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jacopo-r avatar image
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jacopo-r asked jacopo-r commented

How to customize the loading of an item?

Hi,

I am using a BasicTE (looking as a reach stacker) for picking up a container.

Is there a way for making the stacker stopping at the right position and not going into the container for the loading task (see pic1)? Is there a way to access and change the object's point on which the loading takes place (see pic2)? I would like it to happen where the gripper is.

Thanks!pic1.pngpic2.png

FlexSim 22.2.2
taskexecutorloadingcustom loading
pic1.png (128.5 KiB)
pic2.png (124.8 KiB)
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Joerg Vogel avatar image Joerg Vogel commented ·
There are events and triggers of events with a part in their name containing "offset". Some of them dealing with actions at the end of offset travel and start loading.
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jacopo-r avatar image jacopo-r Joerg Vogel commented ·
@Joerg Vogel I tried to play around with those but they didn't actually work. I guess I'll give it another try then. And also thanks for the link below
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Jason Lightfoot avatar image Jason Lightfoot ♦♦ jacopo-r commented ·
The triggers will fire when you give the BasicTE and offset travel task such as load, unload or travelToLoc
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Joerg Vogel avatar image Joerg Vogel commented ·

@jacopo_r, If your project is more related to port infrastructure, then you can look at

https://www.flexsim.com/flexsim-ct/ to evaluate this external software product.


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jacopo-r avatar image jacopo-r commented ·

Hi @Joerg Vogel , I just saw here (https://answers.flexsim.com/questions/41686/how-can-i-create-my-own-transporter-as-uav-what-is.html) that you wrote an answer mentioning the moving of an item to a draw surrogate. For this model I am trying to do that, but I cannot figure it out. Is there a specific function or something?

The tree node for the stacker is: Stacker --> Crane arm --> gripper --> Surrogate (for a container). So I have a surrogate container in the animation view that is position correctly according to the gripper. My idea is that if I manage to load the item into the surrogate, then it will move accordingly with the arm and the gripper when I lift the arm for driving the stacker. Do you think it will work or is there any flaw in my thinking?
Thanks

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Joerg Vogel avatar image Joerg Vogel jacopo-r commented ·

Try the mentioned tutorials:

https://answers.flexsim.com/answers/112282/view.html

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jacopo-r avatar image jacopo-r Joerg Vogel commented ·
ok, I'll do that, thanks
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1 Answer

Jason Lightfoot avatar image
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Jason Lightfoot answered jacopo-r commented

Yes you should use the OnBeginOffset, OnUpdateOffset andOnFinishOffset triggers to add, update and end kinematics of the BasicTE such that the gripper is moved over the item.

You'll need to find the gripper location for this and to position the item correctly. An easy way to do that is, with the item load in the BasicTE, move the item to the correct location and record that location as the gripper position.

Once you have something looking roughly working, post back with more questions if you need further clarification.


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jacopo-r avatar image jacopo-r commented ·

@Jason Lightfoot , I actually came across another issue while trying to implement your suggestion.

The "On Begin Offset" and "On Finish Offset" events do not fire. In the model I am working on, I am using the AGV Network for driving around the BasicTE and the events never fire.
I've built a small example model (see attached) in which I tried to further study this behavior. Listed below are the analyzed cases.

Withouth AGV network:

- Setting on BasicTE: DefaultNavigator; Travel offsets for load/unload tasks --> the "On Begin Offset" and "On Finish Offset" events fire, but the TE does not do offset travel.

- Setting on BasicTE: DefaultNavigator; use navigator for offset travel --> the TE does offset travel, but the events do not fire.

With AGV network:

- Setting on BasicTE: AGVNetwork as Navigator; Travel offsets for load/unload tasks --> the "On Begin Offset" and "On Finish Offset" events do not fire and the TE does not do offset travel.

- Setting on BasicTE: AGVNetwork as Navigator; use navigator for offset travel --> the TE (partially) does offset travel, but the events do not fire.


As a note, for AGV network I created a trigger event as explained in the "Adding AGV offset travel" guide in the manual.


Can you please help me in understanding what's wrong in what I am doing?

Thanks in advance

TravelOffsetTrigger.fsm

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traveloffsettrigger.fsm (61.3 KiB)
Jason Lightfoot avatar image Jason Lightfoot ♦♦ jacopo-r commented ·
Up until very recently AGVs would never do any offset travel - it was not a supported feature and from your description it wasn't obvious that you would choose the AGV navigator for your solution - especially using the basicTE.

Why are you using AGVs for the reach stacker? What movement are you trying to create?


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jacopo-r avatar image jacopo-r Jason Lightfoot ♦♦ commented ·
I thought of using the AGV network in order to limit the movement of stackers and trucks to only the roads within a port. I personally have more experience with the AGV network than with the "old" travel network, that's also a reason why I picked it. If I drive the stacker without the AGV network it will just follow the shortest route, but again, maybe it's something for which the travel network might be more fitting.

So, any suggestion on what to use considering that the idea is to create a model for a port where there are stackers, trucks, cranes and a train? I guess the AGV network would work well for a train.

Anyway, could you explain the behavior I described in the previous message? If I replace the BasicTE with an AGV (in the AGV network case), it behaves in the same way by doing a "partial" offset travel, and no events triggered.

Thanks

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