fanucpy: Python package for FANUC industrial robots

Acknowledgements

This work was developed at the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing at the University of Nottingham as a part of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Training Network.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 814078.

Software contents

The package consists of two parts:

1. Robot interface code written in Python programming language
2. FANUC robot controller driver (tested with R-30iB Mate Plus Controller) written in KAREL and FANUC teach pendant languages

The communication protocol between the Python package and the FANUC robot controller is depicted below:

Python package installation

pip install fanucpy

Driver installation

Follow these steps to install FANUC driver.

Usage

Connect to a robot:

from fanucpy import Robot

robot = Robot(
    robot_model="Fanuc",
    host="192.168.1.100",
    port=18735,
    ee_DO_type="RDO",
    ee_DO_num=7,
)

robot.connect()

Moving

# move in joint space
robot.move(
    "joint",
    vals=[19.0, 66.0, -33.0, 18.0, -30.0, -33.0],
    velocity=100,
    acceleration=100,
    cnt_val=0,
    linear=False
)

# move in cartesian space
robot.move(
    "pose",
    vals=[0.0, -28.0, -35.0, 0.0, -55.0, 0.0],
    velocity=50,
    acceleration=50,
    cnt_val=0,
    linear=False
)

Opening/closing gripper

# open gripper
robot.gripper(True)

# close gripper
robot.gripper(False)

Querying robot state

# get robot state
print(f"Current pose: {robot.get_curpos()}")
print(f"Current joints: {robot.get_curjpos()}")
print(f"Instantaneous power: {robot.get_ins_power()}")
print(f"Get gripper state: {robot.get_rdo(7)}")

Calling external program

robot.call_prog(prog_name)

Get/Set RDO

robot.get_rdo(rdo_num=7)
robot.set_rdo(rdo_num=7, value=True)

Contributions

External contributions are welcome!

• Agajan Torayev: Key developer
• Fan Mo: Support with documentation
• Michael Yiu: External contributor

RobotApp

We introduce an experimental feature: Robot Apps. This class facilitates modularity and plug-and-produce functionality. Check the following example apps:

1. Pick and Place App
2. Aruco Tracking App

Citation

Please use the following to cite if you are using this library in academic publications Towards Modular and Plug-and-Produce Manufacturing Apps

@article{torayev2022towards,
  title={Towards Modular and Plug-and-Produce Manufacturing Apps},
  author={Torayev, Agajan and Mart{\'\i}nez-Arellano, Giovanna and Chaplin, Jack C and Sanderson, David and Ratchev, Svetan},
  journal={Procedia CIRP},
  volume={107},
  pages={1257--1262},
  year={2022},
  publisher={Elsevier}
}