#13 - Universal Robots configuring Profinet and Ethenet-IP network

Universal Robots has in its controller an integration of two of the most widely used industrial network protocols based on ethernet today, which are PROFINET IO and ETHERNET-IP. In the models of the most recent series (e-series) the maximum frequency of this communication is 500Hz, that is, minimum RPI of 2ms, while in the previous model (CB-series) the maximum frequency is 125Hz and minimum RPI 8ms. In this post we will indicate useful links to find the documents necessary for this integration, as well as share some tips for a project.

• Configuring on the robot:
• Click on Settings> System> Network and select Static Address. Then configure the IP and subnet mask according to your project.

• Click on Installation> Fieldbus and enable the interested protocol (Profinet Io or Ethernet-IP). Do a power reboot of the robot.

• Configuring on the PLC:
• Siemens PLC: Universal Robots created  this guide  with step-by-step instructions and the necessary files.
• Rockwell PLC: Universal Robots created  this guide  with step-by-step instructions and the necessary files.
• Comments: 
• Once the PLC is communicating with the robot via Profinet IO or Ethernet-IP, a tip is to use the Script functions in the robot program to read / write bits (such as read_input_boolean_register (address) and write_output_boolean_register (address, value) ), which can be used for the sequencer created in PLC logic. 
• Other benefits are the PLC's ability to access the robot's state data. In addition, with this data in the PLC, it is possible to integrate quickly with SCADA.