Defining Nodes – Node Templates

MOV.AI Flow™ provides a rich variety of nodes from which you can select in order to define the flow that determines robot behavior. These nodes are provided as node templates, which you can instantiate into your flow by dragging and dropping them. Each node provided by MOV.AI Flow™ in the left pane acts as a template that is instantiated in the flow when it is dropped there. As soon as you drop it into the flow diagram, a popup appears for naming this node instance.

You can modify the parameters of a node in a flow. Alternatively, you can perform a wide variety of configurations on a node’s template.

When a node template is modified, all the node instances of that node template automatically inherit those changes. If a node has already been instantiated in a flow, and its parameters have been modified for that flow, then they are not overwritten. Otherwise, they are.

To edit a node template –

Double-click on the node in the flow to display the node template’s settings. The following displays –

For example, you can then expand the I/O Configuration section to configure it, as shown below –

Note – A single click (instead of a double-click, as described above) on a node in a flow diagram displays its properties in the pane on the right.

The Description option at the top of this page shows the description of the node, which you can edit.

The top right of this page shows the type of node. For example, ROS1/Node. The type of a node is automatically set according to the IO Configuration that you define.

Each of the sections for editing a node’s template is described here –

• I/O Configuration, as described in IO Configuration.
• Execution Parameters, as described in Execution Parameters
• Parameters, as described in Parameters
• Environment Variables, as described in Environment Variables
• Command Line, as described in Command Line

Another method of editing a node’s template is to –

1. Display the Explorer on the left by clicking the Explorer button.
2. Expand the Nodes branch to list all the existing node templates in MOV.AI.
3. Click on one of the Node templates to edit it. The following displays –

To create a new node template –

1. Launch MOV.AI Flow, as described in Launching MOV.AI Flow™ or click the Home button to return to the MOV.AI Flow home page.

2. Click the Create New Document button in the top left corner, as shown above. The following menu displays –

3. Select the Node option. The following displays showing an empty node editor –

4. Follow the instructions in each of these sections to define the node’s template –

• I/O Configuration, as described in IO Configuration.
• Execution Parameters, as described in Execution Parameters
• Parameters, as described in Parameters
• Environment Variables, as described in Environment Variables
• Command Line, as described in Command Line

Note – To clone/clone an existing node, hover over the node to be cloned and click the ellipse option, as shown below