Faster calibration procedure

[skommany]

Does anyone know of a faster/better way to master/calibrate the adept S600 robot when encoder loss power. I am using the calibration bar doing the rough then fine calibration method. Thanks.

[pitl]

Hi skommany,

the fastest way is to not disconnect the encoder from the battery and to change the battery right on time.

The rough- and fine calibration takes 15 minutes on this system. In the most cases it takes longer to remove the gripper from the flange.
But there is no faster way, except it is ok for you to do only a rough calibration. This will work if you use only taught positions in your program. If you use a vision system, conveyor tracking, calculated frames or calculated positions in your program you have to run a fine calibration.

Best regards,
pitl

[skommany]

Thanks for the reply pitl. I had to use the calibration bar after a technician change the batteries incorrectly. On the other robots like FANUC, when power is loss to the encoder I am able to force the robot to calibrate thru manipulating variables and the positions are exactly as before without needing to touch up or adjust.  Thought there would be a similar procedure on the Adept. Also if anyone can tell me if Adept has indicators(I/O, variables) for low or dead battery. I would like to use this in my code. Thanks

[pitl]

Hi skommany,

the motor encoder loose all the information when the error bit is set inside. Thats way you have to follow the whole calibration procedure.

The drop down of the battery voltage is only checked during the CALIBRATE command after startup. The CALIBRATE  provides an alarm  message on the monitor terminal if the encoder was underpowered (< 2.9 Volts). The error bit will be set inside the encoder when the voltage drops under 2.7 Volts. This is done by the encoder.

You can't catch this errors and no flag or signal is set because it's detected inside the encoder. So the bit is also set when you put the system on stock for ten years and it isn't connected to any controller.

So the only way is to replace battery right on time and followed by the right way.

pitl

[skommany]

Thank you for the detail info.

[zet-jaro]

Hello!

Does anybody know how to calibrate Adept Six300? I would really appreciate step-by-step answer

Thank you very much!

[apexmotion]

I have lost the battery power on an Adept s600 Cobra.  Tech support is telling me that the only way to fix is to have a service tech fly in to do the recalibration.  This topic seems to indicate that I can do a rough calibration myself....   Is there a procedure for this?

Thanks for your time.

[Ztek]

I have lost the battery power on an Adept s600 Cobra.  Tech support is telling me that the only way to fix is to have a service tech fly in to do the recalibration.  This topic seems to indicate that I can do a rough calibration myself....   Is there a procedure for this?

Thanks for your time.

To work with calibrations you need the rsc_set.v2 program for a S-cobra. For older systems there are other programs. All those programs are a bit hard to get as you usualy only get them on Adepts hardware service courses. You also need to be sure to get the correct version. Adept is changing versions for utility programs as most people change underware...

To prevent problems with lost calibration data, use the program rsc_rstr.v2 to backup the rsc data for the robot before you lose it. Rsc_rstr.v2 use to be delivered with the systems in the .util folder. Manual for rsc_rstr is found here:
http://www1.adept.com/main/ke/DATA/v%20plus/utility%20program%20instructions/rsc_rstr_u.html
This does not solve your problem now, but maybe this prevents someone else from getting the same problem. Of course a backup of rsc data does not help you if anything have been mechanicaly changed in the robot (motor, gearbox etc), then you need a fine calibration anyway.

PS Have a look for a file with extension .rsc on the controller. If you are lucky someone have made a backup before. Check carefuly that the file is from the correct robot individ and that no calibrations have been done to the robot since the file was created. Otherwise the robot will move strange...

[apexmotion]

Thanks for the great help.  Unfortunately, there's no rsc_set.v2 utility (There is the rsc_rstr.v2 utility, though).

There's also no file on the system with the rsc extension.

I don't need tight accuracy in the application (+/- 2mm).

Would an option be to break into the encoder signals and hook them up to a Yaskawa drive to zero the encoders at the approximate locations and then reconnect to the amplifier?

Thanks for your time.   

[Ztek]

As I said, adept does not deliver rsc_set.v2 to customers. If you call adept and ask them gently they might send you the file so you can do a rougth calibration. Rougth calibration works in the way that the robot drives every axis to its mecanical stops and then calculate the zero position, probably as the point on half the way betwen the end stops. This is not very accurate, specialy not on axis 4, as it does not have endstops. But it is very easy to do your self.

Fine calibration requires special tools. It is not complicated to do if you have the tools.

As I have the tools for cobra robots I use to do fine calibration when I have changed parts in a cobra robot, but I do not have tools for ONE and XL. They use to work good anyway with only rougth calibration. Probably it is the same with a cobra if you do not use it for very accurate tasks.

If you want to read the counters and try to calculate the midpoint of the axes in some way then you can use the program spec.v2 instead of external drives. I think you can put in calibration data manualy in rsc_rstr (look in the manuals, I use to use rsc_set, but I think this part is the same in rsc_rstr).