Error using WBToolbox on Windows on MATLAB R2019b

[traversaro]

Description

The WBToolbox blocks do not load correctly on Windows.

Platform

Windows on Simulink, no robot involved.

Reproducibility

Unfortunately, this is emerged in a private repo, but I guess you can reproduce by running the https://github.com/robotology/whole-body-controllers on Windows.

Additional information

• OS: Windows
• Visual Studio: 2019 v16.8
• Version / Commit: v5.1/ BlockFactory v0.8.1
• Matlab Version: 2019b

Additional context

The error was experienced by @vpunithreddy . The first error was:

Error evaluating 'InitFcn' callback of SubSystem block 'PositionControl/Simulator1'. 
Callback string is '%% initialize the simulation
cd(fileparts(which(bdroot)));
initSimulatorCallback;'
Caused by:
Error due to multiple causes. 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/Transformation Matrix From FixedLink to Base/RelativeTransform Between l_sole and Base/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (2): The specified module could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/l_sole/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (2): The specified module could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/r_sole/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (2): The specified module could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 
Component:Simulink | Category:Model error

Even if the name/error is not clear, the error code (2) pointed out that for some reason the WBToolbox.dll plugin was not found (see https://github.com/robotology/blockfactory/blob/v0.8.1/deps/sharedlibpp/src/shlibpp/SharedLibraryFactory.h#L41). However, this was an error in setting BLOCKFACTORY_PLUGIN_PATH , that was fixed by robotology/robotology-superbuild#599 . After fixing that, we run again the model and we obtained:

Error evaluating 'InitFcn' callback of SubSystem block 'PositionControl/Simulator1'. 
Callback string is '%% initialize the simulation
cd(fileparts(which(bdroot)));
initSimulatorCallback;'
Caused by:
Error due to multiple causes. 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/Transformation Matrix From FixedLink to Base/RelativeTransform Between l_sole and Base/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (3): The specified procedure could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/l_sole/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (3): The specified procedure could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 
Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'initSimulator/r_sole/S-Function':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (3): The specified procedure could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=ForwardKinematics,libName=WBToolbox)
Failed to get the factory 

So now the error is instead that the library was not loaded (see https://github.com/robotology/blockfactory/blob/v0.8.1/deps/sharedlibpp/src/shlibpp/SharedLibraryFactory.h#L42).

[traversaro]

I tested on Windows with robotology-superbuild-vcpkg-dependencies 0.6.0 and I could not replicate this behaviour, as the blocks are loaded correctly. However, I added in Blockfactory a simple command line tool to simplify test and debug of situation like that, in robotology/blockfactory#61 .

In particular, if you like to debug this situation further @vpunithreddy I would kindly ask to do the following:

# Switch to the branch of the blockfactory repo 
cd ~/Documents/GitHub/robotology-superbuild/robotology/BlockFactory
git fetch
git checkout add-exists-tool
# Re-compiled blockfactory
cd ../../build/robotology/BlockFactory
cmake --build . --config Release --target INSTALL

At this point, you should have a new command line tool called blockfactory-exists, that should be able to check if a given block exists. In particular, I would be curious of the output of:

blockfactory-exists WBToolbox ForwardKinematics

On my system in which everything is working fine, the output is:

SUCCESS: Block "ForwardKinematics" found and loaded from plugin "WBToolbox".

on your system given your output I would guess that the output should be different.

[vpunithreddy]

I followed the procedure described by @traversaro and was able to receive the message
` SUCCESS: Block "ForwardKinematics" found and loaded from plugin "WBToolbox"
I shall check if the error still exists for simulink

[traversaro]

@vpunithreddy Now that we have Conda binaries for WB-toolbox also on Windows the installation process should be much simpler, in a nutshell you should just follow https://github.com/robotology/robotology-superbuild/blob/2b0d3299ffecc3f4bce780ae999b08d2432d59d0/doc/conda-forge.md#binary-installation, and then in a command prompt in which you enabled your environment, run:

conda install -c robotology-staging wb-toolbox

and then from the same terminal launch matlab. You should not even have either CMake or Visual Studio installed.

[traversaro]

I just installed wb-toolbox from source with conda-provided dependencies on Windows on R2021a, and I have a similar problem when using the QP block:

Error reported by S-function 'BlockFactory' in 'qpoases_vs_osqp_test/QP':
Failed to create factory
Factory error (4): The specified procedure could not be found.

Failed to get factory object (className=QpOases,libNam��m-L�

Installation instructions:

conda create -n wbtenv
conda activate wbtenv
conda install -c conda-forge -c robotology vs2019_win-64 ninja cmake yarp idyntree eigen osqp-eigen blockfactory
conda deactivate
conda activate wbtenv
git clone https://github.com/robotology/wb-toolbox
cd wb-toolbox
cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%CONDA_PREFIX%\Library ..
ninja install
% Launch MATLAB, and then manually add %CONDA_PREFIX%\Library\share\WBToolbox and %CONDA_PREFIX%\Library\share\WBToolbox\images to the matlab path. If necessary, refresh the Simulink Library Browser
matlab

Error:

[traversaro]

I simply had forgot to install qpoases initially, so the initial value of WBT_USES_QPOASES was set to false. After I installed qpoases:

conda install qpoases

enabled WBT_USES_QPOASES and recompiled everything, everything was working as expected:

The g input is [-10, 20].

[traversaro]

Closing as the problem was solved.