FirstMove, SMove, and ChkPosition -- What are they?

I've just been tasked to set up a new IRC5, but was handed a very old (and incomplete!) template of files as the spec I've been told to adhere to 100%!!!!!.

Problem is, no one at the customer seems to know much about this template, or be able to explain it. And the template files, when installed on the IRC5, throw "unknown" errors on FirstMove, SMove, and ChkPosition.

These aren't documented in any of the ABB manuals I have, and googling around I found only one or two mentions of FM and SM in a German forum -- ChkPosition turned up zero results. I'm beginning to think these template files date from an S4, and all of my ABB experience is with IRC5s.

The references I found to SMove suggest that it was an S4-era command that's been superseded in the IRC5, but I couldn't find any explanations of what it did exactly.

FirstMove seems to be a way to get an initial motion on the robot in Auto, without "double stopping"? The Google German-to-English translation was a bit... vague. It was suggested this was created by ABB Germany, and never put into the "main" RAPID distribution.

And ChkPosition is called as a function: IF ChkPosition(p10VP,"10VP",5,tGripper) RETURN; The first argument is a RobTarget, and tGripper is a Tool. My guess is that this is simply checking the robot's current position against the RobTarget argument (the '5' is probably a cartesian tolerance band), but I'm not sure if this is some obscure undocumented RAPID function, or something the customer had written in-house and just forgotten about (it certainly isn't in any of the files they've given me so far!)

So, anyone know anything about these commands?

I've been asking for a working backup, but so far, everything I've received has been weirdly partial, missing a lot of files.

So far, none of the files I've gotten access to contain PROC declarations for FirstMove, SMove, or ChkPosition.

Quote from Skooter

I ran across something like this in the past and wondered the same things. I suspect the SMove is a procedure call (ProcCall) with parameters. Check to see if you can find the routine in one of the sys modules. Example of a routine used instead of the MoveJ instruction:

PROC SMoveJ(

num ActPos,

robtarget ToPoint,

speeddata speed

\num T,

zonedata zone,

INOUT tooldata tool

\INOUT wobjdata WObJ

\switch NoMove)

IF Present(NoMove)=FALSE MoveL ToPoint,speed\T?T,zone,tool\WObj?WObJ;

nActPos:=ActPos;

IF nActPos<100 nStartPos:=nActPos;

BACKWARD

MoveL ToPoint,speed,zone,tool\WObj?WObJ;

nActPos:=ActPos;

IF nActPos<100 nStartPos:=nActPos;

!////////////////////////// ERROR TRAP ///////////////////////////////

ERROR

nErrNo:=ERRNO;

TPErase;

TPWrite "Error: "\Num:=ERRNO;

Stop;

RETRY;

ENDPROC

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Well, the SMove calls in the templates I've been given so far look like this:

SMove\J,Offs(p11GP,-20,0,100),vmax,z10,tGripper;

SMove\L,Offs(p11GP,-20,0,0),v200,z10,tGripper;

So, they really do look like some sort of alternative MoveL or MoveJ command. But I'm still trying to figure out if it's some undocumented RAPID function, something the customer built in-house that I have to get from them, or (as my search results suggest) an S4-era command that's been obsoleted or superseded in the IRC5 (in which case, I need to know how to duplicate what it does).

Basically, I'm stuck in the position of "make it work just like the old one!", when no one can actually explain how the old one works. And yet, I'm being required to follow this old template exactly.

EDIT: I did find a log file in one of the old partial backups, that mentions SMove in passing:

103787 W Program 41739 StorePath required 2015-06-04 17:52:04 Task: T_ROB1Instruction MoveJ is executing in an error handler or a trap routine. Use StorePath before using a movement instruction on other level then base. Program Ref. /MOVE_TYP001/mv10VP_11GP/SMove/229 {args: "T_ROB1", "MoveJ", "StorePath", "/MOVE_TYP001/mv10VP_11GP/SMove/229"}

Now, StorePath is something that does turn up in my ABB manuals, though I need to dig into it move. And the one online mention I found using Google suggeted that SMove was a command that created some sort of "recovery" path while executing.

As for FirstMove, this is the Google Translation of the one and only reference I found online:

Hello everybody!
I have a question, it's probably almost ridiculous, but to be sure ...What does the command: "FirstMove"I looked for the command in my documents, but did not find it.Would be great if you could help me on !!!Thanks in advance! :Thank you:Greetings MK ABB robot maintenance- chris -Points35Posts6
Jan 18th 2010
# 2
We have also been looking for the command
and then found, that's a procedure
is constructed so:
! ************************************************** ********
! * Procedure FirstMove *
! * *
! * Hide the first movement point in automatic mode. *
! * Examples: FirstMove p10VP, v200, z10, tGreifer; *
! * FirstMove \ J, p10VP, v200, z200, tGreifer; *
! * FirstMove \ L, p10VP, v200, z200, tGreifer; *
! * *
! * Date: Version: Programmer: Reason: *
! * 21.07.2005 1.1 H.Bock modified *
! ************************************************** ********
PROC FirstMove (
\ switch L
| switch J,
robtarget ToPoint,
speeddata speed,
zonedata zone,
INOUT tooldata tool
\ INOUT wobjdata WObj)! if the operating mode of the robot is not automatic,
! then approach this position
IF OpMode () <> OP_AUTO THEN
IF Present (L) MoveL ToPoint, speed, zone, tool \ WObj? WObj;
IF NOT Present (L) OR Present (J) MoveJ ToPoint, speed, zone, tool \ WObj? WObj;
ENDIF
BACKWARD
IF Present (L) MoveL ToPoint, speed, zone, tool \ WObj? WObj;
IF NOT Present (L) OR Present (J) MoveJ ToPoint, speed, zone, tool \ WObj? WObj;
ENDPROCRobiMan
presenterLikes Received1Points2,636Posts460
Jan 20th 2010
# 3
Explanation: First MoveFirstMove is mostly used in pure motion routines like mv10_20
"Move from Pos 10 to Pos20"In general, the points are yes in the order
mv10_20;
mv20_30:
......etc. hitIn automatic mode, it does not approach the vonPos point to prevent stopping the movement by double starting here.
In the other modes of operation, however, the point is approached automatically.
In addition, a very low speed is programmed in order to be able to respond faster to unwanted movements during testing.In the manuals, you can not find the command, is a "normal" routine that usually stands in a nostepin module. Which gives the impression that he belongs to the system.I think the idea is great and I really enjoy using FirstMove.

Quote from kwakisaki

IRC5 PS-HPR: HomePosRunning

Maybe worth an email off to ABB and see if they are willing to donate some further information.

Hope it helps...…….

The context helps, but the only thing in that Zip file are XML files. Are those usable by the IRC5, or do they require some offline tool? Or maybe RobotStudio?

Hm. I was finally able to get the module that contained SMove and ChkPosition functions from the customer (still waiting on FirstMove). The ChkPosition was about what I expected, a simple comparison of CJointT() to the CalcJointT() of a received RobTarget. But the SMove they have looks substantially different from what Skooter posted -- much more compact. It's a single Proc, instead of 3, and it uses switch detection on the /L and /J arguments to branch internally -- there's no separate SMoveL and SMoveJ commands.