Re: [swri-ros-pkg-dev] [ROS Industrial] NX100 controller

[Shaun Edwards]

Patrick,

Hopefully someone from Motoman will respond, but I think the NX is the previous generation controller.  The main requirement is that the controller support Motoplus (which I'm not sure it does).  If it doesn't, then you would have to write your own socket handling code using whatever method is available on the NX.

Shaun

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 9:50 AM, Patrick Vaes <vaesp...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I am a student from the University of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. And I am currently working on integrating an EA1900N with ROS industrial. I already succeeded in making a URDF file for the EA1900N robot. But got a bit stuck now, with connecting the controller with ROS. The main reason for this is that we dont have a DX100  controller but a NX100 controller. The tutorials and packages on the ROS wiki are all for the DX100 controller. My question is if the package for the DX100 controller can also be used for the NX100 controller? If not, will there be a large difference between both packages? Does someone has any experience with the NX100 controller?

Thanks for your help.

Patrick

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "swri-ros-pkg-dev" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to swri-ros-pkg-d...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

[Patrick Vaes]

According to this link: http://www.motoman.com/datasheets/MotoPlus%20SDK.pdf. Motoplus is compatible with both controllers. I think that the NX is indeed the previous generation controller. I studied the manuals of both controllers and the DX just seems to be a more advanced controller. Capable of controlling more robots at the same time etc. 

Ok so suppose that it is possible. Should I contact Motoman representative for the information which is listed here: http://ros.org/wiki/dx100?? Where do i find the system software version?

 

Op donderdag 6 juni 2013 23:46:13 UTC+2 schreef Shaun Edwards het volgende:

[Patrick Vaes]

70 ms? That is indeed fairly slow.. With such a slow connection controlling the robot realtime is not really possible. But since we only have acces to this NX100 controller we have no much choice. Then I guess we will have to adjust are goals. But if sending Industrial Simple Messages also wont work on a NX100. Do you have any other ideas for alternatives to communicate? 

Thanks for your help.

Patrick

Op vrijdag 7 juni 2013 15:24:28 UTC+2 schreef eric....@motoman.com het volgende:

Hi Patrick,

Unfortunately, the NX100 doesn't support MotoPlus development.  It is an older controller that doesn't have the open architecture for programming like the newer controllers.

It does have a data transmission protocol but it is fairly slow (about 70 ms per instruction).  There are commands to move the robot but it's only one point at the time.  Or you might be able to populate position P-variable and then move to those position in a similar fashion as what we did for the DX100 approach.  I'm just not sure how fast you'll be able to get the information across and all the development would need to be done on the ROS side.  You can't send the SOD Industrial Simple Messages directly to the controller, you'll have to have a layer in ROS Industrial to talk using the Data Transmission protocol.  

You should be able to get an electronic copy of the manual through the Motoman customer support group: techs...@motoman.com

Eric

[ted miller]

Patrick,

Unfortunately, the NX100 is limited in its communication abilities.  As Eric mentioned, you have to use the Data Transmission function.  Another option is to use the MotoCom32 library.  This is a Win32 SDK (with examples and docs) that wraps around the DataTransmission function and exposes some higher-level API calls.  However, each runtime copy requires a license and hardware dongle.  If you implement the protocol directly, it does not require a runtime license.

 

The only other option is the RS232 serial interface.  However, this is even slower than the ethernet commands and gives you less functionality.

 

If you need ROS for your controller, I would recommend upgrading to an FS100 controller (or DX100). 

 

-Ted

 

Ted Miller
Senior Project Specialist
Yaskawa America Inc.

Motoman Robotics Division

ted.m...@motoman.com

 

 

>>> Patrick Vaes <vaesp...@hotmail.com> 6/12/2013 5:24 AM >>>

The information transmitted in this email is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential, proprietary and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, distribution or other use of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender immediately and delete any and all copies of this message.