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General Mach Discussion / Mach3 for Robot Control?
« on: August 11, 2011, 08:14:15 AM »
Hi Everyone,
I'm been refurbishing a 3 axis industrial robot that I recused from a rubbish pile. The robot uses stepper motors and I've got those up and running with some MSD542 drivers from Motion Control Products. Here are pictures of the robot and drivers (ignore the Arduino, that was for testing):
http://dada.soulwire.co.uk/2009/08/first-images-of-dada/
I'd like to use the robot for drawing (on a flat surface) and pick and place, so was thinking of using Mach3 as the drive software, as this would let me draw some pretty complex patterns. Here's the problem though, the robot includes a rotaty joint as well as 2 linear joints, so its kinematics aren't like that of an XYZ CNC mill.
I have no problem figuring out the translation of the joint angles to get the tip position, but I'm wondering if I can integrate these robot kinematics into Mach3? Also I'd quite like to interact with the robot in real-time, (sending new drawing patterns as new data becomes available, rather than transmitting all commands at once and running the robot 'open-loop'), is this also a feature with Mach3? I've seen a number of CNC solutions that require uploading all movements to the machine via an SD-card, so that isn't for me.
Any advice appreciated. I had a go at writing my own stepper control software (for drawing straight lines with the bot) a while back and it was difficult to say the least!
I've heard only good things about Mach3, so if it will meet my requirements I'd love to use it.
Many Thanks,
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I'm been refurbishing a 3 axis industrial robot that I recused from a rubbish pile. The robot uses stepper motors and I've got those up and running with some MSD542 drivers from Motion Control Products. Here are pictures of the robot and drivers (ignore the Arduino, that was for testing):
http://dada.soulwire.co.uk/2009/08/first-images-of-dada/
I'd like to use the robot for drawing (on a flat surface) and pick and place, so was thinking of using Mach3 as the drive software, as this would let me draw some pretty complex patterns. Here's the problem though, the robot includes a rotaty joint as well as 2 linear joints, so its kinematics aren't like that of an XYZ CNC mill.
I have no problem figuring out the translation of the joint angles to get the tip position, but I'm wondering if I can integrate these robot kinematics into Mach3? Also I'd quite like to interact with the robot in real-time, (sending new drawing patterns as new data becomes available, rather than transmitting all commands at once and running the robot 'open-loop'), is this also a feature with Mach3? I've seen a number of CNC solutions that require uploading all movements to the machine via an SD-card, so that isn't for me.
Any advice appreciated. I had a go at writing my own stepper control software (for drawing straight lines with the bot) a while back and it was difficult to say the least!
I've heard only good things about Mach3, so if it will meet my requirements I'd love to use it.Many Thanks,
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