Mech-Interface Overview

This section covers the mechanism, differences between the two types of communication, and their application scenarios.

Communication Mechanism

The mechanism of the two types of communication are as shown in the figure below.

• Adapter is a Python program that is used to establish communication between external communication devices (e.g., industrial robots, upper computers, PLC) and Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz. It cannot only communicate with Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz, but also communicate with external devices over any communication protocol supported by Python.

• Standard Interface can be viewed as a complete set of Adapter programs provided by Mech-Mind. It supports a number of communication protocols and provides a powerful control command set and an error monitoring system. With these powerful functions, it can meet the requirements of most users.

Differences between Standard Interface and Adapter

Adapter and Standard Interface are both used to establish communication between external devices and Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz. Standard interface is a set of standardized Adapter programs, which does not support customized development.

For internal communication with Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz, both types of communication utilize Basic API, while specific communication protocols are used to communicate with external devices.

The differences between Standard Interface and Adapter are as shown in the table below.

Differences or Similarity	Standard Interface	Adapter
Internal Communication	Utilize Basic API to communicate with Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz
External Communication	Support the following communication protocols only: TCP/IP Socket Siemens PLC Snap7 PROFINET EtherNet/IP	Support any type of communication protocol supported by Python
Function	Provide vision results only	Provide functions related to vision and other functions supported by Python, such as interface customization, database creation, and order management
Deployment Difficulty	Easy to use, and can be deployed rapidly	Require programming with high time and labor costs
Extensibility	Do not support extension	Can be extended to support more communication protocols and functions

Application Scenarios

In real application scenarios, the selection of a specific type of Mech-Interface is based on external communication devices, the communication protocol in use, the required communication functions, etc.

The common communication devices and protocols supported by Standard Interface and Adapter are as shown in the table below.

External Device	Protocol	Type of Mech-Interface	Description
Robot	TCP/IP Socket	Standard Interface	Mech-Interface acts as the server
	PROFINET		Mech-Interface acts as the slave device
	EtherNet/IP		Mech-Interface acts as the adapter (slave device)
	Modbus TCP	Adapter	Currently supported by Adapter only
Upper Computer	HTTP	Adapter	Applicable to integrated project where the robots are full-controlled by Mech-Mind
	WebSocket
	TCP/IP Socket	Standard Interface	Mech-Interface acts as the server
PLC	TCP/IP Socket	Standard Interface	Mech-Interface acts as the server
	Siemens PLC Snap7		Mech-Interface acts as the client
	PROFINET		Mech-Interface acts as the slave device
	EtherNet/IP		Mech-Interface acts as the adapter (slave device)
	Modbus TCP	Adapter	Currently supported by Adapter only
	Mitsubishi PLC MC	Adapter	Currently supported by Adapter only

Hint

• When Mech-Interface is used to communicate with external devices, it is recommended to use Standard Interface if the project requirements can be met; when Standard Interface cannot meet all the requirement (for example, the communication protocol used by external devices is not supported, or other functions that are not supported by Standard Interface is required), Adapter should be used.

• Please refer to Standard Interface Development Manual for functions of Standard Interface.

• Please refer to Functions for functions of Adapter.

Please refer to the following sections for more detailed information about Standard Interface and Adapter.

• Standard Interface

• Adapter