Frequently asked questions
On this page, we've compiled a comprehensive list of questions that Flowstate users frequently come across. You can find answers to these frequently asked questions (FAQs) by exploring the categorized sections below.
General FAQs
Q: Am I using the beta version of Flowstate?
Yes, we are only offering the beta version of Flowstate at this time. Certain features that will be available in future versions of Flowstate may not be available during the beta - so you may encounter slow loading times, glitches and the occasional bugs. Throughout our beta stage, you might see new features or improvements made to Flowstate.
Q: Will I only have access to the beta version of Flowstate for a limited time?
You will have access to Flowstate for the duration of the beta period. After the conclusion of the beta period, we may recommend to you ways of using Flowstate going forward that suits your use case.
If you’re eager to start using Flowstate for lab deployment, or pilots with your customers, and want to explore what can be done beyond beta, reach out to info@intrinsic.ai.
Q: Can I share or post anything externally about Flowstate or the developers site content?
According to the Trusted Tester Terms you have agreed to as part of the program you are required to keep details about Intrinsic Flowstate, and your participation, confidential. Do not share information on public forums, social media platforms, or discuss details with other individuals or organizations. Adhering to these guidelines is critical to maintain the integrity of the testing process and your continued participation in it.
Q: When will Flowstate become available to the public?
We don’t have a specific date to share. As we continue to refine the Flowstate solution building experience, we'll be inviting additional participants to test our beta product.
Q: Is any part of Flowstate open-sourced?
No part of the Intrinsic platform and Flowstate is currently open-sourced. We may open source certain components of the platform in the future.
Quotas
Q: What are the quotas for my Developer Subscription?
Each Developer Subscription plan has the following quotas:
- Storage - The total amount of Google Cloud Storage (in GB) allocated to your organization. Storage space is used by various types of data and files, including but not limited to: solutions, CAD models, and assets.
- Virtual machine (VM) hours - The compute time used to build, run, and validate solutions in Flowstate in the cloud. VM hours are consumed when you open a solution and continue to accrue while the solution remains open. VM hours are not used upon logging into Flowstate or accessing the documentation.
- ML training credits - Used to train single and multi-view ML-based pose estimators in Flowstate. Each trained pose estimator consumes a single credit.
Quotas vary by Developer Subscription plan and are sized to provide ample capacity for regular development usage. Quotas for VM hours and ML training credits reset at the start of each month. Please refer to our Developer Subscriptions page for detailed information on the quotas included with each subscription.
Q: What are some recommended ways to reduce VM hours usage?
We recommend making sure to exit the solution when you are finished working. VMs are automatically reclaimed after two hours of solution inactivity.
Q: Am I able to see how much quota I’ve used?
You can view your organization’s quota usage by visiting the Account page and selecting “usage”.
Q: Will I be notified if I am nearing or reach my quota limits?
You will receive an email notification from Intrinsic when you reach 70%, 90% and 100% of your quota for VM hours or ML training credits. There are no notifications for storage quota at this time.
Q: What happens when I reach my maximum VM hours quota?
If you reach your maximum monthly quota for VM hours, you will no longer be able to open a solution in Flowstate using a VM for the remainder of the month. You'll see the error Your usage limit for VM hours has been exhausted when attempting to start a solution. If you are in the process of building a solution within Flowstate when you reach your maximum limit, you will be timed out.
Q: What happens when I run out of ML training credits?
If you use all of your allocated ML training credits within a month, you will no longer be able to train ML-based pose estimators in Flowstate until your limit resets.
Q: When will my VM hours and ML training credits quotas refresh?
Starting at midnight (UTC) on the first day of each calendar month, your VM hours and ML training credits quota will be reset to their initial values and you will have a full quota again. There will not be any rollover from one month to the next.
Q: Am I able to increase the quotas for my Developer Subscription?
If you are interested in increasing your quotas, please contact your Intrinsic Account Manager to discuss upgrading your Developer Subscription.
Intrinsic platform
Q: What are the core components of the Intrinsic platform?
You can think of the Intrinsic platform as consisting of connected infrastructure, capabilities and interfaces. Capabilities refer to perception, planning and control software components that enable all robot solutions through Flowstate, the main entry point to Intrinsic’s platform.
Q: Can I use only a subset of the platform (e.g. motion planning) without using the rest?
Not at the moment. The main way that Intrinsic’s platform and capabilities can be utilized is through our products like Flowstate. In the future we may offer new products and services that bring more platform capabilities to Flowstate users.
