Robot Communication Setup

In this tutorial, you will learn how to load the Standard Interface program files to the YASKAWA robot, and set up the Standard Interface communication between the Mech-Mind Vision System and the robot.

  • In this section, you will load the robot Standard Interface program and the configuration files to the robot system to establish the Standard Interface communication between the vision system and the robot.

  • If you are using the robots of other brands, you can find instructions on setting up the Standard Interface communication with the desired robot from the section Standard Interface Communication.
Video Tutorial: Robot Interface Configuration (Standard Interface Communication)

Preparation before Loading

Check Hardware and Software Versions

  • Confirm that the robot is a 6-axis YASKAWA robot. This tutorial uses YASKAWA_GP8 as an example.

  • Confirm that the robot controller is YRC1000, YRC1000micro or DX200. This tutorial takes the robot controller YRC1000 as an example, and the robot system version is YAS2.94.00-00.

  • Confirm that the Ethernet option has been enabled for the YASKAWA robot.

    Operation instructions

    1. Press and hold the MAIN MENU key on the teach pendant, and power on the robot to enter the maintenance mode.

      set ip 1
      If the robot is already started, please restart the robot while pressing the MAIN MENU key on the teach pendant.

    2. In the maintenance mode, select SYSTEM  SECURITY  MANAGEMENT MODE.

      set ip 2
      set ip 3

    3. Enter the password (which is sixteen 9s by default), and then press Enter to enter the MANAGEMENT MODE.

      set ip 4
      set ip 5

    4. On the Main Menu, select SYSTEM  SETUP  OPTION FUNCTION. Select DETAIL of the NETWORK FUNCTION SETTING option, and press the SELECT key on the teach pendant to enter the NETWORK FUNCTION SETTING interface.

      set ip 6
      set ip 7
      check network option

    5. Check whether the status of ETHERNET is displayed as USED.

      check network ethernet
      If the status is “UNUSED”, please contact the robot manufacturer for support.

  • Confirm that the MotoPlus option has been enabled for the YASKAWA robot.

    Operation instructions

    1. In the MANAGEMENT MODE of the maintenance mode, select MotoPlus APL.  MotoPlus FUNC. SETTING on the Main Menu.

    2. On the MotoPlus FUNC. SETTING interface, check whether the status of APPLI. AUTOSTART AT POWER ON is ENABLE.

      check motoplus 1

    3. If the status is “UNABLE”, select UNABLE, and press the SELECT key on the teach pendant to switch the status to ENABLE.

      check motoplus 2
If the preceding conditions cannot be met, the vision system cannot communicate with the robot through the Standard Interface. Please contact the robot manufacturer for support.

Connect the Network

  1. Plug the Ethernet cable of the IPC into the LAN2 (CN106) port on the CPU board of the robot controller.

    If you are using the DX200 controller, plug the Ethernet cable of the IPC into the CN104 port on the CPU board of the robot controller.

  2. Make sure that the IP address of the YASKAWA robot and that of the IPC are in the same subnet.

    Operation instructions

    1. In the MANAGEMENT MODE of the maintenance mode, select SYSTEM  SETUP  OPTION FUNCTION on the Main Menu. Select DETAIL of the LAN INTERFACE SETTING option, and press the SELECT key on the teach pendant to enter the LAN INTERFACE SETTING interface.

      set ip 8

    2. Check the IP address of the robot (that is IP address of LAN2).

      set ip address 2

    3. Make sure that the IP address of the robot and that of the IPC are in the same subnet. If not, modify the IP address of the IPC by referring to Set IPC IP Address, window=_blank.

Create a Mech-Vision Project and Save It

  1. Open Mech-Vision. If the Welcome interface as shown below is displayed, it indicates that Mech-Vision is started successfully.

    image

  2. In the Welcome interface of Mech-Vision, click Create from solution library to open the Solution Library.

    project build welcome interface library
    The Solution Library is a resource library that provides typical solutions or projects (with sample data) from various application scenarios.

