advice on new job about Robot programing

I just got offered a job as a plc/robot programer for a company building machine. The issue is i am a very good plc programer but never have I programed robots, I have been around them but never to program just to troublwe shoot.

If I take this job there is going to be no one there to show me.

So questions are

Can robot programing be self tought?
Can You just pick up it from reading?
Are there any websites or books that might help?

anyone

Can robot programing be self tought?

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Sure I think so. The robots I have worked with are a lot like Basic programming.

Can You just pick up it from reading?

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I think it depends on the type of projects you are doing. Most robots just have a bunch of points. The programs just move from point to point. More advanced stuff may not be this simple.

Are there any websites or books that might help?

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I keep putting links to the robot forum on here. Its still small but can have some good information.
http://www.robot-forum.com/robotforum/index.php

Do you know what brand or type of robots you would be using?

I can't contribute to your question, but I would definitely suggest being totally honest up front with your potential employer.

My two penneth

I have expierence of a 9 year old Kobe Steel Robot on a recent job.

Very easy to program, has teach mode, read the manual, program in steps, real easy.

For this robot if you can program a PLC it is a breeze.

I dont know about newer robots

Joe, Just like Charles said, most robots are point to point, you tell it to go to each point. Fairly non-complex. On our machines the programing for the more complex process of getting from A -> B is done by the robot supplier as a part of their sell. OEM vendors are a great source of knowledge.
The honest answer is never wrong either, I would just confidently tell them "a machine is a machine, I can figure anything out with a little time or training". Never pass up an oppurtunity because you might not know how to do it. They offered you the position, so obviously they saw something they liked.

Fanuc Robot Integrator here. If you want to fast track the learning curve, take any introductory classes offered. Its a good kick start, and a PLC programmer can pick up the rest unless you are planning on getting real deep into configuration/setup. I'll be doing the same on a future ABB robot job we have and I just need a primer to pick up ABB's terminology and the pendent's menu structure. Seriously, I haven't found programming documentation for robots to be good at all; hands-on goes pretty far.

they are all fanuc and nachi

So I would assume that you send the robot a cycle start and a machine clear input and then what do you just jog the robot and set points or what

Normally you would send a program number or an input to select which job/program you wish to run from your main/master program.

You create a program i.e weld LH door, then in teach(manual) you navigate the robot (at greatly reduced speed) to the positions required and store them.

Most robots have a linear,joint,circular moves to pick from
Joint - high speed non accurate 'Air' moves
Linear - Straight lines (more accurate)
Circular - ideal for cylinders,radius etc

then in auto,Your PLC tells the robot which program to run (100% speed) based on your taught positions.

Analog/Digital I/O is the same as PLC's, so what ever is bolted on the wrist of the robot is controlled via these signals.



very crude description but you get the point - i hope.

joeparrish said:

So I would assume that you send the robot a cycle start and a machine clear input and then what do you just jog the robot and set points or what

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I don't know which controller you have on the Fanucs but the newer models can be setup for remote start/stop (via h/w i/o or fieldbus) or work locally directly from the pendant and front panel. I've always thought that Fanuc's menus were not very intuitive but other than that, there is a lot of flexibility.

Many different programs can be stored so cycle start has to be configured.

I would review the cartesian coordinate systems in your old math books. Fanuc robots are typically 6 axis; 3 for X,Y,Z called the majors, and 3 for the minor which controls orientation about each major axis. There is two different modes for robot movement (joint, linear/circular) but quite a few different coordinate systems that can be set up to move in and that's where the magic is.

I could go on forever, that's why a primer class fast tracks the learning curve. Or you could just dive in and just be careful of the End-Of-Arm-Tooling when you "crash". Good luck!

That's about it. I use Yamaha robots. I have the operator set all the important points then I cal other points based on those. For example they may set a pick up position. I then add 100mm to the Z movement for a clear position above the pick up position. Which brings up another point. Robots can be programmed 2 ways. One is using X Y Z and any other axis you have the other is using encoder counts. I try to always use XYZ. In the Yamaha you can do if then else, goto's that type of thing. You can have several different programs then just select which one you want to run. I set my robots up on Profibus so I can send commands that way. I can also upload/download points etc. Most robots have some type of plc type program that runs along with the motion program. This can be used to scan i/o etc while the robot program is running. This can be a big help because the robot program just runs line at a time.

I'm just throwing some things out there. I would try to get some basic trainging to start with but OJT will work the best.

Joe I have been an AB geek for years. When I went to Motoman and ABB robot schools. You could tell who was a PLC guy in the class after 2 days. We (PLC geeks) had them doing all the extra stuff. I had a big bot 9' reach holding an ink pen writing my name and then taking a bow after it was done in no time.
************NOTE THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS************

The configuration of most system in only taught in advance classes. The starter classes are mostly for systems that are up and running NOT for setting up new systems.

As everybody else has said point to point. An easy example is move the EOAT (eand of arm tooling) from point A to point B. You have to spell out where point A is X,Y,&Z (1200,3746,8520) to B X,Y,&Z (2400,3746,8520) we just moved in the X axis 1200 points. The points could be 1.200" or mm. All in the setup. You can do some cool stuff in a bot.

What is the current training budget? How many system do they do a year? What has been ordered already? What is in the current pipeline and when is the expected delievery date?
Those are some of the questions I would be asking them. I hated a shop that I took a job at because they told me I would have ample time to get up to speed before being fed to the sharks. The second day on the job I did a 16 hr day.

http://www.eod.gvsu.edu/~jackh/books/integrated/pdf/integratedbook.pdf

this is a book that has some basic robotic concepts I've been studying this one its fairly informative

mordred said:

http://www.eod.gvsu.edu/~jackh/books/integrated/pdf/integratedbook.pdf

this is a book that has some basic robotic concepts I've been studying this one its fairly informative

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Thanks