Profinet Commands¶

Command 101: Start Mech-Vision Project
Command 102: Get Vision Target(s)
Command 103: Switch Mech-Vision Recipe
Command 201: Start Mech-Viz Project
Command 202: Stop Mech-Viz Project
Command 203: Select Mech-Viz Branch
Command 204: Set Move Index
Command 205: Get Planned Path
Command 206: Get DO List
Command 501: Input Object Dimensions to Mech-Vision
Command 502: Input TCP to Mech-Viz
Command 901: Get Software Status

Command 101: Start Mech-Vision Project ¶

This command starts the running of the Mech-Vision project, which executes image capturing, and performs vision recognition.

If the project works in the eye-in-hand mode, the robot pose for image capturing needs to be transmitted by this command into the project.

This command is for scenarios using only Mech-Vision.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	101
Vision_Proj_Num	Project number
Req_Pose_Num	Expected number of vision points
Robot_Pose_Type	Robot pose type
Robot_Pose_JPS / Robot_Pose_TCP *	Robot pose

* Robot_Pose_TCP will be renamed to Robot_Pose_Flange as the image capturing robot pose cannot be a TCP.

Project number

The integer ID number of the Mech-Vision project in Mech-Center, i.e., the number shown on the left of the project path in Deployment Settings ‣ Mech-Vision in Mech-Center. The number can be adjusted by dragging the projects.

Expected number of vision points

The number of vision points (i.e., vision poses and their corresponding point clouds, labels, indices, etc.) to expect Mech-Vision to output.

0

Get all the vision points from the Mech-Vision project’s recognition results.

integers > 0

Get the specified number of vision points.

If the total number of vision points is smaller than the parameter value, all the available vision points will be returned.

If the total number of vision points is greater than or equal to the parameter value, vision points in the quantity of the parameter value will be returned.

Note

The command to obtain the vision points is command 102.

Robot pose type

This parameter indicates the type of the image-capturing pose of the real robot to input to Mech-Vision.

0

No robot pose needs to be transmitted by this command.

If the project works in the eye-to-hand mode, then image capturing has nothing to do with the robot’s pose, so no robot image-capturing pose is needed by Mech-Vision.

1

The robot pose transmitted by this command is in JPs.

2

The robot pose transmitted by this command is a flange pose.

Robot pose

This parameter is the robot pose needed when the project works in the eye-in-hand mode.

The robot pose is either in JPs or flange pose, according to the setting of the parameter “robot pose type”.

Attention

The floating point data of JPs or flange pose needs to be multiplied by 10000 before setting to the module Robot_Pose_JPS or Robot_Pose_TCP (will be renamed to Robot_Pose_Flange).

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 1102 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 102: Get Vision Target(s)¶

This command gets the vision targets, i.e., robot TCPs to reach the object poses contained in the vision points, after executing command 101.

Mech-Center automatically transforms the object poses in the vision points to their corresponding robot TCPs. The process is as follows:

Rotate the poses around their Y axes by 180 degrees.

Determine whether the definition of the reference frame used by the robot model involves robot base height, and add a vertical offset accordingly.

Note

In PROFINET, by default, command 102 can only fetch at most 20 targets at a time. So, command 102 may need to be repeatedly executed until all the targets required are obtained.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	102
Vision_Proj_Num	Project number

Project number

The integer ID number of the Mech-Vision project in Mech-Center, i.e., the number shown on the left of the project path in Deployment Settings ‣ Mech-Vision in Mech-Center. The number can be adjusted by dragging the projects.

Data Returned¶

Module	Description
Status code	/
Send_Pose_Num	Number of targets
Send_Pose_Type	Pose type
Target_Pose	Robot TCPs
Target_Label	Labels for targets

Note

The targets (up to 20 targets) are located at the tail of the data returned.

Status code

If there is no error, status code 1100 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

After executing this command, if the results from Mech-Vision have not been returned, Mech-Center will wait before sending the results to the robot. The default wait time is 10 seconds. If a timeout occurs, the timeout error status code will be returned.

Number of targets

The number of targets returned from the Mech-Vision project by executing this command this time.

Pose type

This module’s value defaults to 2, meaning the robot poses are in the form of TCPs, not JPs.

Robot TCPs

A TCP includes the Cartesian coordinates (XYZ) and Euler angles (ABC).

Labels for targets

The integer labels assigned to the object poses. If in the Mech-Vision project, the labels are strings, they need to be mapped to integers before outputting from the Mech-Vision project using Step Label Mapping. If there are no labels in the Mech-Vision project, the labels default to 0s.

Attention

For details about the sending and receiving of poses, please sees Communication Control Flowchart .

