Integrating EtherCAT/UART force/torque sensors into URCap

Technical Questions
1

I want to connect an external force/torque sensor and use its data to control robot actions.
If the sensor communicates via EtherCAT or UART, I am curious about how to implement receiving the sensor data within a URCap and using it in a Polyscope Program Node.

Do I need to implement EtherCAT communication directly in the URCap, or is it more common to use an external controller or PC to relay the data?
If direct communication from the URCap is not possible, I would appreciate it if you could explain the practical approach for integrating sensor data with Polyscope to control robot actions in real-world applications.

2

Using external hardware like a PLC or PC would be my approach if you wanted to go the CAP route. Implementing directly in Polyscope can be very easy and applicable depending on what you’re trying to do. Some sensors already have CAPs that expose their values over MODBUS registers. So in Polyscope you just read that register, check its value, and take an appropriate action.