Posted to News on 11th Feb 2014, 10:23
SEPRO robots communicate via POWERLINK
With the development of a new system architecture based on POWERLINK, SEPRO's VISUAL3 control platform provides optimal control performance and accuracy for robots, regardless of their size and payload. SEPRO now has the freedom to implement new and more complex algorithms. The company also has the capability to place a slave module anywhere on the robot without having to worry about wiring. SEPRO also takes advantage of POWERLINK's ability to combine real-time, safety and asynchronous processes on a single bus to simplify the overall system while lowering its total cost.
Francis Columeau, R&D manager in charge of electronics and software design at SEPRO, explains: "In addition to its exceptional performance, one of POWERLINK's biggest strengths is its ability to combine various types of information on the same medium. The open source nature of POWERLINK plays a key role in managing development times and ensuring the quality of results."
By providing compatibility with SEPRO's existing CANopen protocol, POWERLINK allows the company to continue using their existing CANopen libraries. Francis Columeau says: "This feature made the transition quite simple for us. Efficient support from the EPSG and training on implementing controlled nodes in an FPGA enabled us to efficiently implement the protocol in a very short time."
To learn more about POWERLINK, please visit www.ethernet-POWERLINK.org.
Ethernet Powerlink Standardization Group (EPSG)
Powerlink-Office
Kurfürstenstr. 112
GERMANY
+49 30 8508 8529
