Motoman DX200 Servo control from PLC

Sean Teague

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Apr 2020
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Tennessee
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Hello all,

We have several Motoman DX200 robots. The servos run all day, everyday.

I would like to turn the servos OFF on them after 10 minutes or so of idle time.

The PLC programs look like they have an ouput for Servo ON, but when I break that logic with a timer, it turns the output off, but the servos on the robots stay on.

Anyone have any experience with this?
 
We have several cells that do this (DX200 and other Motoman). We provide a separate output from the PLC.

There may be some ladder logic setup required in the robot -- I generally don't handle that side of things.

EDIT: The concurrent I/O manual suggests that specific input 40065 is what you want: "40065: EXTERNAL SERVO OFF 1 (Deceleration stop)"
 
Servo on is Specific Input #40045 in a DX100 controller (DX200 might be the same or might be different, download the CIO manual from motoman's website)


There are a few servo off Specific inputs, you would probably want #40065 (again check the CIO manual).



You just have to see if that is mapped from the PLC to the robot. This is where you would need to provide a bit more information but a few things I would look at:


Look at the rest of the data bits near the Servo on command in the PLC and see if they have another one labelled Servo Off (in a DX100, it's 2 bytes away from Servo on)


Next thing to check is the electrical drawings to see if they show the mapping there.


If you still can't find it, you will need to go into the internal ladder of the Motoman robot, and search for data in the user ladder starting somewhere around the 30020 area, that's where they usually map ethernet stuff and it can be customized. Hopefully it doesn't get to that point since you need a bit of experience to make changes to this.


But you would see something like a bit in the 30xxx range turning on bit #40065. Then you would need to figure out which bit that is from the PLC. And if it doesn't exist you can always edit the user section of the ladder to add it there.



If this is all over your head then you can always call in Motoman to add it to the concurrent I/O
 
Servo on is Specific Input #40045 in a DX100 controller (DX200 might be the same or might be different, download the CIO manual from motoman's website)


There are a few servo off Specific inputs, you would probably want #40065 (again check the CIO manual).



You just have to see if that is mapped from the PLC to the robot. This is where you would need to provide a bit more information but a few things I would look at:


Look at the rest of the data bits near the Servo on command in the PLC and see if they have another one labelled Servo Off (in a DX100, it's 2 bytes away from Servo on)


Next thing to check is the electrical drawings to see if they show the mapping there.


If you still can't find it, you will need to go into the internal ladder of the Motoman robot, and search for data in the user ladder starting somewhere around the 30020 area, that's where they usually map ethernet stuff and it can be customized. Hopefully it doesn't get to that point since you need a bit of experience to make changes to this.


But you would see something like a bit in the 30xxx range turning on bit #40065. Then you would need to figure out which bit that is from the PLC. And if it doesn't exist you can always edit the user section of the ladder to add it there.



If this is all over your head then you can always call in Motoman to add it to the concurrent I/O

So, can this all be done in the robot pendant, or do i need additional PLC logic?

I guess i was thinking "if i turn off the servo ON output, the servos should automatically drop out" but youre saying i need to turn off the servo ON then turn on the servo OFF?
 
So, can this all be done in the robot pendant, or do i need additional PLC logic?

I guess i was thinking "if i turn off the servo ON output, the servos should automatically drop out" but youre saying i need to turn off the servo ON then turn on the servo OFF?


Yes I believe they are latched, similar to hitting the "Servo on" button on the robot pendant.



Also you have verified this via your testing in your original question :)



As to whether it is just PLC, or PLC & robot, that depends on if they have mapped a bit to the PLC that is mapped to the Servo Off bit in the robot


I would download the CIO manual for the DX200 controller, find the Servo ON bit (likely #40045), find the Servo OFF bit (likely #40065), and look how many bits are in between (exactly 2 bytes). In your PLC mapping, hopefully they have mapped a large block over that is sequential. Find the bit that is exactly two bytes past the Servo On bit that you already know and see if it is labelled as "Servo Off" in the PLC. If not, you can try turning it on, assuming it's not already being used and watch the Specific input page in the robot pendant and see if #40065 comes on. Do this when the cell is NOT RUNNING. In case the mapping is not sequential and you are turning on something else.


