Need Basic Help with GMF M-100

    I'm working with a customer who has a GMF Robotics M-100 robot with a date code of 1987. They have no documentation for the system and no backup of the program. I haven't worked with one of these before and am looking for a source for some basic information on how to interact with the system. If you're able to point me to something I would appreciate it. Let me know if there are more details that I can include that would help identify the system I'm working with.

    Any help with this? If there is a manual that someone could point me to that would be great.


    Or, is this just too old to be within anyone's scope of knowledge any more? Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with this robot, so not sure when it was last produced, or if the programming/interface is similar to another system from which I could at least get some information on how to operate.


    Thanks,
    Ric

    Is the robot running now?
    This is a very old machine and if you are trying to use it now you should consider that you will have almost no support, documentation, available replacement parts. Then you have to find someone that can remember that far back to program it. Post any information you do have on it and a picture or two. Maybe someone will have an old manual.

    Thanks for the replies. Sorry, I'm not sure what R-G2 control is. The robot is currently running without any issues (for the time being). I've been working with the customer on other controls projects and several years ago they lost (i.e. passed away) their support contact for this robot. They had made some mechanical changes and were anticipating needing to change one or more of the stop position points. As it turned out they did not need to make any changes, luckily for them and me. I told them that I would continue to look into this to find more information so I would be able to help them in the future.


    I'm attaching several pictures. Hopefully these will help narrow down what I'm dealing with and someone can post info on where to find a manual or other programming information.


    Thanks,
    Ric

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/FANUC…989ff0:g:FVgAAOSwY0lXSkab Here’s a maintenance manual for the robot..... that system has an RH controller running around KAREL v1.6 ish I have an old rig controller of a similar vintage I’ve been trying to get to work for a while now with little luck.... you can get karel operations manuals that will tell you about using those old operating systems I believe..... something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fanuc…710120:g:ly0AAOSwtxlb4csM

    BoerderControl,
    Thank you very much for your reply. I'll check those manuals out. I haven't had to dig into this much further, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it breaks down!

    No problem old gmf robots are super cool. I think that m-100 might be one of the , or a variant of one of the gmf robots with a cameo in terminator 1984 though you said it was 1987 so maybe not.and I think the terminator one had yellow cap servos. Let me know what happens with it. GMF robots are super rare these days most of them were scrapped a long time ago.

    So, the time has come. My customer wants to make some changes to the program on this M-100 robot. I'm at a loss right now as far as how to change the program. I have source code, but I'm not sure how to interface with the robot. There is an RS-232 port, which one manual indicates is for a computer connection, but no info on baud rate. Also not sure if there was PC based software that was used to compile the program or if that was done directly on the M-100 interface. If anyone has some ideas let me know.

  • TheRicster

    Changed the title of the thread from “Need Basic Help with GMF M-100 ” to “Need Basic Help with GMF M-100”.

    I found some manuals on e-Bay, although it would seem they are for a slightly newer version of Karel, v1.5. From the source code I found it looks like what is running on this system is v1.3, not sure how much of a difference there.


    My questions are

    • does the editing of the source code happen on a PC or on the robot interface?
    • how does a PC interface with the system?
    • Is software required on a PC to compile the source?
    • Since I have some source code files it would seem either editing happens on a PC or there is a way to store/download the files from the M-100 system. Is there some way to get the software for this?

    Thanks!

    Looks like it's an R-F controller. The terminal will tell you the version of Karel it's running. Pretty sure Karel V1.5/1.6 was on the R-H.

    I used to program thru the built-in terminal and the pendant, didn't need a PC.

    You can/should backup using Kfloppy or a floppy drive before making any changes. Be prepared for it to take quite awhile as bubble memory was very slow. If using Kfloppy, make sure large buffers is off.

    When you exit Edit mode, it translates the modified program to p-code if there are no errors. If I remember right, it will also ask if you want to overwrite or new name/copy or something like that.

Advertising from our partners