Retrofitting of the IRB6-S2 robotic manipulator using Computer Numerical Control- based controllers

Abstract

This work presents a comparative and descriptive study of numerical control machines solutions using Linux and Windows operating systems, used for the retrofitting of two similar models of old industrial robots, using controllers based on Computer Numerical Control (CNC). Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and University of Brasilia (UnB) adopted two different softwares, including the robot kinematics model and the generation of joint signal control. Furthermore, this article proposes a comparative study of the two open architecture controllers’ implementation advantages and CAD/CAM integration option, by describing and analyzing each academic solution and choosing the best alternative controller to implement the retrofitting technique for old industrial robots. The comparative study validated the developed generic robot retrofitting methodology, which can be considered as the work’s greatest contribution, as well as providing the open-source project, hardware and software, for ASEA IRB6-S2 Robot retrofitting. The proposed methodology is composed by a set of methods and activities described through an IDEF0 (Icam DEFinition for Function Modeling) model, which can be applied to the retrofitting of any industrial robot with serial or parallel kinematics, which guides the developer in five steps associated with the hardware and software specification for a desired robotic platform implementation as a custom solution based on LinuxCNC system.