Transformation mode switching for a real-time robotic control system

A robotics control system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform a method comprising:

• receiving, from a user by a robotics control system comprising one or more computers, data representing a user-defined state machine that defines one or more portions of a robotics task, each portion being represented by a different subgraph of the state machine, wherein each subgraph is associated with a different respective coordinate transformation process, wherein the state machine has nodes that represent respective states of one or more robotic components, wherein each node has one or more exit conditions that define when the robotics control system should transition from one state to another state, and when the robotics control system should transition from executing a first subgraph of the state machine having a first coordinate transformation process to executing a second subgraph of the state machine having a different second coordinate transformation process;
• executing, by the robotics control system, a first control loop corresponding to a first subgraph of the state machine having the first coordinate transformation process, wherein executing the first control loop comprises providing commands to the one or more robotic components computed from the first coordinate transformation process and receiving status messages;
• determining, based on one or more status messages received during the first control loop, that an exit condition for transitioning to executing the second subgraph has been satisfied;
• in response to determining that the exit condition for transitioning to executing the second subgraph has been satisfied, performing a mode switch between the first coordinate transformation process of the first subgraph and the different second coordinate transformation process of the second subgraph;
• and
• executing, by the robotics control system, a second control loop corresponding to the second subgraph of the state machine having the second coordinate transformation process, wherein executing the second control loop comprises providing commands to the one or more robotic components computed from the second coordinate transformation process.

One or more non-transitory computer storage media encoded with computer program instructions that when executed by a plurality of computers cause the plurality of computers to perform operations comprising:

• receiving, from a user by a robotics control system comprising one or more computers, data representing a user-defined state machine that defines one or more portions of a robotics task, each portion being represented by a different subgraph of the state machine, wherein each subgraph is associated with a different respective coordinate transformation process, wherein the state machine has nodes that represent respective states of one or more robotic components, wherein each node has one or more exit conditions that define when the robotics control system should transition from one state to another state, and when the robotics control system should transition from executing a first subgraph of the state machine having a first coordinate transformation process to executing a second subgraph of the state machine having a different second coordinate transformation process;
• executing, by the robotics control system, a first control loop corresponding to a first subgraph of the state machine having the first coordinate transformation process, wherein executing the first control loop comprises providing commands to the one or more robotic components computed from the first coordinate transformation process and receiving status messages;
• determining, based on one or more status messages received during the first control loop, that an exit condition for transitioning to executing the second subgraph has been satisfied;
• in response to determining that the exit condition for transitioning to executing the second subgraph has been satisfied, performing a mode switch between the first coordinate transformation process of the first subgraph and the different second coordinate transformation process of the second subgraph;
• and
• executing, by the robotics control system, a second control loop corresponding to the second subgraph of the state machine having the second coordinate transformation process, wherein executing the second control loop comprises providing commands to the one or more robotic components computed from the second coordinate transformation process.