Multimove with custom mechanism

Jeff Sherman

Hello,

Is it necessary to do anything special to allow a custom positioner mechanism to work with Multimove? When I try to set my mechanism as the work object robot everything appears to be acceptable until the wizard finishes and both the positioner and robot are listed as the tool robot. I have tried it several times and have been very careful to make sure that I am selecting everything correctly as I move through the wizard but it always lists both mechanisms (robot and positioner)  as the tool robot.

Thanks for any help.

Anders S

Hi,

If the system is configured correct for MultiMove you should be able to use a custom made positioner with the MultiMove Tools.



To be sure to get a correct configured system I recommend that you first creates the system with "Create System from Layout" with a standard ABB positioner. Then when the system is up and running select "Edit System" and change the library to your own positioner.

Jeff Sherman

That is a great suggestion. Thank you very much. I'll give it a try today.

Jeff Sherman

I am still not having any luck with this although I think I am close. Here is what I have tried:

Created a system from backup of my physical controller. Restored the system from backup. This then prompts me to choose a device to associate with the 7th and 8th logical axes. Normally I would choose my custom positioner here but instead I choose the recommended ABB positioner. I configure Multimove, test it, and everything works great. Now I import my custom positioner and reassign the logical axes to it. The ABB positioner now disappears. Multimove seems to work but it will only utilize the link associated to axis 7. When I lock that axis and try to force the rotation to axis 8 it won't utilize the positioner at all and does all of the motion with the robot. There must be something slightly off with my positioner but I don't know how to go about troubleshooting it.

Thanks for any help. 

Jeff Sherman

I just thought of another point that may be relevant here: I am not able to use external axis interpolation with axis 8 either. I can use external axis interpolation w/ tcp offset to program axis 7 but when I switch it to program axis 8(joint 2) it gives me an array out of bounds error. Axis 8 works fine if I assign values manually or through joint jog. It just won't work with the automated tools.

Anders S

Hi,

It is probably something with your positioner that RobotStudio doesn't like. If you upload your positioner here I can take a look at it. Alternatively that you contact your local ABB office for support.