FANUC controller setup

What the robot needs before Stackmill can drive it. Do this once, when commissioning.

Controller options

Some of what follows depends on options being present on the controller. Check them before quoting a cell — an option that is missing is a purchase, not a setting. Ask us if you are not sure which your installation needs.

Controller options

Stackmill needs the controller to accept commands over the network and to run the programs it generates. Which option codes that requires depends on the controller generation.

Network

Give the controller a fixed address on the same network as the machine running Stackmill, and check that the two can reach each other before anything else. Most "the robot does not respond" problems are this.

REMOTE mode

The controller must be in AUTO with remote enabled, or it will accept nothing. Stackmill reports Robot not in remote mode and refuses to start rather than pretending.

Registers and I/O

Stackmill uses numeric registers, position registers and digital I/O to exchange state with the robot. The map is written when you export. Avoid using the same registers for anything else — a register written by both sides is a fault that will look like something else.

Payload compensation 1.2.1

On a collaborative robot (CRX), Stackmill weighs the part the robot lifts (tare). It needs the Dynamic payload setting, first in the robot's Configuration tab (on by default), and this controller setup:

1. Set both payload schedules 1 and 2 to the empty tool: mass and centre of gravity of the tool alone. Schedule 1 is the empty tool, schedule 2 the loaded one; the robot adds the part to schedule 2 when it weighs it.
2. In the DCS collaborative robot setup, enable Payload setting compensation and set Payload number to compensate to 2 (see the FANUC collaborative robot manual, How to Estimate Payload Setting Compensation).
3. Apply the DCS changes and cold-start the controller.

Without it, turn Dynamic payload off: the payload schedules of the tools and the recipes are used as before, and there is no tare.

Program memory 1.2.1

A cell with many recipes can fill the controller's program memory: a program then fails to load. With FANUC's TP DRAM/FILE Storage option installed, tick Shadow memory in the robot's Configuration tab and export again. The generated programs are then stored outside the program memory and loaded when first run; the programs you edit stay where they are.

Without the option, leave it off: the controller ignores or refuses the setting.

Loading the Karel programs

Some functions run on the controller itself and are loaded once. After loading, cold-start the controller so it picks them up.