Q: Can I use your platform alongside my platform?
The Intrinsic platform is built to be open and extensible. Already today, the provided APIs will also enable you to create custom integrations with other platforms by authoring a custom skill in Python or C++. We will provide interoperability with other robot software frameworks, such as ROS and others over time.
Flowstate
Access Flowstate
Q: Am I able to access Flowstate with any web browser?
For the optimal experience, we recommend using a Chrome browser.
Q: What platforms does Flowstate support?
Flowstate is currently supported on desktop devices only.
Q: Can I run Flowstate on my own compute hardware or is it only available via the cloud?
The Flowstate solution editor can run either on-premise or in the cloud. Once the solution has been built and tested in simulation in the cloud, it needs to be deployed to physical hardware. This requires an Intrinsic-approved on-premise industrial PC that supports a specific set of configurations. You can view and purchase from the Intrinsic approved industrial PCs list.
Q: Does Flowstate work without the internet?
No. In order to develop and simulate a solution with Flowstate, you need internet connectivity. This is because some core components that allow you to build and simulate a solution run in the cloud.
When running in production, we are resilient to intermittent and low bandwidth connectivity. We provide all the required software and hardware components to run your solution locally for a limited time; however, we do still require some level of connectivity to upload logs to the cloud for data analytics, for deploying platform updates, for remote support and for license renewals.
Q: How can I associate a Google Account with my email address?
To sign up for a Flowstate account, you’ll need your email to be associated with a Google account for authentication purposes. If your email address is not already associated with a Google Account, there are three options:
- Create a new Google Account and connect it to your non-Google email address.
- Associate your non-Google email address with an existing Google Account.
- Contact us to change your email address from one that’s not associated with a Google Account, to one that is.
Note that during the Beta program, we cannot change your email address once you have created a Flowstate account.
Design a workcell
Q: Can I onboard my own equipment (grippers, cameras, robots, etc.)?
It is currently possible to onboard equipment that is a configuration variation on an existing piece of equipment. For example, a Genicam camera or a DIO-controlled gripper can be onboarded by installing into your solution a Basler camera or a Robotiq gripper, respectively, and swapping the configuration file to match your setup. Robot onboarding is currently performed by Intrinsic only. Later releases will allow more generic equipment onboarding and optional publishing to a shared catalog.
Q: Can I import my own design files into Flowstate? What geometric formats do you support?
If you’ve designed your work cell in another tool, you can import the files in one of our supporting formats .STL, .GLB, .GLTF, and .OBJ for single objects, .PTS for point clouds and .SDF and .STEP for larger scene files.
Q: Do you support any device that can be interfaced through OPC-UA?
Yes. We can support communication with any device that can be interfaced through OPC-UA.
Q: Do you support all GeniCam cameras?
No. We currently only support GigeVision based cameras. GenTL cameras are not yet supported out-of-the-box.
Create a Process
Q: What is a skill?
Skills are the basic building block of behavior trees. These reusable modules encapsulate robotic behaviors and capabilities in a uniform manner. While Flowstate provides a set of skills out of the box, solution builders can also create and use additional skills.
Q: Does the behavior tree you create in Flowstate get converted to ladder logic to run on the PLC?
No, while we are still aiming towards integrating the control of a complete workcell, the behavior tree (or better – our process tree) does not get converted into ladder logic. Intrinsic's software orchestrates the solution by running the behavior tree itself.
Perception
If you encounter any problems while setting up a new camera, running a calibration process, or training a new pose estimator, refer to the troubleshooting guide.
Control Framework
Q: Can I use the robot brand real-time controller directly with Flowstate?
No, the real-time control aspect is not currently a point of modularity. Intrinsic Flowstate uses Intrinsic's real-time control framework.
Q: Which robot brands does Intrinsic support?
We currently support the following robot models and we will continue to expand our range of supported robots over time:
- Universal Robot: UR3e, UR5e, UR10e, UR16e, UR20
- KUKA: KR6 R900-2, KR6 R900-sixx, KR10 R1100-2, KR16 R2010-2, KR20 R1810-2, KR50 R2500, KR120 R3100-2, KR250 R2500
- Fanuc: LR 10iA/10, LR Mate 200iD/7L, R-2000ic/210l
Q: Can I extend the real-time control framework with my own capabilities?
No, but we are looking into this.
Q: Can I add additional robots to Flowstate (Intrinsic platform)?
