Mitsubishi Robot Arms

Student Manual


Safety
MovingtheRobots
AutomaticOperation
AutomaticOperation(viaPC)
CreatingandDownloadingaMELFABasicFile
CreatingandDownloadingaTeachPointFile
ToteachtherobotanewTeachPoint"(TP)position:
IntroductiontoMELFABasic
CommonErrorCodes

Digitalversionsofthemanuals(normallykeptbesidetherobots)areavailablehere:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzbVopr1PD2eXJQWEJxZTc0Z00&usp=sharing


1.

Safety

Asyou willsee,safetyisaveryprominentaspectofthismoduleandisjustifiablyso:we
are using Industrial spec machines that are heavy and powerful and thus have the
potential to be very dangerous if not operated in a controlled and mature manner. In
light of this, the following safety rulesmustALWAYS be obeyed. Failureto do so may
resultinexclusionofthelaboratory(andwedontwantthat!).

NEVER entertherobot workspacewhen the robotservomotorsarepoweredon

orwhentherobotisrunningaprogram.

Always make sure that there is no one in the robots work cell when running a
program(thatincludeshandsandfingers).

Alwaysgiveanaudiblewarningbeforerunningaprogram.

Always make sure that someone has one hand on the emergency stop button
andalwayswatchtherobotwhenitisrunningaprogram.

Always press the emergency stop button when the robot does something that
youarenotexpectingittodo!

NEVER run a program that you havenot written yourself and not understood in
detailastowhatitwilldo.

Do notleave the robotunattendedwhen it ispoweredon, andifyouareleaving

theLab,youmustreturnbothkeystothetechnicians.

AllMELFABasicprogramswrittenmusthavethisbasictemplate:
OVRD20
Limitthespeedto20%
SERVOON
Turntheservomotorson
...yourcodehere...
SERVOOFF
Turntheservomotorsoff
END
Endtheprogram

Do notload the robotwith a payload thatweightmorethan2kg.Atfullhorizontal

extension,themaximumpayloadmustnotexceed0.5kg!

2.

MovingtheRobots

To move the robot, two buttons must be pushed: the button under the teachpendant
(deadmans handle) and the buttonSTEP/MOVE"(keepingthesetwo buttonspressed
down turns on the servo motors). A low beeping soundsfromthe PWM can beheard
andtheLEDSVOON"goesgreen.

Stayoutoftheworkspacewhentheservosareon(SafetyRuleabove).

The robot can now be moved in jointspace (1 to 5) or Cartesian space (XYZ). For
Cartesian space operation press the XY Z button once (top row 3rd across). The
buttonslabelledX,+X,Y,+Y,Z,+Zcannowbeusedtomovetherobot.Thebuttons
labelled A, +Aareable to rotate the robots endeffectoraroundthe Zaxis (effectively
the robots wrist). The buttons labelled, B, +B are used to rotate the endeffector.
PressingtheXYZbuttonatanytimedisplaysthepositionoftheendeffector.

To open and close the gripper keep the deadmanshandle pressed release the
STEP/MOVE" button and keep the HAND" button pressed. To open the hand press
+CandtocloseitpresstheCbutton.

TheRV2SD robotis slightlydifferent:switchtheTBENABLEbuttononthebottomto

on (yellow light on). Tocontrolthe robot, hold the deadmansswitch (yellow switch
at bottom of the teach pendant) in the inbetween position, and press the SERVO
button. The robotsSVOON LED goesgreen.Youcannowcontroltherobot injoint
space,Cartesianspace(XYZ)ortoolspace.

AutomaticOperation

Automatic Operation is used to run programs that are stored in the robot controller
memory.Theprogramwillcyclei.e.runcontinuouslyoncestarted.
TurnthekeyontheTeachPendanttoDISABLE.
TurnthekeyontheControllertoAUTO(Op).
PresstheChangeDisplay"buttonuntilthestatusdisplayshowsP.xxxxxx".
PresstheUp"orDown"buttontoselectyourprogram.
SwitchtheservomotorsonbypressingtheSVOON"button.
PressSTART".

 Ifthe END"button is pressed, therobotwillfinishthecurrentprogramcycleand

stop.
IftheSTOP"buttonispressed,therobotstopsimmediately.

