Re: Comau open control

On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, Visser,Martijn wrote:

> In our robotics laboratory we have a Comau Smart S2 robot with the C3G open
> controller with PCC3 link. I want to use this C3G open controller running in
> the 1 kHz current setpoint mode to test some of my controllers. The open C3G
> controller is now connected with a PCC3 link to a PCAT running DOS, but for
> a number of reasons the PCAT en OS are no longer sufficient and I would like
> to switch to a more powerful PC running RT Linux.

I understand! (BTW I have always had the impression that the Comau
controller was quite workable and open; is this indeed also you
experience? I have no hands-on experience with it myself though...)

> In the Orocos mailinglist archives I read your discussion about the "COMAU
> open control" and would like to ask the following questions: do you also
> have a Comau robot with the open controller? If so what computer running
> what OS do you use? And if not do you know of any other laboratories that
> do?

We don't have Comau. So we wrote our own controllers in the past. But
these are definitely needing an update, and that's the practical
reason I started Orocos :-) We currently have a first prototype of
force control (at 1kHz), on a Kuka robot (without using the original
controller of course), on a Pentium 750MHz running real-time Linux.
The biggest problem is the PC architecture (PCI), not the RTOS.

You are welcome to come to the Orocos meeting (1-2 September), or to
the "hands-on" on Friday 31 August. (Both are free, of course.)
I organize this hands-on exactly for the purpose you email me:
exchange experiences and look at code ;-)
(So there is no fixed programme, and I cannot guarantee its success,
but you won't be the only one for sure.)

Other interesting news for you maybe is that one of the original
designers of the Comau controller (now working at the Polytechnico di
Milano, where RTAI was developed) is coming to the Orocos meeting too,
and is going to talk about his experiences and design decisions.

Best regards,

Herman Bruyninckx