Allow an empty input recipe to the RTDE client

doc/architecture/rtde_client.rst

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ client. To use the RTDE-Client, you'll have to initialize and start it separatel
 
 .. code-block:: c++
 
-   rtde_interface::RTDEClient my_client(ROBOT_IP, notifier, OUTPUT_RECIPE, INPUT_RECIPE);
+   rtde_interface::RTDEClient my_client(ROBOT_IP, notifier, OUTPUT_RECIPE_FILE, INPUT_RECIPE_FILE);
    my_client.init();
    my_client.start();
    while (true)
@@ -28,6 +28,20 @@ outputs. Please refer to the `RTDE
 guide <https://www.universal-robots.com/articles/ur-articles/real-time-data-exchange-rtde-guide/>`_
 on which elements are available.
 
+.. note::
+
+   The recipes can be either passed as a filename or as a list of strings directly. E.g. the
+   following will work
+
+   .. code-block:: c++
+
+      rtde_interface::RTDEClient my_client(
+        ROBOT_IP,
+        notifier,
+        {"timestamp", "actual_q"},
+        {"speed_slider_mask", "speed_slider_fraction"}
+      );
+
 Inside the ``RTDEclient`` data is received in a separate thread, parsed by the ``RTDEParser`` and
 added to a pipeline queue.
 
@@ -56,6 +70,29 @@ sure to
    frequency, please use the ``resetRTDEClient()`` method after the ``UrDriver`` object has been
    created.
 
+Read-Only RTDEClient
+--------------------
+
+While RTDE allows multiple clients to connect to the same robot, only one client is allowed to
+write data to the robot. To create a read-only RTDE client, the ``RTDEClient`` can be created with
+an empty input recipe, like this:
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+   rtde_interface::RTDEClient my_client(ROBOT_IP, notifier, OUTPUT_RECIPE, {});
+   // Alternatively, pass an empty filename when using recipe files
+   // rtde_interface::RTDEClient my_client(ROBOT_IP, notifier, OUTPUT_RECIPE_FILE, "");
+   my_client.init();
+   my_client.start();
+   while (true)
+   {
+     std::unique_ptr<rtde_interface::DataPackage> data_pkg = my_client.getDataPackage(READ_TIMEOUT);
+     if (data_pkg)
+     {
+       std::cout << data_pkg->toString() << std::endl;
+     }
+   }
+
 RTDEWriter
 ----------
 
@@ -66,3 +103,8 @@ The class offers specific methods for every RTDE input possible to write.
 
 Data is sent asynchronously to the RTDE interface.
 
+.. note::
+
+   The ``RTDEWriter`` will return ``false`` on any writing attempts for fields that have not been
+   setup in the ``INPUT_RECIPE``. When no input recipe was provided, all write operations will
+   return ``false``.

include/ur_client_library/rtde/data_package.h

@@ -71,6 +71,22 @@ class DataPackage : public RTDEPackage
     this->protocol_version_ = other.protocol_version_;
   }
 
+  DataPackage& operator=(DataPackage& other)
+  {
+    this->data_ = other.data_;
+    this->recipe_ = other.recipe_;
+    this->protocol_version_ = other.protocol_version_;
+    return *this;
+  }
+
+  DataPackage operator=(const DataPackage& other)
+  {
+    this->data_ = other.data_;
+    this->recipe_ = other.recipe_;
+    this->protocol_version_ = other.protocol_version_;
+    return *this;
+  }
+
   /*!
    * \brief Creates a new DataPackage object, based on a given recipe.
    *
@@ -82,6 +98,7 @@ class DataPackage : public RTDEPackage
     : RTDEPackage(PackageType::RTDE_DATA_PACKAGE), recipe_(recipe), protocol_version_(protocol_version)
   {
   }
+
   virtual ~DataPackage() = default;
 
   /*!

include/ur_client_library/rtde/rtde_writer.h

@@ -67,6 +67,15 @@ class RTDEWriter
       writer_thread_.join();
     }
   }
+
+  /*!
+   * \brief Sets a new input recipe. This can be used to change the input recipe on the fly, if
+   * needed.
+   *
+   * \param recipe The new recipe to use
+   */
+  void setInputRecipe(const std::vector<std::string>& recipe);
+
   /*!
    * \brief Starts the writer thread, which periodically clears the queue to write packages to the
    * robot.
@@ -162,7 +171,7 @@ class RTDEWriter
   uint8_t pinToMask(uint8_t pin);
   comm::URStream<RTDEPackage>* stream_;
   std::vector<std::string> recipe_;
-  uint8_t recipe_id_;
+  uint8_t recipe_id_ = 0;
   moodycamel::BlockingReaderWriterQueue<std::unique_ptr<DataPackage>> queue_;
   std::thread writer_thread_;
   bool running_;