No, Intrinsic only supports select robot brands, so you are not able to add additional robots at this time. We are currently working on building out this capability and it will be available in the future.
Deploy solutions to real-hardware
Q: Do I need to purchase an on-prem industrial PC to run Flowstate solutions on my hardware?
In order to control robots and run Flowstate solutions in production you need on-premise industrial PC. Intrinsic has tested and approved various configurations at different performance and price points to best meet our customers’ requirements. You can view and purchase Intrinsic approved industrial PCs.
Q: Are there instructions on how to connect my hardware to Flowstate?
See the Connect and industrial PC guide for instructions on how to connect your hardware to Flowstate. If you’re eager to start using Flowstate for lab deployment and want to explore what can be done beyond beta, please reach out to info@intrinsic.ai.
Q: How long does it take to deploy my simulated solution to the real hardware?
Once you have set up your physical workcell and configured the corresponding Intrinsic compute hardware, pushing a solution from simulation to real hardware in Flowstate is a matter of minutes, depending on your connectivity bandwidth.
Q: What are the minimum internet speed requirements for deployments on real hardware like IPCs?
IntrinsicOS powered IPCs need internet access for solution deployment, updates, and diagnostics. For best performance, a minimum speed of 20 Mbps is recommended for smooth operation and a seamless user experience. Lower speeds may work, but may cause performance issues or delays.
Q: Will/does Flowstate support workcell health dashboards and logs/playback of past runs (e.g. ROS bag)?
Flowstate does support workcell health dashboards for setup. You will be able to see the health of the connected devices and clear faults if necessary. You will also be able to visualize the I/O of the workcell.
Q: Can I deploy solutions to a line of workcells?
In our current beta release, designing and configuring a line of work cells is not yet supported. We know this is important for the design of automation and is an area we will be developing in the future.
Development and integrations
Development environment
Q: What am I able to develop and integrate into Flowstate?
Using Python or C++, you are able to create your own skills. Skills are the modular units of action that can encapsulate your custom process logic. Intrinsic provides a software development environment (in either a Github Codespace or as a locally-installed container) with the VS Code IDE pre-configured for skill development. It can then install your skill to a solution in Flowstate for inclusion in a process flow.
Q: How do I set up my development environment so I can start coding?
Visit the section in our developer documentation on Coding with Flowstate to set up your development environment and get started with an example skill.
Q: I've looked through the SDK folder, but I can't find the executable code for the platform service. Why is that?
The SDK does not contain the executable code for the platform service. This is because users do not require access to this internal code to effectively utilize the platform service. The SDK provides the necessary interfaces and tools for integration, enabling users to fully utilize the platform's features.
ROS
Q: Is Flowstate built on ROS?
The simulation capabilities in Flowstate are built with Gazebo. We will continually and thoughtfully integrate more tools and capabilities from the Open Robotics suite of tools over time, especially ROS. With deeper integrations and compatibility between ROS and Intrinsic, we can bring a lot of new capabilities to the developer community.
Support
Q: How do I ask questions or request technical support?
If you have questions or need assistance (not bug reporting), you can submit a ticket using our dedicated support page. You should receive an email response within 1 business day.
We also encourage you to try our AI-powered documentation search preview. You can access it in the Flowstate Solution Editor by clicking the ? menu in the top-right, under Search documentation (preview). This feature may extract better explanations and answers from Intrinsic documentation, especially when the complete answer may be in multiple sources.
Q: What should I do if I come across a bug or glitch?
A bug is when you experience something unexpected or not working properly, yet can still proceed and find a workaround. If you are completely blocked and cannot progress with the modules, submit a ticket instead. Note that you will not receive an email response but rest assured we are continuously reviewing and working on squashing bugs.
Q: Does Intrinsic provide training for Flowstate?
Intrinsic does not provide in-person or virtual training at this time however the developer documentation and tutorials are great resources for you to get up to speed. If you require assistance or have questions, we recommend you look through our developers site content first. If you are blocked and cannot progress, submit a ticket.
Privacy and data
Q: What type of personal data is Intrinsic collecting?
Refer to our privacy policy at intrinsic.ai/privacy for any questions regarding the collection, use, and retention of your personal data.
Q: Who will own the content uploaded to the platform? And generated in the platform?
You own the content you upload and create on the Intrinsic platform. For additional security, your data in Flowstate cloud is always encrypted at rest and in transit. You grant Intrinsic limited access to content so we can provide services (like the beta program) to you, but no one else outside your company group can see or access your content.