User Coordinate Frame - Associated with Station Axis?

[TylerRobertson]

Hey there - I'm used to doing this with ABB, Fanuc, Kuka.. etc.   but I can't remember how (or if that functionality exists) with Motoman.

I have a station axis (tilt/rotary) - it has been calibrated, and is operating in R1+S1:S1 - and coordinated motion works great.
I made a user frame on the center of the rotary table. What I want is when you rotate or tilt the table, the userframe follows the motion of the station axis.

ie: When you tilt 45 deg - Z+ is still "out" from the top of the table now at a 45 degree angle

Any help def. appreciated! Thanks

[Fabian Munoz]

Hi Tyler:

 , Sorry, I don't think I can help you (I think)

You already have a R1+S1 and works great , why do you need the user frame. Isn't that part of the coordination ?

Can you explain briefly how or what do you use on the other robots ? Maybe that will trigger some ideas in the community

somar

[Robodoc]

What about using the MFRAME command.  MFRAME makes a user frame out of three P variables.  If you teach your user frame originally you moved the robot to some make or point on the fixture.  If you then tilt the table 45 and move the robot to the 'new' positions you can record them in P variables.  Then in the program when the table moves to that position, put in the MFRAME command with the 3 P variables you taught and the same user frame.  This will over write the user frame and put it relative to the new position of the fixture.

Other than that, a Motoman robot has no way of moving a user frame with an external axis.

[motomaster]

motoman does have the function you are asking about but it does not come standard. it is an option function that can only be turned on by motoman. it allows you to attach a userframe to an external axis. the userframe become dynamic and the robot can jog relative to that frame.  the frame is setup using a MFRAME command that has a MTOOL tag in it.

[TylerRobertson]

amazing - motoman told me on the phone that they do not have this capability. *sigh*


The purpose is to do a spiral movement on a rotary table - spiralling from the middle and moving to the outside.
Yes this can be accomplished simply by moving the robot linear to a position and rotating the table, but it does not correctly calculate surface (TCP) speed, since the rotary table has to move faster when the spiral is in the middle, slower on the outside.

If the spiral is programmed in MOVC commands, the surface speed is correct, however with a stationary User Frame, the MOVC commands, are more like linear values, because the rotary is compensating their movement, and the robot pauses at each end of MOVC.

[TylerRobertson]

What about using the MFRAME command.  MFRAME makes a user frame out of three P variables.  If you teach your user frame originally you moved the robot to some make or point on the fixture.  If you then tilt the table 45 and move the robot to the 'new' positions you can record them in P variables.  Then in the program when the table moves to that position, put in the MFRAME command with the 3 P variables you taught and the same user frame.  This will over write the user frame and put it relative to the new position of the fixture.

Other than that, a Motoman robot has no way of moving a user frame with an external axis.

thanks, this is a good suggestion, but won't work when the table is dynamically moving through a path - but works for indexing work, albeit you have to reteach the frame each time. Thanks still!

[motomaster]

I'm not suprized that you were told that this function isn't available...not all of our functions @ motoman are published therefore not everyone knows there are...call back and tell them you know it is an option and tell them to find it on the internal motoman forum...

[TylerRobertson]

go figure! I let them know - also on this call, they gave me more info about Endless Rotation that I didn't know - go figure

thanks a ton!

[TylerRobertson]

Update:

So far, this definitely seems do-able on Motoman robots. There is a parameter to change that allows use of the MFRAME command. Will post back later with results

[RafelPoland]

hello, does anybody get the name of parameter to change in motoman controller, to work dynamically (user frame rotating together with the table)?
Is it possible to call this function in the robot program (job file)?
how to call user frame, to work in dynamical mode?

Best Regards,

Rafal Poland