Move robot with mouse

This article shows how to move a FANUC robot in real time from a PC, with a joystick or a 6D mouse, using the Dynamic Path Modification option (DPM, R739) and SNPX. The PC sends small offsets, and the robot applies them at each interpolation period.

Principle

DPM changes the path of the robot while a motion runs. Here it is used in a different way: the robot stays at the end of a short motion, and DPM keeps applying the offsets that the PC writes. The robot then follows the joystick or the mouse.

Prerequisites

The controller needs these options:

• R739 Dyn Path Modifier: the Track instructions of DPM.
• SNPX: option R553 "HMI Device SNPX" with the FANUC America parameters (R650 FRA). No option with the FANUC Ltd. parameters (R651 FRL).

TP program

This program moves the robot to P[1], starts DPM, and goes to P[2], which is 1 mm from P[1]. DPM needs a motion of non-zero length: with the same position twice, the controller raises DPMO-005 NO Zero Dist Motion.

The robot then stays at P[2] and applies the offsets written in the system variables.

/PROG DPM_MOUSE
/ATTR
OWNER		= MNEDITOR;
COMMENT		= "";
PROG_SIZE	= 542;
CREATE		= DATE 25-03-23  TIME 10:14:27;
MODIFIED	= DATE 25-03-23  TIME 10:14:27;
FILE_NAME	= ;
VERSION		= 0;
LINE_COUNT	= 1;
MEMORY_SIZE	= 1030;
PROTECT		= READ_WRITE;
TCD:  STACK_SIZE	= 0,
      TASK_PRIORITY	= 50,
      TIME_SLICE	= 0,
      BUSY_LAMP_OFF	= 0,
      ABORT_REQUEST	= 0,
      PAUSE_REQUEST	= 0;
DEFAULT_GROUP	= 1,*,*,*,*;
CONTROL_CODE	= 00000000 00000000;
/MN
   1:J P[1] 80% FINE    ;
   2:  Track DPM[1] ;
   3:L P[2] 100mm/sec FINE    ;
   4:  Track End ;
   5:L P[2] 100mm/sec FINE    ;
/POS
P[1]{GP1:
	UF : 0, UT : 1,		CONFIG : 'N U T, 0, 0, 0',
	X =  1039.198  mm,	Y =     -1059.802  mm,	Z =   208.816  mm,
	W =      0.000 deg,	P =      0.000 deg,	R =     0.000 deg
};
P[2]{GP1:
	UF : 0, UT : 1,		CONFIG : 'N U T, 0, 0, 0',
	X =  1039.198  mm,	Y =     -1059.802  mm,	Z =   209.816  mm,
	W =      0.000 deg,	P =      0.000 deg,	R =     0.000 deg
};
/END

DPM configuration

Open MENU, Setup, DPM Setup, and set these values.

Schedule 1, CONFIG

Schedule 1, DETAIL

Channels 1, 2 and 3

Disable the channels 4 and above if you do not use them.

How it works

At each interpolation period (ITP), the controller reads the system variable $INI_OFS, applies the offset, then sets it back to zero. The PC writes a new offset at each period.

Example

The PC writes the offsets in these system variables with SNPX, at each period:

parameters.Snpx.Enable = true;
robot.Connect(parameters);
// Offsets read from the joystick or the mouse, between -1 and 1
double x = 0.2, y = 0, z = -0.5;

// Write the offset of each channel. The controller applies it at the next
// interpolation period, then sets it back to zero.
if (x != 0) robot.Snpx.IntegerSystemVariables.Write("$DPM_SCH[1].$GRP[1].$OFS[1].$INI_OFS", Math.Sign(x) + (int)(x * 5));
if (y != 0) robot.Snpx.IntegerSystemVariables.Write("$DPM_SCH[1].$GRP[1].$OFS[2].$INI_OFS", Math.Sign(y) + (int)(y * 5));
if (z != 0) robot.Snpx.IntegerSystemVariables.Write("$DPM_SCH[1].$GRP[1].$OFS[3].$INI_OFS", Math.Sign(z) + (int)(z * 5));
robot.Disconnect();
}

The DPM page of the demo application does it with the mouse. Its source, DpmControl.cs, is the complete example.

Everything on this page can be tried without writing code, in the DPM (R739) page of the demo application.

The demo application is open source. The C# source of this page is DpmControl.cs.

Notes

• The offsets can also be written with socket messaging, KAREL or Telnet.
• To drive the offsets from analog inputs (AI) or group inputs (GI), change Channel input type: the system variables are then not needed.