Posts by BigM

@Skyfire

Apologies, by "Lost" I mean that the Inputs and outputs that i can witness changing state in the first couple bytes in the IO monitor window no longer change state when I add the RS-485 slice and that it can not be seen anywhere in the 1-1000+ bit range. (2 buttons tied to the first byte of inputs are normally closed, and scrolling through the entire input range there are no inputs on).

It makes me think that's why the Kuka service guys removed the RS-485 slice and kept it 'simple' with the 8-ch cards as this is just 1 byte per slice and not some unpredictable in/out byte arrangement that the RS-485 slice must present.

The customer did tell me that the Rs-485 slice was in the first slot, and when reattaching it, i have added it as the last slot. I read nothing in the Beckhoff documentation about a specific order of adding the slices as to whether this changes the mapping of the slices as a whole.

Florida,

Yes, when I remove the RS-485 slice, it works again.

Did you try it without IO assignment in IOsys.ini?

No, but i will give it a try today.

I would have thought that this type of setup, according to the thread I linked to in my original post, was almost a hardware standard for welding with a Fronius source taking into account the widespread use of both Kuka and Fronius that someone, somewhere may have a similar if not identical setup. I do understand that this is a controller running windows XP on the pendant so is quite old. It doesn't even have a floppy drive attached anywhere so not sure how i can archive to take backups.

Hi,

I have some experience with KRC4 controllers but have been tasked with commissioning a welding cell consisting of...

- KRC2 controller with v5.4 software

- ArcTech 2.3

- Fronius TPS 4000

- Beckhoff 5250 DeviceNet bus coupler with...

1x KL1408 8-ch digital input

2x KL2408 8-ch digital output

1x KL6021 RS-485 interface card

Apparently the robot was serviced but it was noted by customer that they removed the RS-485 'slice' from the bus coupler and have implemented a simple entry into the IOSYS.ini to communicate to the input and output slices. So, when I arrived, it has the input slice, then the 2 output slices (and then the bus terminator slice). The IO configuration has the DeviceNet driver enabled and the following...

[DEVNET]

INB0=10, 0, x1

OUTB0=10, 0, x1

OUTB1=10, 1, x1

I understand this to mean that the signals are mapped to inputs 1-8 and outputs 1-16 and I was able to set/reset these output and witness the inputs from the IO monitor window.

If I place the RS-485 slice into the last position of the bus coupler (end terminator is absolute last of course) without changing anything else, the mapping is completely lost. I can appreciate that some auto configuration from adding the RS-485 slice has occurred but I'm unsure of how this is being changed. Is there some manual configuration required?

I've done some searching but can't find anything specific to the KRC2 with my hardware setup. I found this thread useful which tells me hardware wise I'm on the right track with a "DeviceNet over 485 " connection between the robot controller and welder but hope users like 'panic mode' and others can assist.

So my questions are...

What should my [DEVNET] look like in the IOSYS.ini ?

Are there any other settings I need to check?

I see all the Fronius signal names in the IO (prg number, strobe, etc, etc), is this standard config when ArcTech is implemented?

Any example config files or general help is appreciated.

Regards

BigM

The /2 and /3 refers to the revision of the component so the part should be compatible.

Just from a quick glance you can see the included software options on a abb robot from the backinfo.txt of the backinfo folder of the backup.
Taking a backup from either of the other two robots and comparing would most likely reveal a software option you do not have.

You would need to buy this software option from abb which comes in the way of a new keystring requiring a cold-start of the controller (reinstall).

Of course if the manipulator and controller are exactly the same as the other two IRB 640's you programmed I would definitely NOT suggest using the keystring from one of those robots and installing it into the controller that does not the advanced functions.

Good luck

Sorry, that's a bit of a typo.
I mean Start and not 'Restart' the controller.

Well you could set a flag only during the drilling part and use the multitask to capture an error (sys input) and then back up along the path.
Coordinating your main task and multitask, you could use it to skip over the drilling of that hole to move onto the next one.

Using Multitasking software option you can do the following,

Capture when a Motor supervision is tripped (system output)
Reset the error (system input)
Do some sort of path recovery (up to you)
Restart the controller (system input)

You will definitely want to use flags and/or capture the current robot position so as to not activate the multitask at all motor supervisions and just the ones critical to your application.

I know this can be done as I've done it on both an S4C and an IRC5.
All solved with multitasking and system inputs and outputs

Good luck

Eureka is right.

Using Robot Application Builder (RAB) and Microsoft Visual Studio .Net, you can build an interface where you can graphically show the status of each robot and even show the state of IO and PERS data. You can also show errors from the event log for each robot.

You can start, stop each robot, manipulate data and with some clever robot programming, show production counts and what product is being worked on.

I would suggest building a simple interface for one of the robots, build on the complexity, and then build it for all robots.

bigM