AutomaticOperation(viaPC)

Turn the key on the Teach Pendant to DISABLE", and Turn the key on the
ControllertoAUTO(Ext.).
To communicate with the robot open the start menu and search for
RoboExplorer.Selecttheitemthatisreturned.
In the background a second program will automatically start up called
RoboCom.exe". RoboCom has a light blue background when communication
withtherobotisestablished.
Debugging:first,checkthattherobotisconnected(cable)toyourPC.Ifthisdoes
not solve the issue, check the settings: for the RV2AJ,the correctsettings are
asshown below. For theRV2DS,the settings are similar, but the protocolmust
besettoProcedural.

Figure1:communicationsettings

CreatingandDownloadingaMELFABasicFile

A MELFABasic file is a program to control therobot. A typical MELFABasic program

consists of a sequence of move commands which move the robots endeffector,
sometimescalledthegripper,topredefinedtargetpositions(TeachPoints).


The MELFABasic program can be created using the Program Editor" which can be
found under Tools" intheMenu Bar"or byusing a texteditorsuchas Notepad".The
file shouldbe saved withtheextension.MB4",meaningMELFABasicIV.Notethatthe
MELFABasicprogrammustendwithanemptyline.

Use the RoboExplorer to select your MELFABASIC file from the hard disk. A
MELFABasicfileshouldhavetheextension.MB4".
DragtheMELFABasicfileacrossontotheRV2AJroboticon(Figure1).

Figure2CopyMB4torobot

Drag the MELFAPosition file across to the left onto the MELFABasic file that
hasjustbeendownloaded.
A progressbar will popup during downloading of the MELFABasic and
MELFAPositionfile.

CreatingandDownloadingaTeachPointFile

Teach points (TPs)define target positions for the robot. A Teach point forthe RV2AJ
robotconsistsof5values,namely:
CartesianXposition.
CartesianYposition.
CartesianZposition.
AwristrotationA.
BwristrotationB.


Hence the Mitsubishi RV2AJ robot has only 5 degrees of freedom. We know that in
general to both position (XYZ) and orientation (roll, pitch, yaw) an object in space
requires six degrees of freedom. Therefore this robot, in common with many other
industrial robots, has reduced functionality. In practice this does notseriouslylimit the
rangeofitsapplication.

ToteachtherobotanewTeachPoint"(TP)position:

Switch the robot into Teach pendant mode" and drive the arm to the desired
targetposition.
Once the robot is in its targetposition openTools/TP Editor" from themenuon
thePCsoftware.
PresstherightmousebuttonandchoosetheoptionNewTeachPoint".
Right click on the newly createdteachpointandselecttheoptionLearn Robots
Position".
TheTeachPointcanberenamedusingtheoptionEditTeachPoint".
The first letter of the name of the new TP position should be a P". e.g. P1",
P10",PSAVE".
Right mouseclickthen selectoption Save". TheTeach Pointfileissavedtothe
harddrive.Ateachpointfilemusthavetheextension.POS".
A teach point file can only be downloaded to a robot after the corresponding
MELFABasic file (.MB4) has been downloaded. To downloada teachpoint file
drag the file onto the MELFABasic file in the robot (right hand side of the
screen). By dragging the teach point file onto the MELFABasic program in the
robot rather than ontotherobot itself you indicatethattheteachpointsbelongto
a particular program in the robot. A progress bar should flash during the
downloadsimilartodownloadingaprogram.

3.

IntroductiontoMELFABasic

This section serves to provide students with a quick overview of the MEFLABasic
programming language structure, syntax and basic commands (Table 1). In essence,
this section will equip students with the knowledge needed to write their first simple
MELFABasicprogramtocontroltheRV2AJrobotarms.

Command Explanation
Example
MOV
Movestherobottoateachpointposition
MOVP1
MVS
Movestherobottoateachpointpositionalonga
MVSP1
straighttrajectory
MVSP,O Movestherobottoapositionaboveateachpoint
MVSP1,50
positionalongastraighttrajectory(Zaxisdistantinthe
ToolFrame")
OVRD

Overridethespeedlimit(0%to100%).Neveruse
morethan20%!

OVRD20

DLY

Delayinseconds.

DLY0.5

HOPEN

Openthegripper.

HOPEN1

HCLOSE

Closethegripper.

