Fanuc R-30iB Controller Setup¶

Important

The software options R648 "User Socket Msg" and R632 "KAREL" must be installed on the robot controller.

Info

The drag&bot driver is also compatible with the R-30iB Mate and R-30iB Plus variants.
Further it is only compatible with the following Fanuc controller software versions: V9.10, V9.00, V8.36, V8.33, V8.30, V8.23, V8.20, V8.13, V8.10

Fanuc Teach Pendant Introduction¶

The Fanuc teach pendant consists of several areas, where the most relevant are described in the following:

The display main area (1) is the most important area. Here all menus and lists are displayed.
At the bottom of the display is the software button bar (2). There are always up to five buttons with dynamic meaning.
Below the software button bar is the hardware button bar (3) with labels 'F1', 'F2', 'F3', 'F4' and 'F5'. These buttons are directly connected to the software button bar, so F1 always "presses" the first software button and so on. The buttons '<' and '>' can change the button choice, if there are more buttons than can be displayed.
The main input device are the soft buttons (4). In the figure shown below the most important soft buttons are marked red:
- switches to the main menu, which is shown in the figure below.
- switches to the list of available programs.
- resets any error or message shown in the top area of the display main area.

Fanuc controllers use multipages for their menu navigation. If a described entry does not appear at the first page, please search also the following pages with the NEXT or next page menu entry.

All descriptions assume that the HMI Full Menu view is selected on the Fanuc teach pendant. You can change to the HMI Full Menu view by pressing the soft button and toggle the QUICK/FULL MENU option.

Find the controller IP¶

Press the soft button , enter the SETUP menu and there the Host Comm section.
Select the protocol TCP/IP and press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.

Configure the controller for drag&bot¶

Configuration of the Fanuc R-30iB controller is divided into two steps. At first the drag&bot controller files have to be transferred to the controller. Secondly a specific configuration has to be performed in the controller system parameters.

Info

Pleace note that the setup process is only confirmed to be successful with a fresh controller with no other additional software options or hardware than described above. Controllers, which do already have an existing setup or extended hardware, might need further or different adjustments than described here.
Also it's strongly recommended to backup your controller state before performing any changes.

Load the program files¶

Download and unzip the drag&bot Fanuc program files:

Download

Download the drag&bot Fanuc program files: DOWNLOAD

In the unziped download file you will find several directories, which indicate the Fanuc controller software version. You need the files in the directory corresponding to your controller software version.
To determine your controller version at the teach pendant press the soft button, enter the STATUS menu and there the Version ID section. The entry Software Edition No. describes the Fanuc controller software version, e.g. V8.20P/31.
Copy all files ending with .pc and .tp of the matching directory to a USB pendrive. Just the first part of the software version is relevant, e.g. V8-20.
Insert the USB pendrive at the teach pendants USB port.
Press the soft button and select the FILE menu and there the File section.
Set the source device to USB by pressing the UTIL button at the bottom bar and select Set Device. Select the option USB on TP (UT1:).
Select the 'all files' entry and confirm with the soft button.
Transfer all files copied on the USB pendrive to the controller by selecting the file with the cursor arrows and press the LOAD button at the bottom bar. Confirm each transfer with YES.
Check, whether all files were copied. Press the soft button. All program files should be listed. Note that there might be additional files than copied from the USB-Stick.

Setup the controller configuration automatically¶

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Please make sure at least five tasks are possible to run in parallel in the controller.

Starting the drag&bot setup program can be done in automatic mode or manual mode.
Start the R-30iB controller.
To start the drag&bot controller setup program press the soft button and select the DNB SETUP program. Press to choose the program.
In automatic mode: press the Green Start Button at the controller to start the controller program.
In manual mode: enable the teach pendant with the enable switch on the top left corner. Switch to continuous mode by pressing the soft button that the respective status indicator "Step" is green. Press the soft button with the soft button to start the configuration.
The program automatically configures the settings described in the chapter Setup the controller configuration manually.
At the teach pendant you can watch outprints of the setup program when switching to the user view. To change there press the soft button and select the USER menu.
Restart the controller.

Setup the controller configuration manually¶

Info

Please make sure at least five tasks are possible to run in parallel in the controller.

Setup the Server Tags¶

For communication with the drag&bot driver the controller needs to setup two server tags.