  3. Select the General Workpiece Recognition project from the Solution Library, as shown below.

    project build select project

    If you cannot find this General Workpiece Recognition project in the Solution Library, click More at the bottom of the Solution Library interface.

  4. After this project is selected, the information introducing this project will be displayed on the lower part of the Solution Library interface. Set the solution name and path, and then click Create.

    project build check project info

    After the project is created, the created solution and project will be displayed in the project list in the upper-left corner of the Mech-Vision main interface.

    • A solution is a set of configurations and data related to robots and robot communication, vision processing, path planning, etc. that are required for the machine vision application.

    • A project is a workflow of vision processing in the solution. Normally, a solution only contains one project, but it may contain more than one project in complex application scenarios. In this tutorial, the solution requires only one project.
    project build check project list

    In the Graphical Programming Workspace of the main interface, the workflow of the General Workpiece Recognition project will be displayed.

    project build check project step

  5. In the project list, right-click the solution, and select Autoload Solution.

    project build click auto load

    After this solution is set to autoload, the project name will be displayed in green, and the project ID will be displayed in the left of the project name.

    project build auto load finish
    The project ID will be used by the robot pick-and-place program to trigger the Mech-Vision project to run.

  6. On the menu bar, select File  Save Solution.

    project build save solution

Set up Robot Communication Configuration

  1. Click theRobot Communication Configuration button in the toolbar of Mech-Vision to open the Robot Communication Configuration window.

  2. Click the Select robot drop-down menu, and select Listed robot. Then, click Select robot model, select the YASKAWA robot model “YASKAWA_GP8” and click Next to continue.

    select robot model

  3. Select Standard Interface in the Communication Option area, and TCP Server and ASCII for Protocol, and then click Apply. Ensure that the port number is not occupied by another program. It is recommended to select Auto enable interface service when opening the solution. Lastly, click the Apply button.

    configure communication 1

  4. In the Mech-Vision main interface, confirm that the Robot Communication Configuration button on the toolbar has been slid to the right and turned blue.

    configure communication 2

Prepare the Program Files

  1. On the IPC, open Mech-Center/Robot_Interface/YASKAWA in the installation directory of the Mech-Vision and Mech-Viz software.

  2. Copy the JBI folder, sample folder, and the mm_module_yrc1000.out file to the root directory of the USB flash drive.

    • mm_module_yrc1000.out: the robot backend program file (MotoPlus application file).

    • JBI folder: stores robot frontend program files (Job files).

    • sample: stores simple pick-and-place example program files.

      If you are using the controller DX200, you need to copy the backend program file mm_module_dx200.out here.

  3. Plug the USB flash drive into the USB port on the rear panel of the teach pendant.

Make Sure That No Program Is Running in MotoPlus

Before you load robot program files to the robot, make sure that no other MotoPlus programs are running.

  • If no programs are running, skip this section.

  • If there are any running program, delete this application program.

    Operation instructions

    1. In the MANAGEMENT MODE of the maintenance mode, select MotoPlus APL.  DELETE on the Main Menu.

      delete motoplus app 1

    2. On the MotoPlus APL. DELETE interface, select the program file to delete, and then press the SELECT key on the teach pendant to select this file.

      delete motoplus app 2

    3. Press the ENTER key on the teach pendant, and press the YES button on the pop-up dialog box to delete the program.

      delete motoplus app 3

Load the Program Files to the Robot

Load the Backend Program File

  1. Under the maintenance mode, select MotoPlus APL.  DEVICE  USB: Pendant on the Main Menu.

    begin to load 1
    begin to load 2

  2. Select MotoPlus APL  .LOAD(USER APPLICATION). Select mm_module_yrc1000.out, press the ENTER key on the teach pendant, and click YES in the pop-up window to start loading the program.

    begin to load 3
    begin to load 4
    begin to load 5
    If you are using the controller DX200, you need to select mm_module_dx200.out here.

