The Virtual Manual Control Pendant (VMCP) page is displayed in its own browser window when the Virtual Pendant tab in the Navigation bar is clicked. The VMCP provides the same functionality available from a hardware Manual Control Pendant, i.e. the ability to manually move the robot in various modes and display the current robot position.
Figure 43-26: Virtual Manual Control Pendant
The "Positions" section at the top of the panel displays the location of the currently selected syringe tip and the position of each of the robot's axes.
| Position Display | Description |
|---|---|
|
X, Y, Z, Yaw, Pitch, Roll |
Displays the position and orientation of the currently selected syringe tip in Cartesian coordinates. The X, Y and Z are in millimeters. The three angles are in degrees and are a set of Euler angles. These angles correspond to a Yaw rotation about world Z-axis (rotating to the left and right along the horizon), followed by a Pitch rotation about the new Y-axis (tilting to look up into the sky or down into the ground), followed by a Roll rotation about the new Z-axis (rotating to the left and right about the new vertical axis). |
|
Jt 1/7 ... Jt 6/12 |
Displays the current position of each of the axes of the robot in millimeters or degrees as appropriate. |
The "Robot Status" section in the middle of the panel contains items for controlling motor power and robot homing.
| Robot Status | Description |
|---|---|
|
System State |
See the section on Enabling Motor Power and Homing the Robot for a description of these buttons and fields. |
|
Robot Homed |
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Enable |
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Disable |
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|
Home Robot |
The "Jog Control" section at the bottom of the panel is used to move the robot in various manual control modes. Prior to jogging the robot, motor power must be enabled and the robot must be "homed."
To move, you first select a mode, then an axis or coordinate, then a speed and finally press the "+" or "-" key to move the axis in the positive or negative direction. Releasing the "+" or "-" key or changing modes terminates the motion.
| Jog Control | Description |
|---|---|
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Disables Jog Control and permits GD to take control of the robot and automatically move its axes. This mode should always be selected when you have finished moving the robot in jog mode. |
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Moves all of the axes of the robot in a coordinated fashion such that the selected syringe tip travels in a straight-line path along or rotates about the X, Y, or Z axes of the robot’s world reference frame. |
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Similar to World mode except that the reference frame is determined by the selected syringe's orientation. For example, since the Z-axis of the syringe normally points down, a positive motion in tool Z will move the syringe down. |
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Moves individual axes one at a time. Even if an axis is beyond its limit stops, this mode can be used to drive the axis back into the working range. |
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Allows one or more axes to be taken out of position control mode to permit the axis to move freely. For lightweight robots, this allows the operator to grip an axis and manually repositioned it. |
|
<Select Axis/Joint> |
Displays the axes that can be moved for the active jog control mode. An axis must be clicked in order to select it to be moved. |
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Jog Speed % |
Specifies the speed that the axis will move, specified as a percentage of the maximum manual control speed. The speed can be entered numerically, incrementally changed with the speed "+" and "-" keys or by clicking one of the numbered speed keys. The "Inc" keys move the axis by a small step and then stop rather than moving continuously. This is convenient for making fine position adjustments. |
|
Jog Axis ("+", "-") |
Moves the selected axis in the positive or negative direction at the selected speed. For Free mode, multiple axes can be simultaneously free'd by selecting the axis number and pressing the "+" key. Pressing the "-" key or selecting a different jog mode un-frees an axis. |