Initialize the DNB-StateServer:

Press the soft button , enter the SETUP menu and there the Host Comm section.
Press the SHOW button at the bottom bar and select the entry Servers.
Select the entry S3 and press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.
Select the entry Comment and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the option Options/Keybd and press the button KEYBOARD at the bottom bar. Type 'DNB-StateServer' and press Exit.
Select the entry Protocol and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the option SM.
Select the entry Startup State and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar.Select the option START.
Select the entry Port and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the Ethernet Port, where the IPC is connected to, usually P3.
Start the server by pressing the button ACTION at the bottom bar and select the DEFINE option. Press again the ACTION button and select the START option.
Press the soft button PREV to return to the previous list of server tags.

Initialize the DNB-MotionServer:

Select the entry S4 and press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.
Select the entry Comment and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the option Options/Keybd and press the button KEYBOARD at the bottom bar. Type 'DNB-MotionServer' and press Exit.
Select the entry Protocol and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the option SM.
Select the entry Startup State and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar.Select the option START.
Select the entry Port and press the button CHOICE at the bottom bar. Select the Ethernet Port, where the IPC is connected to, usually P3.
Start the server by pressing the button ACTION at the bottom bar and select the DEFINE option. Again press the ACTION button and select the START option.

Configure the Server Ports¶

Press the soft button , enter the SYSTEM menu and there the Variables section.
Scroll down to the entry $HOSTS_CFG with the soft buttons. You can scroll the entire page by also pressing the soft button.
At the entry $HOSTS_CFG press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.
Select the entry 3 and press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.
Select the entry $SERVER_PORT, press the soft button and type 11000. Confirm with .
Press the soft button PREV and select the entry 4 and press the button DETAIL at the bottom bar.
Select the entry $SERVER_PORT, press the soft button and type 11002. Confirm with .

Configure the startup program¶

Press the soft button , enter the SYSTEM menu and there the Config section.
Scroll down to the entry COLD START with the soft buttons.
Press the button CHOOSE at the bottom bar, select the "DNB" program and press the soft button.
Repeat the same for the HOT START entry.

Restart the controller.

Setup for drag&bot Studio¶

Please select Fanuc R30iB Robot from the dropdown menu in the drag&bot Component Manger.
Configure the parameter IP for your setup. It has to match with the IP found in the section Find controller IP.
Configure your Robot Model for visualization. If your model is not listed, you can use the "-" entry to work without visualized robot model.
Eventually adjust the digital inputs and outputs. For this see the section Setup Digital I/Os.

Setup Digital I/Os¶

To use Digital I/Os with drag&bot they need to be available in the robot controller and also need to be configured in the drag&bot Component Manager.

Check which Digital I/Os are available in the controller¶

Press the soft button , enter the I/O menu and there the Digital section.
A list of Digital Inputs or Outputs will appear. You can switch between Input and Output list with the button IN/OUT at the bottom bar.
To see which Digital Inputs or Outputs are available change to the configuration with the button CONFIG at the bottom bar.
Here you can see a list of ranges of inputs or outputs. Each entry defines a range from where to where the range is defined (Column RANGE). Further it is configured where the hardware is placed in controller providing this I/Os (Columns RACK, SLOT, START). At last it is defined, whether the range is activated (ACTIV) or deactivated (UNASG) indicated in the column STAT. The additional hardware and software options defines, which ranges are activated or not.
Change nothing in the configuration, just note the ranges for Inputs and Output, which are activated. Just activated I/Os can be used in drag&bot.

Example: In the figure below the Digital Outputs 1 to 20 and 25 to 144 are activated.

Configure the Digital I/Os in the Component Manager¶

Based on the activated Digital I/Os in the Controller you can choose the Digital I/Os to be usable in drag&bot.
For Digital Inputs and Outputs you can configure up to 128 I/Os in 20 ranges each. A range is defined by a start pin and an end pin. Also just one pin can be defined, if there is just one element in the range. E.g. the configuration "1-8,12,17-24" has three ranges with 17 pins.
Setup your choosen configuration in the Component Manager. If the configuration was not accepted, the status changes to Stopped.

Example: In the figure below the Digital Outputs 1 to 20 and 25 to 64 are activated, based on the example from above. This are 60 pins in total in two ranges.

Additional Hints¶

Encoder Batteries

Always ensure that the robot encoder batteries do not completely discharge. Otherwise a re-mastering of the robot might be necessary. For more information see the R-30iB Controller Maintenance Manual and the R-30iB Controller Software Error Code Manual.