Fanuc IHMI

Anyone have experience with the new Fanuc iHMI control? Got a demo today and it seems like converting from a flip phone to a smart phone, all the functions are there but way more intuative.

Pros / Cons if any?

I'm skeptical. FANUC and intuitive are mutually exclusive.

Some folk really like it. Others, meh.
I thought a great idea, but just my opinion.
It's supposed to cut down on keystrokes.
We'll see.

It is nice looking if you are an operator/cycle start monkey. If you need to actually do anything meaningful with the control, you quickly leave iHMI land and are back in old-school Fanuc. They couldn't even be bothered to update the parameter interface beyond the Apollo Guidance Computer table of numbers and bits.

Really guys, that was a neat trick from the 1980s when memory was a precious resource, but it is pathetic today.

DouglasJRizzo said:

Some folk really like it. Others, meh.
I thought a great idea, but just my opinion.
It's supposed to cut down on keystrokes.
We'll see.

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Basically to continue my lathe search from an earlier post, doosan is now in the mix. So narrowing it down between the osp on a genos, Oi-TF on the DMC, Oi-iHMI on the Doosan. The Doosan is nice but demands a 10k premium over the other 2. For a guy thats never really used fanuc before it seemed like it would be easier to catch on vs the TF.

gkoenig said:

It is nice looking if you are an operator/cycle start monkey. If you need to actually do anything meaningful with the control, you quickly leave iHMI land and are back in old-school Fanuc. They couldn't even be bothered to update the parameter interface beyond the Apollo Guidance Computer table of numbers and bits.

Really guys, that was a neat trick from the 1980s when memory was a precious resource, but it is pathetic today.

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Thanks for the feedback

If using the Manual Guide I it kinda seems like it would be easier for a first timer to pick up on it? And Doosan puts their stuff in there so im not sure if its different than standard or just has the panther image on it? It's easier to dump programs from a USB, loosing 3 keystrokes isn't worth the premium.

Renegade212 said:

Thanks for the feedback

If using the Manual Guide I it kinda seems like it would be easier for a first timer to pick up on it? And Doosan puts their stuff in there so im not sure if its different than standard or just has the panther image on it? It's easier to dump programs from a USB, loosing 3 keystrokes isn't worth the premium.

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I can't speak to Doosan or Makino or any of the other OEMs who skin the iHMI, the machines I work with are Robodrills, so as factory Fanuc as you can possibly get. Here are some more detailed notes:

1- iHMI runs on an embedded Windows computer bolted on top of the basic Fanuc control. The whole thing actually doubles the boot-up time (you boot the PLC based Fanuc, then the Windows based iHMI kicks on over another 90 seconds).

2- iHMI is limited to the most basic, everyday operations screens, and it looks good! You can load a program, use the recovery modes, hit up the MDI. The machines I worked on have no probes, so I don't know how iHMI deals with that? It would need to be a Renishaw/Blum app within iHMI because I saw no infrastructure in the basic Fanuc setup for graphical probing.

3- iHMI can (and likely will!) crash independent of the rest of the machine. I never had this happen in a cut, but while doing edits to params or other operations (oddly, always in the old Fanuc side), iHMI would crash. You would go back to an iHMI side, and it would be frozen and reboot itself. Since it never runs the code pipeline, the machine will always be OK, but it is frustrating. Some of them get iHMI to reboot on it's own, others require a machine reboot.

4- I do not think iHMI (as Fanuc does it on the Robodrills, at least) would have any learning curve advantage, aside from a slight one. You still are dealing with Fanuc's dumb file system and almost Unix command line level interactions. There is no drag and drop, or rational file names, or anything approaching the model of how a modern phone/desktop computer work. The touch-screen is very basic (not multi-touch, like an iPad) so it isn't like you'll be playing Minority Report CNC mill operator on it.

I was originally sort of excited by iHMI, but alas... it is the minimum viable product for Fanuc to throw up a decent looking screen. The same old Fanuc bullshit is still running the show - with the crap memory + data server model, inscrutable parameter menus, cryptic setting screens, etc.

If you ever wanted to know what lipstick on a pig actually looks like, it is iHMI.

I have also little experience on Robodrill side. I learned using T10A robodrill and just some time ago got new robodrill with iHMI interface. First it was confusing and what pisses me off is age long startup time. That’s why I prefer to get to the T10A instead when small tasks. iHMI is eye candy, but it can only do few tasks. The old interface is still there and most of the things need to be done on that side. For example if you need to simulate program you do it in the old side. Or maybe I’m missing some option. @gkoening do you have simulation in your robodrills on iHMI side, like described here:
Link

Also something strange going on, when importing programs from usb stick, sometimes need to press reset to be able to open them and sometimes not. It’s random, I don’t know why this happens and whether it’s cause of this iHMI or not..

To my mind iHMI is more of a burden than upgrade. To get the unreliability of Windows bolted to the Fanuc controller… But the touchscreen, I love it!

Renegade212 said:

Thanks for the feedback

If using the Manual Guide I it kinda seems like it would be easier for a first timer to pick up on it? And Doosan puts their stuff in there so im not sure if its different than standard or just has the panther image on it? It's easier to dump programs from a USB, loosing 3 keystrokes isn't worth the premium.

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The Advanced One Touch IGF is a bit more powerful than EZ Guide/Manual Guide i. I know, I've worked them both. The iHMI on the Fanuc 0iT-FPlus makes it a much nicer looking interface than the old one. It still doesn't have the OSP power or memory.

Doosan is a great product, I'm surprised that it's more than the Okuma.

gkoenig said:

<snip> The touch-screen is very basic (not multi-touch, like an iPad) so it isn't like you'll be playing Minority Report CNC mill operator on it.

<snip>

If you ever wanted to know what lipstick on a pig actually looks like, it is iHMI.

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heheheheheh.... [banging on the desk laughing emoji.].

True Facts: Wild Pigs - YouTube

Zfrank (probably NSFW) ~ If only Fanuc and other controls were actually smart as a pig (wild or otherwise).

I think Makino's attempts to ameliorate the core Fanucyness of Fanuc - are more like a cybernetic Borg-pig - with some eye-liner.

Still pretty bomb proof.

Will be interesting to see how Athena catches on or not.

I just found out there is a 2 Gig memory upgrade for the iHMI controls. This is CNC memory, not a Data server. Should be interesting to see how this pans out. The only caveat is it can only be loaded to and from either a memory card or USB stick.

LockNut said:

I just found out there is a 2 Gig memory upgrade for the iHMI controls. This is CNC memory, not a Data server. Should be interesting to see how this pans out. The only caveat is it can only be loaded to and from either a memory card or USB stick.

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No paper tape?

DouglasJRizzo said:

No paper tape?

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Oh I'm sure it's still measured in meters or feet or whatever.