Synchronizing stepper motor to robot movements

Robotics
1

Hello All,

I am trying to integrate a stepper motor to ABB IRC5 controller. My intended architecture is as follows:

ABB IRC5 controller ----> PLC ----> Stepper Driver ----> Stepper Motor

I have read that the digital outputs available on the IRC5 are not capable of PWM pulsing outputs. Furthermore, I want to synchronize the motion of the stepper motor to that of the robot i.e. start motion of stepper motor when robot starts to move. My idea is to prepare the RAPID code to contain instructions on how much the stepper should move in addition to regular robot motion. This information is then passed on to PLC using either using DeviceNet or EtherNet/IP.

  1. Are there any simpler methods to do this?
  2. Are there any hardware flags or status bits that can be used for synchronization?
  3. Can motion commands for stepper motor be communicated to PLC over DeviceNet or EtherNet/IP?

Any suggestions will be helpful.

2

You might have more luck posting on a robotic-arms-specific forum for something this specialized

3

You can use Labview. The architecture will be ABB IRC5 Controller → LabVIEW (PC) → Stepper Driver → Stepper Motor

LabVIEW can act as a bridge between the IRC5 controller and the stepper driver, handling communication, synchronization, and motion control logic. Here is a basic tutorial on how to control a stepper motor with Labview. Stepper Motor Speed Control in LabVIEW - The Engineering Projects

1 Like