Command 103: Switch Mech-Vision Recipe ¶

This command switches the parameter recipe used by the Mech-Vision project.

In Mech-Vision, you can change the settings of a group of parameters by switching the parameter recipe.

Parameters involved in recipe switching usually include point cloud matching model, image matching template, ROI, confidence threshold, etc.

This command needs to be used before executing command 101 which starts the Mech-Vision project.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	103
Vision_Proj_Num	Project number
Vision_Recipe_Num	Recipe number

Project number

The integer ID number of the Mech-Vision project in Mech-Center, i.e., the number shown on the left of the project path in Deployment Settings ‣ Mech-Vision in Mech-Center. The number can be adjusted by dragging the projects.

Recipe number

The ID number of the parameter recipe to switch to, i.e., the number on the left of the parameter recipe name in Project Assistance ‣ Parameter Recipe ‣ Parameter Recipe Editor in Mech-Vision.

Recipe number range: 1—99.

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 1107 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 201: Start Mech-Viz Project ¶

This command is for scenarios using both Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz.

This command starts the running of the Mech-Viz project, calls the corresponding Mech-Vision project, and lets the Mech-Viz project plan the robot path based on the vision points from Mech-Vision.

For the Mech-Viz project that needs starting, the option Autoload needs to be checked in Mech-Viz’s interface.

Please see Example Mech-Viz Projects for Standard Interface for the description of example Mech-Viz projects.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	201
Robot_Pose_Type	Pose type
Robot_Pose_JPS	Pose

Pose type

0

The current pose of the robot is not needed by Mech-Viz and no pose will be sent.

If the project works in the eye-to-hand mode, no robot image-capturing pose will be needed by the project.

In Mech-Viz, the simulated robot will move from the initial pose JPs = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] to the first target in the planned path.

1

The robot pose will be sent to Mech-Viz and the pose sent is in the form of JPs.

In Mech-Viz, the simulated robot will move from the input initial pose (i.e., the pose sent by this command) to the first target in the planned path.

TCP is not supported at present.

Note

If in the scene, there are barriers that stand in the way from the initial pose JPs = [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0] to the first target in the planned path, the pose type must be set to 1.

Pose

The current JPs of the real robot (if pose type is set to 1).

Note

Before setting as the value of the pose module, the numerical values of the pose need to be multiplied by 10000, to transform floating point numbers into integers.

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2103 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 202: Stop Mech-Viz Project ¶

This command stops the running of the Mech-Viz project. This command is needed only when the Mech-Viz project fall into an infinite loop or cannot be stopped normally.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	202

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2104 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 203: Select Mech-Viz Branch ¶

This command specifies which branch the project should run along. For this command, the branching is implemented by a branch_by_msg Task, and this command selects the branch by specifying an exit port of the Task.

Before executing this command, the Mech-Viz project needs to be started by executing command 201.

When the Mech-Viz project runs to the branch_by_msg Task, it will wait for command 203 to specify which exit port of the Task, i.e., the branch, the project should run along.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	203
Viz_Task_ID	branching Task ID
Viz_Task_Value	exit port number

Branching Task ID

This parameter is for specifying which branch_by_msg Task the branch selection should apply to.

The Task ID can be read in the Task’s parameters.

Exit port number

This parameter is for specifying which exit port of the specified Task, i.e., the branch, the project should run along. The value should be an integer ([1, N]).

Note

An exit port number is the 1-based index of the specified exit port on the Task. For example, if the specified exit port is the second exit port of the Task from left to right, the exit port number is 2.

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2105 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 204: Set Move Index ¶

This command is for setting the index parameter of a Task that involves sequential or separate motions or operations.

Tasks with index parameters include move_list, move_grid, custom_pallet_pattern, smart_pallet_pattern, etc.

Before executing this command, command 201 needs to be executed to start the Mech-Viz project.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	204
Viz_Task_ID	Task ID
Viz_Task_Value	Index value

Task ID

This parameter specifies which Task the index setting should apply to.

The Task ID can be read in the Task’s parameters.

Index value

The index value that should be set the next time this Task is executed.

When this command is sent, the current index value in Mech-Viz will become the parameter value minus 1.

When the Mech-Viz project runs to the task specified by this command, the current index value in Mech-Viz will be increased by 1 to become the parameter’s value.

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2106 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 205: Get Planned Path ¶

This command gets the robot motion path planned by Mech-Viz after command 201 is executed to start the Mech-Viz project.

Note

Please uncheck the parameter “Send Target” of the corresponding move-type Task.

Note

In PROFINET, by default, command 205 can only fetch at most 20 targets of the planned path at a time. So, command 205 may need to be executed repeatedly until all the targets required are obtained.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	205
Req_Pose_Type	Target type

Target type

This parameter specifies the type of poses in the path targets to return from Mech-Viz.