Again you should be able to see this in the electrical drawings if the machine builder documented things properly. But if not, you can try what I mentioned above.
 
Last edited:
So, can this all be done in the robot pendant, or do i need additional PLC logic?

Specific input 40065 needs to be mapped to an input from the PLC in the robot ladder logic, but that may already be done for you in which case all you need is to identify which input from the PLC it is.

You would also obviously need PLC logic as to when to turn that bit on, though it could be as simple as 'whenever the Servo On bit is not on' since it sounds like you are holding that bit high while running.
 
I was able to get this working correctly in the DX200. I added the 40065 output in the robot ladder logic and wrote PLC logic to turn off Servo ON and pulse servo OFF after the robots sit idle for 10 minutes. Its working great! thanks for all the input.

Now, I have a DX100 that I need to do the same thing to. It is not Ethernet like the DX200's. There is just a multi-conductor cable running to the robot from a Micrologix PLC. They are using the MXT board to turn servos on, but there is not spot for servo OFF. Also, on the 306, 307, 308, 309 connectors, it looks like all available inputs are being used. Any ideas?
 
I was able to get this working correctly in the DX200. I added the 40065 output in the robot ladder logic and wrote PLC logic to turn off Servo ON and pulse servo OFF after the robots sit idle for 10 minutes. Its working great! thanks for all the input.

Now, I have a DX100 that I need to do the same thing to. It is not Ethernet like the DX200's. There is just a multi-conductor cable running to the robot from a Micrologix PLC. They are using the MXT board to turn servos on, but there is not spot for servo OFF. Also, on the 306, 307, 308, 309 connectors, it looks like all available inputs are being used. Any ideas?


Check the drawings to make sure that all inputs are in fact being used for something. Maybe there are wires in the terminals but they are not connected on the other side and you could repurpose one of these. They hopefully left you a few spare inputs.



You will want to look in the "External Inputs" area, these should be mapped starting at 20010. You should see numbers in the 2xxxx range next to the inputs in the electrical drawings.



If you end up having a spare then you would need to wire up one of these robot inputs to a relay output either in a relay card in the PLC rack to drive an ice cube relay from a transistor output.
 
I already checked, there are no spares. We are unloading a large injection mold machine with a DX100. Several signals going back and forth between the two.


I do have a Auto/Manual switch on the front of the cabinet. I was thinking of creating some type of "Auto Servos Ready" bit in the PLC and using it to break the "Auto Mode" logic in the PLC, which would take the machine out of manual and drop the servos out.

I was thinking...

IF no signal from mold machine for 10 minutes, THEN set turn off 'Auto Servos Ready", and put it in my Auto Mode logix rung. Then if the PLC gets a unload signal, the logic resets, re-engaging Auto mode??
 
I already checked, there are no spares. We are unloading a large injection mold machine with a DX100. Several signals going back and forth between the two.


I do have a Auto/Manual switch on the front of the cabinet. I was thinking of creating some type of "Auto Servos Ready" bit in the PLC and using it to break the "Auto Mode" logic in the PLC, which would take the machine out of manual and drop the servos out.

I was thinking...

IF no signal from mold machine for 10 minutes, THEN set turn off 'Auto Servos Ready", and put it in my Auto Mode logix rung. Then if the PLC gets a unload signal, the logic resets, re-engaging Auto mode??


I can't comment on how your machine should function with regards to auto/manual mode etc, but in terms of turning off the servos of the robot, you will still need some way to turn on the "Servo Off" bit of the robot, so you will have to figure something out, possibly adding another I/O card, or looking for another method. There might be another input somewhere in the cabinet that you can repurpose for this, but I would probably get motoman to quote adding another input card.
 

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