It's been nearly 20 years since I touched RS232 on an IRC5, but what the heck.
What you can do depends a great deal on how the barcode reader behaves. It's entirely possible to write a RAPID program that opens the serial port, sends a command, waits for the response, then closes the port. However, a lot of bar code readers seem to act like "streaming" devices -- always blasting data out no matter if anyone is listening or not, and your program would have to capture that stream and make sense out of it.
In the old days, the RS232 port had to be set up in the SIO.CFG file:
SIO:CFG_1.0:5:0::
#
COM_PHY_CHANNEL:
-Name "COM1" -Connector "COM1"
-Name "LAN1" -Connector "LAN"
-Name "SER1" -Connector "SERVICE"
#
COM_TRP:
-Name "TCPIP1" -Type "TCP/IP" -PhyChannel "LAN1"These days, it should be the same file, but configured through the menus in RobotStudio.
Then, using the port from RAPID was mostly a matter of:
PROC TestSerial()
VAR iodev Vision;
Open "COM1:", Vision \Bin;
WriteStrBin Vision, "Test String\0D";
Close Vision;
ENDPROCThe settings for the COM port are probably different on the modern controllers, but I doubt the commands have changed much.
Your robot must have the File and Serial handling available.
Your robot must have the File and Serial handling available.
That's a paid option? Huh! For some reason, I thought it was part of base RoboWare.
These days it might be standard. I just wanted the user to make sure it is available.
These days it might be standard. I just wanted the user to make sure it is available.
Hm. Now you have me curious. I dug out the BACKINFO for that robot I did Serial on back in 2006, and got:
RW Control module key
RobotWare OS and English
644-2 German
645-3 Spanish
709-x DeviceNet
709-2 Master/Slave Dual
603-1 Absolute Accuracy
608-1 World Zones
611-1 Path Recovery
613-1 Collision Detection
614-1 FTP and NFS client
616-1 PC Interface
623-1 Multitasking
RW Drive module 1 key
ABB standard manipulator
IRB 6640
Axis 1 standard work range
6640-130/3.2
No motor fan
Drive System '04, 4600/6600
No drive in pos Y2Nothing obviously related to serial or TCP/IP, except maybe the "PC Interface" option. I imagine "FTP and NFS" are exactly what the name says, though I (again) thought FTP was a core part of RobotWare, not an option.
PC Interface (616-1) is required for serial communication. Socket messaging is included in the PC Interface option.
TCP/IP (Socket) communcation needs paid option “616-1 PC Interface“
But
RS232C (Serial) communication is standard features on IRC5 Controller.
Keypoint is matching send & recv format between controller and barcode reader.
I do have option 616-1 PC interface
As saberlars said,that's probably not necessary for RS232, but it can't hurt.
The big question is how the scanner communicates. That information should be available from the manufacturer. That will be necessary to figure out how to program the robot to talk to that scanner (or if it's even possible).
The big question is how the scanner communicates. That information should be available from the manufacturer. That will be necessary to figure out how to program the robot to talk to that scanner (or if it's even possible).
That's right.
I do have option 616-1 PC interface
If the barcode scanner supports Serial and Socket communication methods, you can use your preferred data communication method.
If you know the model name of the barcode scanner, you can search for it on the manufacturer's website, where they provide a manual on data communication methods.
Generally, widely used SICK products support common communication methods such as Hard-Wire, RS232C, and TCP/IP (SOPAS ET Configuration Software).
VAR string sRecv_Data;
VAR socketdev Socket1;
PERS string sIP_Server := "192.168.0.8";
PERS num nPort_Server := 23;
PROC main()
! Create and connect the socket in error handlers
SocketClose Socket1;
SocketCreate Socket1;
SocketConnect Socket1, sIP_Server, nPort_Server;
SocketSend socket1\Str:= "Hey Server! How are U?";
SocketReceive socket1\Str:= sRecv_Data\Time:=WAIT_MAX;
SocketClose socket1;
RETURN;
ENDPROCThe setup for Socket Data Communication is simple. (This configuration assumes that the robot controller is the client and the scanner is the server.) You just need to specify the IP and port of the server you want to connect to and exchange data in the form of strings.
maybe its a stupid think ,if you conect the barr reader to a computer ,you can write to file on Robot on FTP,read the number from robot and load the program you need ,
i use this metod to load from a list in excel (about 300 code) ,i have a nr for each program ,if you think can work for you ,i can explain more ,you will need a computer
One option would be to look at a Sick, Cognex, or Keyence smart camera. They can read and parse data out so you may be able to get your barcode data read and sent to the controller to pull the program. I cannot say if this will or will not be cheaper than getting a cheap PLC and simple camera or barcode reader to communicate. you can also get an ethernet to serial (typically USB) module if you need to, but you are adding a bit of hardware and failure points to the system which are failure points.
I would wonder with the ABB controller if there is a keyboard input into the controller PC and if you could write a program to look for a user input and with a basic serial barcode reader you could signal a trigger to read the barcode and fill out the field. It seems that the controller can take scripting so you can execute this structure. For barcodes a keyboard wedge to fill out a field or input is always a no brainer if you can dumb down the application to take advantage of this. This would be cheaper than a smart camera.