HCLOSE1

GOSUB

Callsasubroutine.

GOSUB*PICK

RETURN

Returnsfromasubroutine.

RETURN

DEFPOS

Definesapositionvariableincartesiancoordinates.

DEFPOSP1

DEFJNT

Definesapositioninjointspace.

DEFJNTP2

SERVO

TurntheservomotorseitherONorOFF.

SERVOON

END

Endtheprogram.

END

Table1:CommonandbeginnerMELFABasiccommands.

This example program shows how to declare and define joint positions and how to
move the robot to these positions with delays as well as how to open and close the
gripper:

OVRD20
Setthespeedto20%
SERVOON
Turntheservomotorson

Declarethejointpositionvariables
DEFJNTP1
DEFJNTP2

Definethepositionsofthevariables
P1=(0,0,90,90,0,0)
P2=(0,0,90,0,0,0)

MovetoP2,closethegripperandwait500ms
MOVP2
HCLOSE1
DLY0.5

MovetoP1,delay500ms,thentoP2,anddelay500ms.
MOVP1
DLY0.5
MOVP2
DLY0.5

Openthegripperandwaitfor1s
HOPEN1
DLY1
SERVOOFF
Turntheservomotorsoff
END
Endtheprogram

Note: trying to copy and paste thecode from this document willleadto errors. Writing
thecodeyourselfwillhelpyoutounderstandit.


This program shows how to use 3D position definitions. It also introduces a new
command (MVS). This command tells the robot to move to that position in a straight
line. It also allows you to specify and offset (along the Z axis of the endeffector) to
whichtheendeffectshouldmoveto.Thisisgoodpracticeasitmeansthatyouuseless
position definitions. There is quite some repetition, but this can be solved with using
subroutines.

OVRD20
SERVOON

Definethejointandcartesiancoordinates
DEFJNTHOME
DEFPOSP1
DEFPOSP2
DEFPOSP3
DEFPOSP4
HOME=(0,0,90,0,0,0)

P1=Fillinthecoordinateshere
P2=Fillinthecoordinateshere
P3=Fillinthecoordinateshere
P4=Fillinthecoordinateshere

Movetherobottothehomeposition
MOVHOME
DLY0.5
HOPEN1
DLY1

MovetoP1
MOVP1
DLY1
MVSP1,50
DLY1
MVSP1
DLY1

MovetoP2
MOVP2
DLY1
MVSP2,50
DLY1
MVSP2
DLY1


MovetoP3
MOVP3
DLY1
MVSP3,50
DLY1
MVSP3
DLY1

MovetoP4
MOVP4
DLY1
MVSP4,50
DLY1
MVSP4
DLY1

Movetherobottothehomeposition
MOVHOME
DLY0.5
HOPEN1
DLY1

Turntheservomotorsoffandendtheprogram
SERVOOFF
END

CommonErrorCodes

Whenanerror occurs thecontrollerwillbeep.To recoverfromanerror pressthereset

button ontheteachpendant orontherobotcontroller.Iftheemergencystopbuttonwas
pushed, it mustbe pulled out beforepressing reset. Insomecases an erroracodewill
appearonthescreen.CommonerrorcodesarelistedinTable2:

Code
L2800L2803
L2600L2603
H0060
H0070
H5000
H1010
C1350
C4340

Meaning
Positiondataisinadequate*.
Positionisoutofrange*.
EmergencyStopontheControllerwaspushed.
EmergencyStopontheTeachPendantwaspushed.
TheTeachPendantenablekeywasvalidatedinautomaticmode.
Therewasacollision.
Payloadoverload(possiblecollision).
Variablenotdefined.

Table2commonerrormessages

* On an error message while trying to go to a preprogrammed teach point there are

severalpossiblecauses:
The target positionis outsidethe robots workspace (jointreachesthelimit while
trying to reach the target position). Try adjusting the target position slightly. A
fractionofamillimetrecanbeenough.
The teach point file (.POS) is corrupt. Edit the .POS file with MS Notepad (not
RoboExplorer!)and confirmthat thelastbracketofeachpositionis(60)andnot
(00).
An interpolation or inverse kinematics error can occur if you use MVS (move
linear) commands and a calculated target position rather than a learned
teachpoint.Alsoavoidanglesatexactly/+180degrees.