Robotics/Automation Engineer

[Garwood]

A friend got a job in maintenance at a stamping house. He didn't know PLC's or the right/wrong way to do things, but spoke Rpi and Arduino a little so he rigged up dozens of machines running on this stuff. Most of it real sketchy workmanship/beginner programming. Ten years later that company is still running all those machines. He left 5+ years ago. Still has friends there and they say it all still works. One machine is a welder that runs entirely on arduino w/rpi touchscreen UI. That welder does hundreds of parts everyday.

 

[M. Roberts]

Good morning. I have my preliminary thoughts modeled up for the robotic blaster that I have in mind, but I am having issues with finding a contractor that is interested in doing the integrating of the robot; Is it really that difficult? Really all I need is the robot; maybe some programming unless they are "learning robots". Any help or suggestions are appreciated, thanks. Mark

 

[garyhlucas]

My current employer was building a custom machine for a customer with one stepper motor. The engineer doing the electrical chose an Arduino solution. The reality quickly became a cheap controller with thousands of dollars in programming time. This was without having an HMI.
I helped them replace the Arduino solution with a BRX PLC that cost $500 and they were up and running in a day with a robust solution with great documentation, tech support. Parts available for at least 20 years, easy to understand ladder program. Then they hung an HMI on it and gave the customer recipes, data logging, alarming etc.
The Arduino solution is cheap only if you don’t value your time. Fantastic teaching tool and prototyping too. I have a product using an Arduino, that likely will be made in hundreds to thousands with no variations. Perfect for an inexpensive controller.

 

[YoDoug]

Exactly. What none of the big three robot MFR's will share is their programming language without a PO, and for someone who wants to understand the code, you are left in the dark until cash is on top of the barrel.

Both Kuka and ABB were more than forthcoming providing us with training manuals and program samples before we decided which robot to buy. That was 5 years ago. We ended up going with ABB and now have 8 of them.

 

[reinajk30]

All
I am a new member here. I am mostly here for manual machining, but I am a Robotics/Automation engineer and have been for the last 10 years.
I can help with general robotics and automation issues, and I have a lot of robot cell safety experience.

next year I want to start my education, i'm looking to robotic engineer path. do you have some recommendations which university and education path is the best choice? and also, is it necessary to go through computer science first?

 

[reinajk30]

Rdixiemiller,

Thanks for offering to share your experience.
Can you point to any resources that clearly explain robot programming at different levels?

Lots of online materials explain simple pick and place, but I havent found much about integration details. What functions are implemented as macros from fanuc/yaskawa/etc. and what should I plan to program myself.

Like many folks, I want to set up a machine tender. I'm interested in:
1. standard approach to pick and place from arrays of stock and to finished part arrays
2. Reliable methods for cleaning fixtures, placing then verifying part placement.
3. When adding feedback loops using vision or external sensing, what that looks like on the programming side
4. On ladder logic, common approaches to state machine implementation. Use this website to receive help with your college assignments. I generally track states with an integer and loads of if statements to change states. It works well for the test machine system I put together but no idea if there's a well established way to do this. I realize this is a plc question more than a robot controller question.

Thanks,
Mike

do you find reliable solution for yourself? any helpful materials?

 

[motion guru]

next year I want to start my education, i'm looking to robotic engineer path. do you have some recommendations which university and education path is the best choice? and also, is it necessary to go through computer science first?

Find a school with a Mechatronics program that has PLC’s and Robots in the labs. Your options will vary by school / location. Our local Washington State University mechatronics lab is very good and the engineers who graduate from there have the basics down. You don’t need a computer science degree to work in this field.

For general motion control this is a good text book with many industrial examples . . . https://www.amazon.com/Books-Dr-Hakan-Gurocak/s?rh=n:283155,p_27r.+Hakan+Gurocak

Also, depending on your math skills, if you want to write code for coordinated motion on a home built robot, learn kinematics of multi joint mechanisms . . . this is generally not required for standard OEM robots, but is the “code under the user written code”. A class that derives forward and inverse kinematics is a great way to learn how to make your own dedicated machine designs using purpose designed linkages and complex algebra to nail motion requirements.