Flow Config
Open Flow Config with the ⚙ button in the action bar of the Flow Editor. The button is disabled until the Flow has been saved once, because the settings are stored with the Flow.
The dialog has three tabs.
Flow Configuration
The Flow's identity, plus one safety interlock.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Flow Name | The name shown in the Flow list and the Flow selector. Required — Flow Config will not close while it is empty. |
| Flow description | Free text. Use it for what the Flow is for, which fixture it expects, or anything the next person needs before pressing Run. |
| Prevent the Flow from running if Robot Configuration changes | Pins the Flow to the Robot's current hardware configuration. See Robot configuration check. |
The Robot Configuration Check toggle is reached from Flow Config, but it is a Robot-level setting, not part of this Flow. Turning it on records the Robot's current modules and blocks every Flow and Subflow from running once that configuration changes — not just the one you had open.
Environment File
A 3D model of the cell around the Robot — the table, the fence, the machine it tends — so the Robot Visualizer shows the Robot in its real surroundings instead of on an empty grid. It is loaded both by the docked visualizer beside the canvas and by the full Robot Visualizer view.
Upload one file per Flow, in .gltf, .glb, .obj or .stl. The tab above is the empty
state — once a file is uploaded its name replaces None, a Remove button appears, and two
more controls place the model relative to the Robot's base:
- Shift — position (X, Y, Z) and rotation (Rz, Ry, Rx). A model exported from CAD rarely has its origin where the Robot's base is, so this is where you line the two up.
- Scale — one factor for the whole model. Mostly needed when the model was exported in different units than the scene expects, so it arrives far too large or too small.
Remove clears the file and resets shift and scale.
The environment model is visual reference only. It is not collision geometry: the Robot will not avoid it, and no Node checks a movement against it. Use it to make poses easier to judge and to spot an obviously wrong trajectory — never as a guard. Real protection comes from Workspaces, RobSafety and torque overload detection.
Environment files are stored under their own filename, in one shared place on the Control Unit. Two Flows that upload a file with the same name end up sharing it — the second upload replaces the first. Give each cell model a distinct filename.
Home Position
A set of joint angles the Robot must be at before this Flow is allowed to start. It is off by default; the switch that turns it on sits in the tab list, next to Home Position — not on the tab itself, which reads "Home Position is disabled" until it is on.
When it is on:
- RobFlow compares the Robot's current joint angles against the stored ones before starting. Every joint has to be within 2° for the Robot to count as being at the Home Position.
- If they do not match, the Run and Debug buttons are replaced by a Move to Home button. Hold it and the Robot moves to the Home Position at 5% speed; once there, the normal Run controls come back.
See Safe home position for the concept and why it is worth setting.
Set the angles in one of three ways:
- Type them into the six Joint fields. Each is validated against that joint's limits, so the tab is marked invalid rather than storing an unreachable pose.
- Select a Joint Pose Variable with the selector at the top. One Variable carries the whole pose — it is not a per-joint choice — and while one is selected the six fields are filled from it and locked. Clear the selector to edit them by hand again.
- Jog the Robot into position and press Apply current Pose, which copies its current angles into the fields.
The small number under a field is that joint's deviation: the stored angle minus the Robot's current one, green when the joint has to rotate positively and red when negatively. A joint that is already in place shows nothing, so a row with no numbers means the Robot is at its Home Position.
Invalid settings block the Flow
Flow Config is validated. If something is missing — no Flow Name, or Home Position switched on with incomplete joint angles — then:
- the Flow Config button turns red and its icon changes to a warning lamp,
- the offending tab is marked in the tab list,
- the dialog cannot be closed until it is fixed.
This is deliberate: a Flow whose Home Position is half-configured would otherwise check the Robot against nothing.
Subflows have no Flow Config of their own
A Subflow has no settings of its own. It runs under the configuration of the Flow that called it, so the Home Position and environment model that apply are the caller's. Opening Flow Config while editing a Subflow configures the Flow it belongs to.