CS325 - Introduction to the A255 Robotic Arm

Startup Instructions:

1.  Turn on the computer in Windows XP.
    

2.  Start Robcomm3.
    

3. Open the terminal window. In Robcomm3, click the Terminal button, or select Terminal from the C500 menu. With the controller not yet powered on, the window is blank.
    

4. Power on the controller at the main power switch on the front panel. As the controller starts up, lines describing start up activity are displayed at the terminal. When the controller is finished its start up activity, the terminal displays the $$pendant indicating that the Teach Pendant is active
    

5. Activate the robot arm by selecting the Arm power button on the controller. 
    

6. Home the robot with the Teach Pendant by holding the live-man control and selecting F2(motn).  Then use the joint movement keys to carefully align each of the joints.  Then while still holding down the live-man control on the pendant, select F1(home) and wait...  Only after all joints have been homed as indicated on the terminal should you release the live-man control.
    

7. You may use the grip open and close controls to place a tool in the gripper.  Be careful to keep your fingers out of the way!
    

8. Disable the pendant by pressing ESC on the teach pendant keypad until you reach the terminate screen and press F1 to confirm.

Writing a RAPL program:

1. In Robcomm3, open an editor window by selecting File|New.
    

2. Save your program, using the Save As function, to your network directory.  Make sure the extension is .r3.
    

3. Setup an Application. From Application, select New. Name your app using the same name as your program file.
    

4. Check the settings in the App Setup by selecting Setup from Application. Make sure that the source file name is the same as your program and the object file name is the same.
    

5. In the Editor window, type your program.
    

6. Compile your program using the Compile button.

Running a RAPL program:

1. Make sure that the app is open.
    

2. Send the program to the controller using the Send button.
    

3. To check that your program was successfully transferred to the appropriate place, in the terminal window, from the system shell, use the dir command
           dir \app\application_name
   The program file in compiled object format does not have a .r3 extension.
    

4. At the system prompt in the terminal window type the command
           ash
    

5. You should get a list of applications that are available.  Enter your application name.
    

6. To run your program,  MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE IS STANDING OUTSIDE THE WORK ENVELOPE!  Then type
           run
    

7. You may be asked to push the PAUSE/CONTINUE button on the controller before your program will execute.