How to Add and Configure a Robot

Overview

EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin allows you to add an assembly to the scene by dragging an object from the Catalogs view and dragging it to the Model view.

As an example, this chapter describes the steps for adding a Lexium P Robot from the Delta Robots catalog and provides further information.

Prerequisites

As a first prerequisite, the Delta Robots catalog must have been selected during start-up of EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin in the Select Catalog(s) dialog box and must be available in the Catalogs view.

For general information about the Catalogs view, refer to the EcoStruxure Machine Expert Twin Getting Started User Guide.

As a second prerequisite, a controller connection must have been established as described in How to Create a Controller Connection.

Adding a Lexium P Robot

To add a Lexium P Robot, proceed as follows:

Step

Action

1

In the Catalogs view, select the Delta Robots catalog node and expand, for example, the P4Series subnode.

2

Select a subnode, for example VRKP4S0RNCxx000, and drag it to the Model view.

Result: A VRKP4S0RNCxx000 assembly is added to the scene and is displayed as a new node in the Solution Explorer view.

3

In the Solution Explorer view, expand the VRKP4S0RNCxx000 node and the corresponding subnode P4S0RNCxx001.

Result: The variables Joint A...Joint D of the VRKP4S0RNCxx000 are displayed as subnodes as well as a Standard Gripper subnode. A small black triangle at each subnode indicates that the variable is not assigned to a variable defined in EcoStruxure Machine Expert.

4

Configure the variables by selecting each node in the Solution Explorer view and configuring the corresponding parameters in the Properties view.

Configuring the Lexium P Robot

To configure the Lexium P Robot, proceed as follows:

Step

Action

1

In the Solution Explorer view, select the Joint A subnode of the VRKP4S0RNCxx000.

2

In the Properties view, optionally configure the Addressing > Description and Addressing > Symbol according to your requirements.

3

In the Properties view, expand the Tags > Application list.

Result: If the connection to the controller is available, the variables defined in EcoStruxure Machine Expert are provided in two subnodes:

  • DTC

    Contains the variables provided by the DigitalTwinCommunication library.

  • OPCUA_Server_Objects

4

Select the variable astRobotPSeries from Tags > Application > DTC > GVL_OpcUaRobotics > G_stROB.

For further information, refer to the EcoStruxure Machine Expert DigitalTwinCommunication Library Guide.

5

Select the variable lrRefPositionAxisA from Tags > Application > DTC > GVL_OpcUaRobotics > G_stROB > astRobotPSeries > astRobotPSeries[1] > stConfigData.

Result: The variable is assigned and the small black triangle at the Joint A node is no longer displayed.

6

Execute the same steps for the remaining joints Joint B...Joint D to assign the variables.

Result: Movements of the robot initiated by the controller will now be emulated in the Model view and you will see the Lexium P Robot moving in the scene.

Configuring the Gripper

To configure the gripper that is part of the assembly to allow the Lexium P Robot to pick up loads, proceed as follows:

Step

Action

1

In the Solution Explorer view, select the Standard Gripper subnode of the VRKP4S0RNCxx000 that, in turn, provides two subnodes:

  • Vacuum Actuator

  • Vacuum Sensor

2

Select the Vacuum Actuator node.

3

In the Properties view, select the controller output variable for the gripper from the Tags > Application > DTC > GVL_OpcUaRobotics > G_stROB > astToolDefault > astToolDefault[1] > stConfigData list.

Result: The variable is assigned.

You can optionally configure a controller input signal to provide feedback of the gripper.