  3. After the loading completes, select MotoPlus APL.  FILE LIST. If you can see the backend program file (YRC1000.OUT), the loading of the backend program file is successful.

    begin to load 6
    begin to load 7
    If you are using the controller DX200, you will see DX200.OUT here after the loading succeeds.

  4. After you have loaded the backend program file, reboot the robot to enter the online mode.

    You need to load the frontend program files and the example program files under the online mode. Therefore, you need to perform this operation after loading the backend program file.

Load the Frontend Program Files

  1. Under the online mode, select SYSTEM INFO  SECURITY  MANAGEMENT MODE on the Main Menu. Select in the drop-down menu, and input the default password (sixteen 9s).

    change language level 1
    change language level 2
    change language level 3

    Press Enter in the lower-right corner of the teach pendant screen to enter the management mode.

    change language level 4

  2. Press the right-arrow icon 2 button in the lower-left corner of the teach pendant screen. Then select SETUP  TEACHING COND, and select EXPANDED in the drop-down menu of LANGUAGE LEVEL.

    change language level 5
    change language level 6

  3. Select EX. MEMORY  DEVICE, and then select USB: Pendant in the drop-down menu of DEVICE.

    loading foreground program 1
    loading foreground program 2

  4. Select EX. MEMORY  FOLDER. In the FOLDER LIST, select and enter the JBI folder.

    loading foreground program 3
    loading foreground program 4
    loading foreground program 5

  5. Select EX. MEMORY  LOAD, and select JOB. A list of jobs to load will be displayed on the screen.

    loading foreground program 6
    loading foreground program 7
    loading foreground program 8

  6. Select EDIT  SELECT ALL.

    loading foreground program 9
    loading foreground program 10

  7. Press the ENTER key on the teach pendant. Select YES in the pop-up dialog box to start loading the programs.

    loading foreground program 11

  8. After loading the frontend programs, select menu: JOB[SELECT JOB] to view the list of loaded programs. If you can see all frontend programs in the JOB LIST, then the loading of the fronted programs is successful.

    loading foreground program 12
    loading foreground program 13

Load the Example Program File

Repeat the loading steps in the section Load the Frontend Program Files to load the example program file.

Please note that you need to select the SAMPLE folder when selecting a folder to load.

Test Standard Interface Communication

Before testing the Standard Interface communication between the robot and the vision system, make sure that the interface service is started. Then, run a test program on the teach pendant to test the Standard Interface communication. You can directly use the loaded calibration program (MM_AUTO_CALIB) as the test program.

  1. On the teach pendant, select JOB  SELECT JOB on the Main Menu to enter the JOB LIST interface.

    loading foreground program 12
    loading foreground program 13

  2. Select the MM_AUTO_CALIB program and press the Select key to open it. Select line 0001, and select the IP address and port number in the text box at the bottom right. Press Enter to enter the IP address change interface. Change the IP address to that of the IPC.

    If the host port number set in Mech-Vision is modified, the port number 50000 here should be changed to the host port number in Mech-Vision.
    test connection 1
    test connection 2
    test connection 3

  3. Twist the mode key on teach pendant to TEACH to enter the TEACH mode.

  4. On the teach pendant, press the SERVO ON READY key, and then hold down the enable switch on the back while moving the cursor back to line 0000 on the screen.

    test connection 9
    test connection 10
    test connection 11
    This step ensures that the job runs from the first line.

  5. Press the interlock key and test run key on the teach pendant at the same time to test whether the communication is normal.

    test connection 12

  6. Check whether logs will be displayed on the Mech-VisionLog panel in the Console tab. If the following log is displayed, the communication between the YASKAWA robot and the vision system is established successfully.

    vision center log

Now you have loaded the robot Standard Interface program and the configuration files to the robot system to establish the Standard Interface communication between the vision system and the robot.

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