Triggering ArcTool ‘Weld Start/End’ via comet_rpc (or ROS Karel)?

[AnkitAggarwal0]

Continuing from - ros-industrial/fanuc#376

Thank you so much for this. I was able to use comet_rpc to control I/Os on the system. This allows me to control the laser on the robot arm as it is directly controlled by the I/Os.

To control the welding process, the controller uses the Arc Tool software. Since the tp programs of this are not public, I can't recreate the macros using I/O control like I did for the laser. I tried changing the marked I/Os directly but that does not seem to turn the welding system on. I was wondering if it is possible to run the 'Weld Start[WP, i]' and 'Weld End[WP,i]' commands using comet_rpc? (or if there is a way to know what those commands are doing exactly, so I can recreate them). I saw that there are functions to open tp programs on specific lines, but I wasn't able to decipher whether there is functionality to execute them.

If not, another way I was thinking was to edit the ROS Karel programs to include a flag or DIN that calls Weld Start and End, since I can control this using comet_rpc. Is this a viable way to go about it? If you know of a better solution, I would be grateful for your help.

[gavanderhoorn]

Tbh I don't have any experience with your specific setup, so I'm unsure as to what to suggest.

Are these macros, or actual programs? In case of macros, you could potentially see whether you could 'hook up' the macros to the state of particular IOs. The IOs you could the control using comet_rpc, but I don't know whether there are any safety systems or other on-controller systems that could prevent this from working.

another way I was thinking was to edit the ROS Karel programs to include a flag or DIN that calls Weld Start and End, since I can control this using comet_rpc

in my experience, welding requires synchronisation between motion and process.

Controlling both separately may introduce latencies resulting in desyncs which would be undesirable.

[AnkitAggarwal0]

Thank you for your response. Per my understanding, they are software program calls using the ArcTool Option. I'm attaching a picture below, where the text in Red is what I am trying to replicate. I have to press the corresponding button that says 'WELD_ST ' and 'WELDEND' on the bottom toolbar to add them to a line in a TP program. Unlike a macro, I cannot access the actual code written for these.

Are there any other remote welding projects using a Fanuc that you know of? Maybe I could gain better insight by using them as reference. Thanks again for your quick and helpful responses.