After you update ForgeOS on the READY Pendant, follow these steps to update the robot driver files on the robot controller.
Table of Contents:
Getting Robot Driver Files from ForgeOS
Transferring Robot Driver Files to the Robot Controller
Getting Robot Driver Files From ForgeOS
Open the Device Configuration app.
Select your configured robot and tap Edit.
Insert a USB drive into the Forge IPC.
Tap Start Transfer.
Wait for the transfer to finish.
Transferring Robot Driver Files to the Robot Controller
This section consists of the following steps:
- Connecting your RobotStudio Computer to the Robot Controller
- Backing up the Robot Controller
- Doing a Factory Reset
- Transferring ForgeOS Files
Connecting your RobotStudio Computer to the Robot Controller
If you have not purchased a RobotStudio license, click Cancel in the "Activate RobotStudio" pop-up. You can perform these steps with the basic RobotStudio version.
Note: You don't need to install RobotWare on RobotStudio for this setup. Click No if you see the below pop-up.
Note: Refer to ABB documentation for more information on Ethernet routing. Depending on your setup, you may need to plug this cable into a different port.
Note: The below substeps assume that your RobotStudio computer is a Windows computer. If you are not using a Windows computer, follow your computer's procedure for configuring IP settings.
- Open the Run box by pressing Windows key + R on the keyboard or right-click the Start Menu button and select Run.
- In the Run pop-up, type "ncpa.cpl" (Network Connections panel) and click OK.
- On the Network Connections window, double-click the Ethernet connection that you are using on the computer. For computers with one Ethernet port, it's the Ethernet option.
- In the Ethernet Properties Networking tab, double-click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4).
- In the IPv4 Properties pop-up General tab, select Obtain an IP address automatically. This allows the DHCP server to automatically assign your computer an IP address for communicating with the robot controller.
Note: Selecting Use the following IP address instead is also valid, but make sure that the IP address that you are manually entering is compatible with the robot controller and doesn't interfere with other devices. For example, try setting the static IP address to 192.168.125.3 and the Subnet mask to 255.255.255.0. If you get errors later on, come back to this screen to try different settings.
- Click OK to save these settings.
Connect to the ABB controller in RobotStudio:
- Select the Controller tab at the top of the screen.
- Click the Add Controller dropdown and select One Click Connect.
Tip: If the controller doesn't connect, follow the instructions in the error pop-up for checking your Ethernet cable connection and your IP configuration settings.
If you see the following pop-up, click Log in as Default User.
Backing Up the Robot Controller
In the RobotStudio Controller tab, click Backup at the top of the screen, then select Create Backup.
Choose where to save your backup, then click OK to start the backup and wait for it to finish.
Doing a Factory Reset
With the mode switch on the ABB controller set to AUTO, click Request Write Access. This allows you to edit settings on the controller.
Reset the controller to its factory default settings:
Note: A factory reset (I-start) is recommended because it kills all currently-running programs and guarantees that there will be no conflicts during the ForgeOS file transfer. You could try skipping this factory reset step, but if you get errors later on in the setup process that prevent ForgeOS from communicating with the robot controller, come back to this step to do the factory reset. Before performing the factory reset, take note of any settings that you have set in RobotStudio that you do not want to lose, and make sure that your backup files are stored in a safe place. If you've set up custom IO signals, also take note of any signal "Display Names" in Device Configuration and take note of how your custom signals are referenced in other apps. Later on in this guide are instructions for restoring the backup EIO.cfg file (if applicable).
- In the Controller tab, click the Restart dropdown at the top of the screen, then select Reset system (I-start).
Note: If the Restart menu is unavailable, try pressing the ABB controller's E-Stop to stop motion programs.
- Click OK to confirm the factory reset. Wait for the controller to restart and reconnect to RobotStudio.
- Click Request Write Access to regain access.
Transferring ForgeOS Files and Parameters
Connect the USB drive with the ForgeOS robot driver files to your RobotStudio computer.
Follow these steps to copy the ForgeOS robot driver files onto the controller:
- In the Controller tab, select the File Transfer button.
- In the PC Explorer, find the ForgeOS robot driver files on the USB flash drive in forge_os\ready-abb-driver. Select all of the .sys and .mod files.
- In the Controller Explorer, find the HOME directory. Open the folder called "READY" that you created when initially setting up ForgeOS.
- Click the arrow that's pointing to the right to transfer all of the driver files into that folder.
Note: If you don't delete the existing files in the "READY" folder before the file transfer process, click Yes in the pop-up that asks you if you want to overwrite these existing files.
Follow these steps to copy the controller parameters onto the controller:
- In the Controller tab, click Load Parameters.
- At the bottom of the Open window, select Delete existing parameters before loading.
- Open the folder named Config in the USB drive. Select all of the .cfg files, and then click Open to load them.
- If RobotStudio warns you that existing parameters will be deleted, press OK.
- If RobotStudio asks you to restart the controller, press OK to clear the pop-up. However, to save time, wait to reboot until you do the next step of restoring IO (if applicable).
(Optional) If you have a previous IO configuration that you wish to restore from a backup, follow these substeps.
Note: These subtsteps assume that the backup EIO.cfg file already consists of the default ForgeOS signals followed by your custom signals.
- Click Load Parameters.
- In the Open window, select the EIO.cfg file from the SYSPAR folder in your backup folder. Select Load parameters and replace duplicates then Open to load your new signals.
Note: This option will reload your new signals to the bottom of the EIO.cfg file (below the default ForgeOS signals). Because your backup file already includes the default ForgeOS signals, these signals are considered "duplicates" to the ForgeOS signals that you loaded in the previous step.
- If RobotStudio warns you that duplicate parameters will be replaced, press OK.
- If RobotStudio asks you to restart the controller, press OK.
Restart the ABB controller by selecting Restart (Warmstart) in the Controller > Restart menu. Wait for the restart to finish. Keep the ABB controller set to AUTO mode.
Note: If the Restart menu is unavailable, try pressing the READY pendant E-Stop or the ABB controller E-Stop to stop motion programs. This will allow you to be able to warm-restart from RobotStudio. Then, after the controller finishes booting back up, release the E-Stop and press RESET to clear any errors on the READY pendant. (You can also use the power switch on the robot controller instead.)
Note: If you restored a previous IO configuration from a backup file, resolve the ForgeOS IO configuration mismatch warning. Check if you need to re-add the Display Names of your signals, then check if the signals correctly re-populated to Task Canvas tasks and Rule Engine rules.