src/rtde/rtde_client.cpp

@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ RTDEClient::RTDEClient(std::string robot_ip, comm::INotifier& notifier, const st
   : stream_(robot_ip, UR_RTDE_PORT)
   , output_recipe_(ensureTimestampIsPresent(readRecipe(output_recipe_file)))
   , ignore_unavailable_outputs_(ignore_unavailable_outputs)
-  , input_recipe_(readRecipe(input_recipe_file))
   , parser_(output_recipe_)
   , prod_(std::make_unique<comm::URProducer<RTDEPackage>>(stream_, parser_))
   , notifier_(notifier)
@@ -51,6 +50,11 @@ RTDEClient::RTDEClient(std::string robot_ip, comm::INotifier& notifier, const st
   , target_frequency_(target_frequency)
   , client_state_(ClientState::UNINITIALIZED)
 {
+  if (!input_recipe_file.empty())
+  {
+    input_recipe_ = readRecipe(input_recipe_file);
+    writer_.setInputRecipe(input_recipe_);
+  }
 }
 
 RTDEClient::RTDEClient(std::string robot_ip, comm::INotifier& notifier, const std::vector<std::string>& output_recipe,
@@ -169,9 +173,12 @@ void RTDEClient::setupCommunication(const size_t max_num_tries, const std::chron
     return;
   }
 
-  setupInputs();
-  if (client_state_ == ClientState::UNINITIALIZED)
-    return;
+  if (input_recipe_.size() > 0)
+  {
+    setupInputs();
+    if (client_state_ == ClientState::UNINITIALIZED)
+      return;
+  }
 
   // We finished communication for now
   pipeline_->stop();

src/rtde/rtde_writer.cpp

@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ RTDEWriter::RTDEWriter(comm::URStream<RTDEPackage>* stream, const std::vector<st
 {
 }
 
+void RTDEWriter::setInputRecipe(const std::vector<std::string>& recipe)
+{
+  std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(package_mutex_);
+  recipe_ = recipe;
+  package_ = DataPackage(recipe_);
+  package_.initEmpty();
+}
+
 void RTDEWriter::init(uint8_t recipe_id)
 {
   recipe_id_ = recipe_id;

tests/test_rtde_client.cpp

@@ -120,9 +120,12 @@ TEST_F(RTDEClientTest, no_recipe)
       UrException);
 
   // Only input recipe is unconfigured
-  EXPECT_THROW(
-      client_.reset(new rtde_interface::RTDEClient(g_ROBOT_IP, notifier_, output_recipe_file_, input_recipe_file)),
-      UrException);
+  EXPECT_NO_THROW(
+      client_.reset(new rtde_interface::RTDEClient(g_ROBOT_IP, notifier_, output_recipe_file_, input_recipe_file)));
+
+  EXPECT_THROW(client_.reset(new rtde_interface::RTDEClient(g_ROBOT_IP, notifier_, output_recipe_file_,
+                                                            "/i/do/not/exist/urclrtdetest.txt")),
+               UrException);
 }
 
 TEST_F(RTDEClientTest, empty_recipe_file)
@@ -413,6 +416,48 @@ TEST_F(RTDEClientTest, check_unknown_rtde_output_variable)
   EXPECT_THROW(client_->init(), UrException);
 }
 
+TEST_F(RTDEClientTest, empty_input_recipe)
+{
+  std::vector<std::string> empty_input_recipe = {};
+  client_.reset(new rtde_interface::RTDEClient(g_ROBOT_IP, notifier_, resources_output_recipe_, empty_input_recipe));
+  client_->init();
+  client_->start();
+
+  // Test that we can receive and parse the timestamp from the received package to prove the setup was successful
+  const std::chrono::milliseconds read_timeout{ 100 };
+  std::unique_ptr<rtde_interface::DataPackage> data_pkg = client_->getDataPackage(read_timeout);
+
+  if (data_pkg == nullptr)
+  {
+    std::cout << "Failed to get data package from robot" << std::endl;
+    GTEST_FAIL();
+  }
+
+  double timestamp;
+  EXPECT_TRUE(data_pkg->getData("timestamp", timestamp));
+
+  EXPECT_FALSE(client_->getWriter().sendStandardDigitalOutput(1, false));
+
+  client_->pause();
+
+  client_.reset(new rtde_interface::RTDEClient(g_ROBOT_IP, notifier_, output_recipe_file_, ""));
+  client_->init();
+  client_->start();
+
+  data_pkg = client_->getDataPackage(read_timeout);
+
+  if (data_pkg == nullptr)
+  {
+    std::cout << "Failed to get data package from robot" << std::endl;
+    GTEST_FAIL();
+  }
+  EXPECT_TRUE(data_pkg->getData("timestamp", timestamp));
+
+  EXPECT_FALSE(client_->getWriter().sendStandardDigitalOutput(1, false));
+
+  client_->pause();
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
   ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);