Modify Aux Axis Trouble

RobotStudio
1

Hello,
I am trying to create a rotary mechanism in RS 15.14.03 and am having some trouble.

The mechanism consists of a primary rotary table (M7) that supports 4 smaller satellite tables. The primary table is simply used to index the satellites around. The only satellite that is actively controlled by the robot controller is the one that is in the working position in front of the robot (M8). I am not sure of the exact mechanism that is used to switch control from one satellite to the next as they rotate into the working position but I assume this is done in the PLC and is not part of the RAPID program. The robtargets only have two values for auxiliary axes, the first for the position of the primary table (0,90,180,270) and the second for the position of whichever satellite is in front of the robot.

To keep things simple I have just modeled the mechanism with the primary table and one satellite. The mechanism has three links: link 1 (base Link) is the shaft around which the primary table turns, link 2 is the primary table, and link 3 is the satellite table. I only created one frame which is linked to the satellite table for use in locating fixtures on the table.

The mechanism compiles fine. When I create my system from backup it asks me to point it to the library for the first auxiliary axis and I point it to my created mechanism. Then is asks me to point it to the library for rotary axis two and I point it to the same mechanism. This all seems to work fine. I can use mechanism joint jog to rotate the two tables and they rotate as expected and hold the new positions.

I am using a programmed, uncoordinated Wobj for the satellite table. I simply want to set it at a specific rotation and run the program. I might index 180 in the middle but that is about as complicated as it gets.

When I set the rotation using mechanism joint jog the targets I create do not pickup the value of the rotation. Not sure why but shouldn’t be a big problem. I simply select all of my targets, choose “modify auxiliary axis” and enter the rotation that is being used. The problem is that when I do this it will not allow me to set the rotation value for M7 and M8 independently. M7 should be set to 0 and should stay at 0. When I try to enter a new value into M8 is changes both M7 and M8 to this new value. When I use mechanism joint jog I can set both values independently without any trouble. Why does it not work here?

Thanks for any help.

2
  • Have you activated the mechanical unit in RobotStudio (Select Controller node->Right-click->Activate mechanical units)?
  • Are the joints mapped to the different logical axes or the same logical axis?
  • Are you able to change the eax values in the RAPID code?
3
  • Have you activated the mechanical unit in RobotStudio (Select Controller node->Right-click->Activate mechanical units)? Yes, both M7 and M8 are activated and have a green check next to them when I look in the “Activate mechanical units” dialogue.
  • Are the joints mapped to the different logical axes or the same logical axis? When I look in the “Modify mechanism” dialogue of my created mechanism I see joint mapping set to 1 and 2. The other available joints are greyed out.
  • Are you able to change the eax values in the RAPID code? Yes, I can do a find and replace in the rapid editor to set these values to what I want. That is what I have been doing. It seems like this should not be necessary, however.
4

Verify that the logical axes are correctly mapped to (different) joints in RS, see below

5

That was it. Both were mapped to the same joint. Thanks very much for your help!