1: The targets returned should be in JPs.

2: The targets returned should be in TCP.

Data Returned¶

Module	Description
Status code	/
Send_Pose_Num	Number of points
Send_Pose_Type	Pose type in targe points
Visual_Point_Index	Position of “visual_move”
Target_Pose	Poses in targets
Target_Label	Labels in targets
Target_Speed	Velocities in targets

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2100 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Note

When executing this command, if Mech-Viz has not yet had the planned robot motion path (the project is still running), Mech-Center will wait. The default wait time is 10 seconds. If a timeout occurs, a timeout error code will be returned.

Number of points

This parameter indicates the number of path targets ([pose, label, velocity]) sent by executing this command this time.

Note

In PROFINET, by default, command 205 can only send at most 20 targets at a time. So, command 205 may need to be repeatedly executed until all the targets required are sent.

Pose type in targe points

Same as the sent value in module “Req_Pose_Type”.

1

JPs

2

TCP

Position of “visual_move”

The position of the visual_move Task, i.e., the move to the vision pose (usually the pose for picking the object) in the entire robot motion path.

For example, if the path is composed of Tasks move_1, move_2, visual_move, move_3 sequentially, the position of visual_move is 3.

If in the path there is no visual_move Task, the returned value will be 0.

Poses in targets

A pose includes Cartesian coordinates (XYZ) and Euler angles (ABC), or JPs, according to the pose type set by command 205.

Labels in targets

Label is the integer label assigned to the pose. If in the Mech-Vision project, the labels are strings, they need to be mapped to integers before outputting from the Mech-Vision project using Step Label Mapping. If there are no labels in the Mech-Vision project, the label defaults to 0.

Velocities in targets

A velocity value is the non-zero velocity parameter percentage value for the move-type Task set in Mech-Viz.

Command 206: Get DO List ¶

This command gets the planned DO signal list when there are multiple grippers, such as suction cup sections, to control.

For using this command:

In the parameters of the “set_do_list” Task:

Check “StandardInterface” under “Receiver”

Check “Get DO List from VisualMove”

Select a “visual_move” Task that needs the DO signal list at the bottom of the parameter panel

Before calling this command, command 205 needs to be executed to obtain the planned motion path by Mech-Viz.

Please deploy the Mech-Viz project based on the template project at /Mech-Center/tool/viz_project/suction_zone, and set the suction cup configuration file in the Mech-Viz project.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	206

Data Returned¶

Module	Description
Status code	/
DO List	DO signal values

Status code

If there are no errors, status code 2102 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

DO signal values

There are 64 DO signal values, in integers, located at the tail of the data returned.

Range of valid DO values: [0, 999]. Placeholder value: -1.

Command 501: Input Object Dimensions to Mech-Vision ¶

This command is for dynamically inputting object dimensions into the Mech-Vision project.

Please confirm the actual object dimensions before running the Mech-Vision project.

The Mech-Vision project should have the Read Object Dimensions Step, and the Step’s parameter Read Object Dimensions from Parameters should be set to True.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	501
Vision_Proj_Num	Project number
Ext_Input_Data	[length, height, width]

Project number

The integer ID number of the Mech-Vision project in Mech-Center, i.e., the number shown on the left of the project path in Deployment Settings ‣ Mech-Vision in Mech-Center. The number can be adjusted by dragging the projects.

Length, height, width

The object dimensions to input to the Mech-Vision project.

Those values will be read by the Read Object Dimensions Step.

Unit: mm

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 1108 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 502: Input TCP to Mech-Viz ¶

This command is for dynamically inputting robot TCP into the Mech-Viz project.

The Task that receives the robot TCP is outer_move.

Please deploy the Mech-Viz project based on the template project at /Mech-Center/tool/viz_project/outer_move, and put the outer_move Task to a proper position in the workflow.

This command needs to be executed before executing command 201.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	502
Ext_Input_Data	Robot TCP

Robot TCP

The TCP data used to set the target for the Task outer_move.

Note

Please multiply the original TCP data (unit: mm) by 10,000 before setting the parameter.

Data Returned¶

Status code

If there is no error, status code 2107 will be returned. Otherwise, the corresponding error code will be returned.

Command 901: Get Software Status ¶

This command is designed for checking the software running status of Mech-Vision, Mech-Viz, and Mech-Center. At present, this command only supports checking whether Mech-Vision is ready for running the project.

Command Sent¶

Module	Description
Command	901

Data Returned¶

Status code

Software status. 1101 means the Mech-Vision project is ready to run. Other codes mean the project is not ready.