Allen Bradley PLC with Universal Robot and Keyence vision

[dlingle774]

I am a college student in my 2nd year of Automated systems and for my final project me and my classmate are looking to hook up a Universal Robots UR3 with a Keyence cvx-302-f vision system through an Allen Bradley PLC and are having troubles getting the coordinates from the vision to the robot through the plc. I am wondering if there is some sort of software we are missing in the plc or robot or how we should go about getting it done. Any help will be greatly appreciated thank you in advance.

 

[OysterMan]

Have you been able to get anything from the camera to the PLC? I would like more info about the PLC and how you have everything set up? Also what are you trying to get the robot to do?

 

[dlingle774]

Yes I can get the info from camera to plc and were trying to do a pick and place application with bolts. The plc is a compactlogics 1769 we have it all connected via ethernet through and enet switch. I was also able to get the robot and plc to communicate with universal robots eip sample project.

 

[James Mcquade]

Welcome to the forum.

we used Cognex rather than keyence and was within .4mm
what is your setup?
from the camera, what is the communications to the plc?
from the plc, what is the communications and interface to the robot?
regards,
james

 

[dlingle774]

It is all connected via ethernet

 

[PreLC]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, it definitely seems like a doable project. This is a good start as sometimes college students are pushed into projects way beyond the possible scope
What's your architecture? I'm guessing everything is connected to each other using ethernet? What is the AB PLC that you are referring to?

Are you online with the PLC? If so, you have to download Universal's EDS file and add it to the rockwell PLC as an ethernet module. Then enable the Ethernet/IP option in the UR Teach pendant.

As for the vision system, same deal. Download it's EDS file and add it to your PLC's controller organizer. As for the vision system's programming, you would have to download keyence's software. What are you trying to measure? Can you already read the parameter on the PLC?

Might be more useful to know if the problem is with communication, setup, or the vision programming. More details would help a lot.

Regards,
-PreLC

 

[James Mcquade]

as suggested, comms issue.

forget the robot for now, using the plc, can you trigger the keyence system and get a reply from it. is the data useable data and can you store the information into the plc for use with the robot?
it sounds like you may be using an ethernet card or switch for the communicaions, you may need speciality cable.
james

 

[dlingle774]

Yes I can trigger the vision from the plc and it will store the coordinates from the vision until I trigger again

 

[PreLC]

I am a college student in my 2nd year of Automated systems and for my final project me and my classmate are looking to hook up a Universal Robots UR3 with a Keyence cvx-302-f vision system through an Allen Bradley PLC and are having troubles getting the coordinates from the vision to the robot through the plc. I am wondering if there is some sort of software we are missing in the plc or robot or how we should go about getting it done. Any help will be greatly appreciated thank you in advance.

Yes I can trigger the vision from the plc and it will store the coordinates from the vision until I trigger again

Can you try and COP the coordinate values from the vision system into the data registers for the UR Robot? The UDT that UR Provides on their website has registers that are writable from the PLC via EIP.

 

[dlingle774]

I will look into that tomorrow and see

 

[dlingle774]

Can you try and COP the coordinate values from the vision system into the data registers for the UR Robot? The UDT that UR Provides on their website has registers that are writable from the PLC via EIP.

I will try that the other question with that is how to make them coordinates usable with the robot as the camera is not mounted to the bot

 

[dlingle774]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, it definitely seems like a doable project. This is a good start as sometimes college students are pushed into projects way beyond the possible scope
What's your architecture? I'm guessing everything is connected to each other using ethernet? What is the AB PLC that you are referring to?

Are you online with the PLC? If so, you have to download Universal's EDS file and add it to the rockwell PLC as an ethernet module. Then enable the Ethernet/IP option in the UR Teach pendant.

As for the vision system, same deal. Download it's EDS file and add it to your PLC's controller organizer. As for the vision system's programming, you would have to download keyence's software. What are you trying to measure? Can you already read the parameter on the PLC?

Might be more useful to know if the problem is with communication, setup, or the vision programming. More details would help a lot.

Regards,
-PreLC

the plc is a compactlogix 1769 and yes we are using ethernet for everything. we have all the eds files and we have the plc communicating with the vision and with the robot already the problem we are having now is getting the coordinates into the robot and how to make sure it knows where to go with those coordinates as the camera is not mounted on the robot. we are very close to figuring it out just having troubles with the robot to vision part through the plc. not sure if there is some code we need in the robot for it to understand the vision coordinates or if we have to write a code in plc to convert them to what robot will know.

 

[PreLC]

the plc is a compactlogix 1769 and yes we are using ethernet for everything. we have all the eds files and we have the plc communicating with the vision and with the robot already the problem we are having now is getting the coordinates into the robot and how to make sure it knows where to go with those coordinates as the camera is not mounted on the robot. we are very close to figuring it out just having troubles with the robot to vision part through the plc. not sure if there is some code we need in the robot for it to understand the vision coordinates or if we have to write a code in plc to convert them to what robot will know.

You'll have to do some manipulating in order for the robot to understand what the camera is saying. It would depend on you if you would like to transfer raw data from the vision to the robot via the PLC, then do the manipulating in the robot, or if you would like PLC to do this manipulating.

You'll likely be better for troubleshooting if you do the manipulating in the PLC. There would still be coding required in the robot, but you'll be giving the robot 2, maybe 3 coordinates and then the robot would take care of motion. In order to send the data raw to the robot, you'll have to take the vision's data and move/cop/cps/etc. to the robot into the registers defined in the UR's EIP manual.

Then you'll have to use these values in the robot program that you wrote. This determines how the robot movements are manipulated from the raw data.
Keep us posted!
PreLC

 

[Picklemon]

I've never used a Universal Robot, but I have used the CV-X to guide Fanuc and ABB robots.

Keyence has some pretty good literature and videos for using vision guidance with robots:
https://www.keyence.com/support/user/robotvision
https://www.keyence.com/support/user/vision/vision-sys/video_2d-vgr/

I don't remember if these pages are password protected, so you may need to contact Keyence for access.

They have some sample programs for Universal Robots, but if they are like the Fanuc and ABB samples, they involve the robot directly communicating with the camera.

Here's the basic steps we use:
1) Establish a 2D plane in the robot. Basically, you have to teach the robot where the table is at. I'm not sure what is involved in this with a UR.
2) Using a single part, set a base or zero position with the vision that all of the future offsets operate from
3) Teach the robot base or zero position on the same part in the same position
4) When looking at future parts, you need to offset the robot base position with the difference between the current and base coordinates from the camera. Again, I'm not sure what is involved in this with a UR.