Set up a controller with 2 robots and 1 or 2 external axis

Hi, I have seen this question several times here in the forum, but these are partly already several years old or unsolved. Therefore here again a new attempt.

I’m working with RobotStudio since a few weeks and I want to build a station where 2 robots work in MultiMove independant mode. Additionally the two robots are moved by one or two external non-ABB axis(es). The external axis is an XYZ gantry: a common X-axis for both robots followed by a separate Y- and Z-axis for each robot. It doesn’t matter if this gantry is implemented with a single mechanism or 2 separate ones. I have already realized a station with a mechanism containing all axes and a station in which each robot has its own XYZ axis.

My problem is to integrate the mechanisms correctly into the controller. I have to adapt the configuration files for this, like the SYS-file or MOC-file, but this is where the difficulties lie, because I don’t know exactly which parameters I have to change and how. There are also very few examples on the internet where you can understand this.

I tried using the External Axis Wizard, but that didn’t work out so well.

I also tried to use the Standalone Controller (SAC) Addin. Here I built a controller that contains 2 robots and 2 external axes (XYZ). Thus the configuration parameters are already somewhat adapted to my target system, but still not 100 percent.

Ich worked oin the following parameters so far:

For each of the two robots and the external axes I created a Mechanical Unit Group and an own Task. There are also 2 Drive Modules, one for robot 1 and external axis 1, one for robot 2 and external axis 2. I have adjusted the Logical Axes under Motion Configuration so that the external axes use positions 7-12 and do not collide with the positions of the robots (1-6).

The error message 50273: Motion Configuration came up.

It says that the parameters for Logical Axis are not correct.

Does anyone know a solution for this problem or where I made a mistake? Do I need to approach the problem in a completely different way? If you need some more information feel free to ask 😊

If you can add ABB motors to your gantry in robotstudio, try reading this thread on how to use external axis wizard to get all setup.

If you have any questions I’ll try to help.

Or the quick and dirty method, just drop 5 linear tracks in the roof and make them move each other and the robots.
Then hide them and add your own geometry?