I'm still looking for a solution to establish communication between a FANUC robot and a SIEMENS PLC. I’ve looked into the ANYBUS GATEWAYs, specifically the model ABC4013-A Anybus Communicator PROFINET IO-Device - EtherNet/IP adapter.
I’d like to know if anyone has experience with this device, considering it’s not exactly inexpensive.
What concerns me is that, while it’s straightforward to have a GSDML file for the PLC configuration, on the FANUC side the settings are very minimal. They are essentially limited to setting up the robot as an adapter, defining the number of bytes to exchange, and assigning it an IP address.
On the robot side, only the Ethernet IP adapter option is available, not the scanner option. I had previously tried another device, the MOXA MGATE 5103, but it didn’t work because an Ethernet IP scanner was required on the Ethernet IP side.
The key point is that when they refer to an Ethernet IP Adapter, they mean the gateway itself. So, clearly, a scanner, such as a PLC, must be connected to the gateway and vice versa... because there is also a version from the same brand with an Ethernet IP scanner, and I assume that in this case, an adapter would be connected to it.
