Purpose

Real-time implementation of sophisticated algorithms on robotic systems demands a rewarding interface between hardware and software components. Individual robot manufacturers have dedicated controllers and languages. However, robot operation would require either the knowledge of additional software or expensive add-on installations for effective communication between the robot controller and the computation software. This paper aims to present a novel method of interfacing the commercial robot controllers with most widely used simulation platform, e.g. MATLAB in real-time with a demonstration of visual predictive controller.

Design/methodology/approach

A remote personal computer (PC), running MATLAB, is connected with the IRC5 controller of an ABB robotic arm through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP server on the IRC5 responds to a request from an FTP client (MATLAB) on a remote computer. MATLAB provides the basic platform for programming and control algorithm development. The controlled output is transferred to the robot controller through Ethernet port as files and, thereby, the proposed scheme ensures connection and control of the robot using the control algorithms developed by the researchers without the additional cost of buying add-on packages or mastering vendor-specific programming languages.

Findings

New control strategies and contrivances can be developed with numerous conditions and constraints in simulation platforms. When the results are to be implemented in real-time systems, the proposed method helps to establish a simple, fast and cost-effective communication with commercial robot controllers for validating the real-time performance of the developed control algorithm.

Practical implications

The proposed method is used for real-time implementation of visual servo control with predictive controller, for accurate pick-and-place application with different initial conditions. The same strategy has been proven effective in supervisory control using two cameras and artificial neural network-based visual control of robotic manipulators.

Originality/value

This paper elaborates a real-time example using visual servoing for researchers working with industrial robots, enabling them to understand and explore the possibilities of robot communication.

中文翻译：

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连接工业机器人和MATLAB以进行预测性视觉伺服

目的

在机器人系统上实时执行复杂算法需要在硬件和软件组件之间建立有意义的接口。各个机器人制造商都有专用的控制器和语言。但是，机器人操作将需要了解其他软件或昂贵的附加安装，才能在机器人控制器和计算软件之间进行有效的通信。本文旨在提出一种新颖的方法，将商用机器人控制器与最广泛使用的仿真平台（例如MATLAB）实时接口，并通过视觉预测控制器进行演示。

设计/方法/方法

运行MATLAB的远程个人计算机（PC）通过文件传输协议（FTP）与ABB机械臂的IRC5控制器连接。IRC5上的FTP服务器响应来自远程计算机上的FTP客户端（MATLAB）的请求。MATLAB提供了用于编程和控制算法开发的基本平台。受控输出通过以太网端口作为文件传输到机器人控制器，因此，所提出的方案可使用研究人员开发的控制算法确保机器人的连接和控制，而无需购买附加软件包或掌握厂商的额外费用，特定的编程语言。

发现

可以在模拟平台中开发具有多种条件和约束的新控制策略和设计方案。当结果要在实时系统中实现时，所提出的方法有助于与商用机器人控制器建立简单，快速且经济高效的通信，以验证所开发控制算法的实时性能。

实际影响

所提出的方法用于具有预测控制器的视觉伺服控制的实时实现，以便在不同的初始条件下进行精确的取放应用。事实证明，相同的策略在使用两个摄像头和基于机械手的基于人工神经网络的视觉控制的监督控制中非常有效。

创意/价值

本文为使用工业机器人的研究人员精心设计了一个使用视觉伺服的实时示例，使他们能够了解和探索机器人通信的可能性。