Hello everyone,
A client has an IRB6400R robot with an S4C controller.
The Products ID According to the back up is as follows:
>>PRODUCTS_ID:
3HAC6811-2.22 0941 System Pack 4.0
Irb 6400R/2.5-150
FactoryWare Communication
Advanced Functions
I'm building a new control panel to send some data back and forth to the robot from an HMI, through a Rockwell CompactLogix L16ER PLC.
I was originally told by the customer that the robot supports Ethernet/IP, which it clearly doesn't, since that's not an option on the S4C controller.
I have a lot of experience with the IRC5 controllers, but not much with the S4C.
I understand that theoretically it's possible with the FactoryWare Communication option to send data back and forth to the robot over Ethernet. However, my research seems to indicate this would require either a WebWareSDK license or some other software in order to do this? Is there a protocol description for the RAP Robot Application Protocol? Is this even an option when using a PLC? Has anyone ever tried to write a PLC based RAP communication link to an S4C controller?
I understand that with Advanced Functions I could theoretically communicate over RS232 or RS485.
I could put an RS232 or RS485 module in the PLC and use this.
I don't have the multi-tasking option, so I suppose for this project, I could start a loop where I do communication, and once I receive the required information, perform a task, and then return to the communication loop. I assume this will work? Has anyone ever tried this?
Is it possible to communicate over the devicenet network that is used for the Digital IO module built into the robot?
Is there another, better option?
I need to send about 10 digital IO signals, and about 3 integer values from the PLC to the robot.
Any help is much appreciated!