ABB IRC5 Calling main program

The main program does not get called. It must start in the main program, it is the origin of the calling heirarchy.

Quote from zach.wilson

We have bits that once we are inside the main program that just bounces back and forth, it will call other procedures based off of these numbers. but i cannot figure out how it gets to the main procedure. There are times it seems to jump out of what we tell it to do and then back to the main and then causes issues. Other times after we take the key back to automatic, it will jump out of the routine we were running and back to the main, luckily the main doesn't have any move spots in it and the first line of logic is verify its home, and since it isn't it just sits there.

There is likely different recovery methods depending on the circumstances. Recovering from the pendant or an HMI may also give different results.

These issues can be solved by having an advanced ABB programmer look at the cell configuration & programming and then work with you to develop safe & efficient methods of recovery. This provides better safety & usually this cost is soon recovered in time savings.

Auto starts in the main and ends in the main.

If you start in the auto and you decide to make edits to you program by putting in it manual, you can go back to auto and continue as long as you don't lose the program pointer. If you lose the pointer, putting back to auto will cause it to want to put the program pointer to main.

The controller will tell you you're about to lose the pointer with a message usually when you try modifying the instruction where the pointer is.

When you put back in auto you will get a message to acknowledge that the program pointer is going back to main. It should not just be jumping back to the main without acknowledging.

Next time move the pointer with PP to cursor and then modify the point or instruction. You can move the pointer back afterwords and it should still continue in auto.

If you lose your program pointer the only fix is put the pointer to main and restart in Auto and then flip to manual and step through to where you were. You can move the program pointer within the routine with PP to Cursor, jumping code quickly. Step into proc calls to enter new routines until you reach your last position where you were. Flip to auto and it should continue. If you have a positioner you will need to step through the ActUnit instruction, can't skip it.

It's useful to have a ! (Comment Instruction) alone on the last line before EndProc. This gives you the ability to jump to the end of your routine without having the robot move to that last position in the routine before you exit the proc. If you have a program with alot of different routines, it makes it easier and faster to step through.

ALL Programs to run in auto need to be loaded from the main. You can not load a routine manually and flip to auto and run it. It will always want to put the PP to Main as soon as you put it in auto.

I hope this explanation of how it works helps you.