abb-robotraconteur-driver-hmp 0.2.0

ABB Robot Raconteur Driver HMP

ABB Robot Raconteur Driver Hybrid Motion Program (HMP)

The ABB Robot Raconteur Driver Hybrid Motion Program (HMP) is a sophisticated driver capable of controlling an ABB IRC5 based robot using either streaming commands using Externally Guided Motion (EGM), or through "Motion Programs". Motion programs are sequences of commands that are uploaded to the ABB robot controller, and executed using the motion computer. These motion programs usually consist of MoveAbsJ, MoveJ, MoveL, MoveC, and various other motion primitive commands. The HMP driver is capable of automatically switching between these modes.

The HMP driver implements three major robot interface types:

• com.robotraconteur.robotics.robot.Robot - The "standard robot" type for Robot Raconteur. This robot type uses streaming position commands through EGM, and supports 3 command modes: jog, trajectory_command, and position_command. In these modes, the HMP driver is fully compatibly with clients expecting a standard Robot Raconteur Robot driver.
• experimental.robotics.motion_program.MotionProgramRobot - MotionProgramRobot is a candidate new standard type for robots that support motion programs. Many robot controllers do not have a streaming command interface, and are limited to executing scripted motion programs. The MotionProgramRobot and enclosing service type are designed for these motion program only drivers. In the future, this service type will be included in the standard service definitions.
• experimental.abb_robot.ABBRobot - The ABBRobot type implements both Robot and MotionProgramRobot, allowing clients to use either interface. In the future a HybridCommandRobot standard type will also be considered. The ABBRobot object type also provides proprietary support such as wires to send commands to EGM.

The experimental.abb_robot.motion_program service definition contains ABB proprietary motion primitive commands.

The HMP driver is based on several Python packages: RobotRaconteur, RobotRaconteurCompanion, abb-robot-client, abb-motion-program-exec, robotraconteur-abstract-robot.

Installation

The driver can be installed using pip:

pip install abb-robotraconteur-driver-hmp

A robot info file is also necessary. These can be found in the config/ directory of the GitHub repository. These files contain metadata and kinematic information about the robot. The robot info file must match the model of the robot. Open a discussion if your robot does not have a robot info file.

The HMP driver uses the RAPID software from the abb-motion-program-exec package (https://github.com/rpiRobotics/abb_motion_program_exec). The repository contains detailed instructions on how to install the robot software. EGM is required, and the EGM configuration must be used when the robot is configured. Currently the HMP driver requires version 0.6.0 of the RAPID software, but this may increase depending on the version of abb-motion-program-exec installed by pip.

Once the abb-motion-program-exec robot software is installed, there are additional steps required:

• Edit the T_ROB1/motion_program_exec RAPID module. This can be done in Robot Studio on the RAPID page, selecting RAPID/T_ROB1/motion_program_exec under the controller on the left pane tree. Modify the MOTION_PROGRAM_DRIVER_MODE line to show CONST num MOTION_PROGRAM_DRIVER_MODE:=1. This will enable the operation for drivers.
• Set the "Run Mode" to "Continuous"

Restart the controller. At this point, the controller should be ready.

Running the driver

First, start the controller. In auto mode, this is done by pressing "Reset PP to Main", and then pressing "Play".

Next, start the driver:

python -m abb_robotraconteur_driver_hmp --robot-info=config/abb_1200_5_90_robot_default_config.yml

Replace the filename specified for --robot-info= with the path to the robot info file for your robot.

Using the driver

The driver creates a Robot Raconteur service that clients connect to command the robot. See the examples/ folder for examples using the driver. Also See https://github.com/robotraconteur/robotraconteur for more information on Robot Raconteur and how to communicate with the service.

Examples

Several example clients are provided in the examples/ directory demonstrating how to operate the robot in different command modes:

• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_jog.py - Client demonstrating using jog command mode. Robot must be in manual mode.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_egm_trajectory_control.py - Client demonstrating trajectory command mode, which uses EGM to command the robot to follow a prepared dense joint waypoint trajectory.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_position_control.py - Client demonstrating position_command command mode, which passes streaming joint position commands from the client to the robot controller using EGM.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_motion_program.py - Client demonstrating motion_program command mode, sending a sequence of motion primitives to the robot controller.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_motion_program_freeform.py - Client demonstrating motion_program command mode, sending a sequence of motion primitives to the robot controller using FreeformCommand structures.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_motion_program_preempt.py - Client demonstration motion_program command mode preempting the executing of a motion program sequence with updated commands.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_motion_program_egm_joint.py Client demonstrating motion_program command mode with ABB proprietary EGM joint control commands.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_motion_program_egm_pose.py Client demonstrating motion_program command mode with ABB proprietary EGM pose control commands.
• examples/abb_hmp_rr_client_motion_program_egm_correction.py Client demonstrating motion_program command mode with ABB proprietary EGM path correction commands.

License

Apache 2.0

Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by Subaward No. ARM-TEC-21-02-F19 from the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing ("ARM") Institute under Agreement Number W911NF-17-3-0004 sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. ARM Project Management was provided by Christopher Adams. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of either ARM or the Office of the Secretary of Defense of the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes, notwithstanding any copyright notation herein.

This work was supported in part by the New York State Empire State Development Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) under contract C160142.