R17 RobotManual page 3
1. INTRODUCTION
The R17, DEUCALIONisarobot armof the verticallyarticulated format. Thisisthe format
whichmost closelyresemblesthe human armand soitspartsarenamed afterthe human
arm. It ismoreversatilethan otherformatsbut the drawback isthat backlashand
complianceineachjoint areadded togetherjoint byjoint. R17 hasanominalreachof
750mm i.e. it is750 mm fromthe shoulderjoint tothe wrist, plusanother100 mm orsofor
the hand, depending on the "end effector"fitted. R17 and R17HPLaredriven bystepping
motorsmicrostepsof 0.18 degreesperstep resulting aftergearing inanominalresolution
of 0.1mm orbetterat the end effector. R17HS hasaxes4and 5driven bystepping
motors; axes1,2and 3aredriven byhigh powerservomotors.
If fitted the pneumaticgripperisoperated bycompressed airfrom3to7bar. Thismaybe
supplied byacompressorsupplied withthe set, orfromanotherairsupply.
The R17 robot systemcomprises3mainunits:-the robot, the controller, acomputeror
dumbterminal. The computerisused toprogramthe controller. Onceprogrammed the
controllerwill run the robot independentlywithout the need foracomputerbut it isagood
idea toleavealowcost terminalconnected whilethe robot isinuse.
OVERVIEW
The controllercontrolsall movement of the robot. Asthe controllermaybe bothreading
sensorsand signalsfromand controlling associated equipment it followsthat all decisions
about robot activityareusuallymade bythe controllerwhichiscapableof running without
anyhost computer. The function of the computeristo(a)programthe controller, (b)to
copy(back up)the contentsof controllerRAMtodisk and optionally(c)toperforma
supervisoryrolesending commandstothe controllerthrough the serialinterface.
Toprogramthe controllerwithacomputeryou need torun the utilityROBWIN7.EXE.
When ROBWINisexecuted it immediatelyopensacommunicationswindow. Once
communication isestablished all yourcommandsgo tothe controllernot tothe computer
you aretyping on. Programming the controllerinvolvesprogramming the robot and the
interaction withotherequipment. The robot and interfacing areprogrammed using
ROBOFORTHII © and FORTH. Therearetwomanuals, ROBOFORTHcovering robot
programming and the systemmanual, whichdescribesthe controllerand interfacing. The
softwaremanualsareon disk and written inHTMLsoyou can usedynamiclinks tosee
connected concepts. Thereisalsoaglossaryon disk, whichgivesabrief description of
everycommand. Somecommandsareused onlybyROBWINorarenot veryusefuland
theseareinthe glossarybut not inthe ROBOFORTHmanual.
All FORTHand ROBOFORTHcommandsareinUPPERCASE (press capslock). You
can add commandswritten inlowercasebut thesewouldbe different commandsfrom
thosespelled inuppercase.
©RoboForthiscopyright DavidNSands1983-present
