What are you trying to accomplish?
If all you want to do is have the PLC command the robot to perform some actions and to tell the PLC when it is performing those actions, the easiest approach is to hard wire PLC discrete outputs to robot discrete inputs and robot discrete outputs to PLC discrete inputs.
What are you trying to accomplish?
If all you want to do is have the PLC command the robot to perform some actions and to tell the PLC when it is performing those actions, the easiest approach is to hard wire PLC discrete outputs to robot discrete inputs and robot discrete outputs to PLC discrete inputs.
I already have a fanuc program set up that I would like to call, that I want use to start/stop/pause/etc via the HMI and PLC. I don't need to directly call inputs and outputs, rather just the ability to start and stop a program as well as other tags (fault, busy, etc) for indicators on the HMI.
Yes, I have the correct modules on the robot, it's a matter of understanding the CCW side that I'm having trouble with. I don't understand how to configure a PLC with an ethernet module. All I can do is change the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway.
I'm not entirely sure, actually. I just started using PLCs recently so I am not terribly proficient with the terminology yet. I thought I would be able to connect the PLC, HMI, and robot to a network switch and configure the robot so that I can see its tags in the PLC. I thought Ethernet/IP was its own communication protocol.
I have realized that the Micro820 controller does not have the ability to configure generic ethernet modules (like the controllogix controllers) so it is not possible to connect as a scanner that way. You need to use CIP explicit messaging to communicate between a Micro820 and a fanuc robot.