is what makes Share work — anyone with the link can watch the path. Keep that in mind before recording something you would rather keep.

Signing in is required.

The tool catalogue

These are plugins, loaded when you open them.

Tool	What it does
Set motor IDs	Assigns 1–6 to the motors on the bus, one at a time. The tool to reach for when the connection dialog reports Not configured.
Calibrate motors	Puts every joint at home and writes the offsets into the servos.
Calibrate robot	Records each joint's full travel, so the software limits match your machine.
Control robot	On-screen sliders for each joint. The quickest way to check a repair.
Force sensor	Live force readings from the gripper sensor.
Teleoperate	Mirrors a leader arm onto a follower in real time, optionally with a camera feed for a first-person view.
ArUco detector	Real marker detection in a camera feed, exposed to other tools. Installable; needs OpenCV.
Camera calibration	Solves the wrist camera's lens from a printed checkerboard.
OpenCV	Loads OpenCV and offers computer vision to other tools. Installable.
MCP bridge	Exposes the robot and the workspace to an AI assistant through the WebMCP API. Installable.

The list in the app is searchable and paginated; what you see depends on what has been published, so treat the table above as the shape of the catalogue rather than a fixed inventory.

Bringing your own

Two ways.

Load locally takes a packaged plugin file and runs it from your own browser — nothing is uploaded, nothing is shared, and it stays on that machine. Good for developing, and for a tool you only want yourself.

Submit for review sends a plugin to Robonine to be looked at and, if it fits, published in the catalogue.

The interface a plugin talks to is documented in the plugin SDK.

Tools move the arm for real

A tool is not a lesson: it will not hold your hand. Anything that commands motion shows the safety confirmation first — Area is clear — let me try! — and means it. Keep the emergency stop within reach.