Aciera wrote: Have you already used EtherCAT in LinuxCNC or why did you decide to go that route?
How do you home the 6 joints? (I presume those drives don't have absolute encoders)
I found that one problem in linuxCNC is the missing capability to check for joint limits when using cartesian coordinates and non-trivial kinematics. Are you using simulation before executing the paths to check for limit violations and/or singularities?
I still have to work those things out. The motors have incremental encoders and brakes. I was thinking I save the last known position of the encoder in LinuxCNC and use that to home the axises. Dont know if that will work well or not but I will see. When I repaint the unit I will remake the home position stickers and use them to set the home position.
I plan to work with some developers and get any features I need added to create a LinuxCNC robot configuration. I hope it to be what PlasmaC is to plasma cutters but for six axis robots. I want the config to have singularity detection built in much like my Motoman controllers and also dynamics control. It will be a lot of work but I am up for it. Hope to get it working in the next couple of years depending how I go with other projects I am working on.
I have also brought a copy of RoboDK to plan out my work cells in 3D. I will use that when I get to the stage of creating programs but like PlasmaC, I want it to be able to work on its own and not be tied to any one CAM program. This will be a pretty big project but one I hope will pay dividends in the future.
Also with EtherCAT, I went that way because it is the fastest modern fieldbus. I can use it to link external axises that are spaced around a work cell with normal Ethernet cables. I have not used it so it will be a learning curve.
