Basic Operation System Overview

3 System Overview

3.1 General
A robot is made up of two principal parts:

Controller Manipulator

Figure 1 The controller and manipulator are connected by two cables.

You can communicate with the robot using a teach pendant and/or an operators panel,
located on the controller (see Figure 2).

7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
1
2
0
P1 P2
P3

Figure 2 The teach pendant and the operators panel.

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3.2 The manipulator

Figure 3 shows the directions in which the various axes of the manipulator can move
and what these are called.

Axis 4
Axis 5

Axis 6
Axis 3

Axis 2

Axis 1

Figure 3 Manipulator, IRB 2400.

3.3 The controller

Figure 4 illustrates the principal parts of the controller.

Teach pendant
Operators panel

Mains switch Disk drive

Figure 4 The S4C control system.

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3.4 Operators panel

Figure 5 below shows a close-up of the operators panel. A short explanation of the
push buttons follows.

100% Operating mode selector

AUTOMATIC
MOTORS ON
MANUAL REDUCED SPEED
100%
MANUAL FULL SPEED

Emergency stop Duty time counter

Figure 5 The operators panel.

MOTORS ON
In the MOTORS ON state, the motors of the robot are activated and the MOTORS
ON button is continuously lit.

Operating mode AUTOMATIC (Production mode)

Used when running ready-made programs in production. It is not possible to move the robot
with the joystick in this mode.

Operating mode MANUAL REDUCED SPEED (Programming mode)

Used when working inside the robots working area and when programming the robot.
Also used to set the robot in MOTORS OFF state.

Operating mode MANUAL FULL SPEED (Testing mode, Option not standard)
Used to test run the robot program at full programming speed.

Emergency stop
The robot stops regardless of which state or mode the system is in immediately
when the emergency stop button is pressed. The button remains pressed in and, to turn
to MOTORS ON again, must be returned to its original position.

Duty time counter

Indicates the operating time for the manipulator (released brakes).

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3.5 Teach pendant

The teach pendant is described briefly below; see Figure 6 and Figure 7.

Enabling
7 8 9 device
4 5 6
1 2 3 Joystick
Display 1 0
2

P1 P2
P3 Emergency
stop button

Figure 6 The teach pendant.

Emergency stop

The robot stops regardless of which state or mode the system is in immediately the
emergency stop button is pressed. The button remains pressed in and, to turn to
MOTORS ON again, must be returned to its original position.

Enabling device (for safe operation)

A push button on the teach pendant which, when pressed halfway in, takes the system
to MOTORS ON (if the operating mode selector is switched to one of the two manual
modes). When the enabling device is released or pushed all the way in, the robot is
taken to the MOTORS OFF state.

If the enabling device is released and pressed in halfway again within half a second, the
robot will not return to the MOTORS ON state.
If this happens, the enabling device must first be released and then pushed halfway in
again.

The enabling device should only be activated when the robot is to be moved
either with the joystick or during program execution.

Joystick

The joystick is used to jog (move) the robot manually; e.g. when programming the
robot.

Display

Used to display all information during programming, to change programs, etc. It can
accommodate 16 lines; each line can accommodate 40 characters.

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Figure 7 shows the names of the various keys on the teach pendant.

Menu keys Contrast

Display
7 8 9
Jogging 4 5 6 Numeric
Program 1 2 3 keyboard
Window Inputs/ Motion keys
1 0
keys Outputs 2
Delete
Misc. Incremental
P1 P2
Enter
User defined key P3

Stop key
Function keys User defined Navigation keys
keys

Figure 7 An overview of the various keys on the teach pendant, Version 2.

Window keys (to select a window to work with on the display):

Jogging: Used to jog the robot.

Program: Used to program and test.

Inputs/Outputs: Used to manually operate the input and output

signals connected to the robot.

Misc.: Miscellaneous; other windows, i.e. the System Parameters,

Service, Production and File Manager windows.

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Navigation keys (to move the cursor within a window on the display):

List: Press to move the cursor from one part of the window to
another (normally separated by a double line).

Previous/Next page: Press to see the next/previous page.

Up and Down arrows: Press to move the cursor up or down.

Left and Right arrows: Press to move the cursor to the left or right.

Motion keys: (to select how the robot or other peripheral equipment should move when
using the joystick during manual operation):

Motion Unit: Press to jog the robot or other mechanical units.

Motion Type: Press to select how the robot should be jogged,

reorientation or linear.

1 Motion Type: Axis by axis movement. 1 = axis 1-3, 2 = axis 4-6

2

Incremental: Incremental jogging on/off

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Other keys:

Stop: Stops program execution.

Contrast: Adjusts contrast of the display

Menu keys: Press to display menus containing various commands.

Function keys: Press to select the various commands directly.

Delete: Deletes the data selected on the display.

Enter: Press to input data.

Programmable keys:

P1 P2 P3 Functions to be defined by the user.

(P4)
(P5)

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