QB Robotics SoftHand Research, User Manual

Page 1: ...PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE DO NOT DISCARD KEEP FOR FUTURE REFERENCE User Guide for Universal Robots ...

Page 2: ...subject to changes without notice the latest version is available on our webpage www qbrobotics com qbrobotics s r l does not assume any responsibility for errors or omissions In no case qbrobotics s r l will be responsible for any loss problems or damages to persons or property arising from the use of this document The qb logo and qbrobotics are registered trademarks of qbrobotics s r l In the fo...

Page 3: ...8 3 4 Electrical characteristics 9 3 5 Tool connector pinout 10 4 Description 12 4 1 General 12 4 2 Characteristics and key features 13 4 3 Standard customization 13 5 Mounting and wiring 14 5 1 Tool mounting 14 5 2 Cable connections for e Series robots 15 5 3 Cable connections for CB Series robots 17 6 Software 19 6 1 URCap 19 7 Maintenance and warranty 25 7 1 General 25 8 FAQ and troubleshooting...

Page 4: ...pected 32 8 6 The glove is deteriorated broken 33 8 7 The USB flash drive is not working 34 8 8 Error C740A0 on e Series robots 35 8 9 Grasping with a custom finger position 36 8 10 Simplified CAD models of the qb SoftHand 36 8 11 URCap installation 36 8 12 URCap uninstallation 37 ...

Page 5: ...at can lead to critical damages on the device and to personal injury Attentions help you identify a hazard avoid a hazard and recognize the consequence Identifies information about practice or circumstances that can lead to damages on the device and to personal injury Attentions help you identify a hazard avoid a hazard and recognize the consequence Identifies remarkable information and additional...

Page 6: ...ain cable of 3m N 1 power cable of 0 5 m N 1 USB cable of 0 5 1 8 m N 1 USB flash drive URCap v3 Polyscope versions 3 8 5 2 Manual Datasheet N 1 cylindrical pin EN ISO 8734 A d6x14 h6 N 4 metrical screws EN ISO 4762 M6x10 N 8 metrical screws EN ISO 10642 M3x8 N 1 2 mm Allen hex key N 1 5 mm Allen hex key N 1 flat blade screwdriver NOTE The URCap v2 is deprecated since June 2019 However you may req...

Page 7: ...kaging The device can be used only by specially trained staff Disconnect the power supply before installation cleaning or maintenance operations Make sure that no residual energy remains in the system Always operate the product within the specifications defined Keep away from children and pets Always set off or unplug when not in use Never use aerosol products petroleum based lubricants or other f...

Page 8: ...since they are intended for lower voltages 2 4 Environmental conditions Wrong environmental and operating conditions can lead to injuries product damages and or significant reduction to the product s life 2 5 Environmental safety The qb SoftHand research must be disposed of in accordance with the applicable national laws regulations and standards All the components of this product have been chosen...

Page 9: ...QB SOFTHAND RESEARCH USER GUIDE 5 Observe national registration requirements for importers according to EU WEEE Directive 2012 19 EU ...

Page 10: ... The figure below shows the overall dimensions of the qb SoftHand research valid for both left and right configurations distances and tolerances in the drawing are noted in millimeters mm and degrees Figure 1 qb SoftHand drawings WARNING Be aware that the above figure may be out of scale ...

Page 11: ...e coordinate system OM is on the interface surface of the robot tool flange and the ZM axis is coincident with the tool flange axis of symmetry Ri is the i th revolute joint of the robot and O1 X1 Y1 Z1 is the base coordinate system of the robot On the right there is the Tool Coordinate System ΣT OT XT YT ZT of the SoftHand The center OT coincides with the center of mass of the hand and its positi...

Page 12: ...M NOMINAL MAXIMUM Pinch grasping payload kg 0 83 1 10 Power grasping payload kg 1 70 2 10 Hanging payload kg 10 30 Pinch grasping force N 10 11 Power grasping force N 46 62 Grasping time s 1 1 Releasing time s 1 1 Look at the graph for details Figure 3 Maximum grasping force chart 0 ...

Page 13: ...Figure 4 Maximum payload chart Figure 5 Chart notes 3 4 Electrical characteristics MINIMUM NOMINAL MAXIMUM Power supply voltage VDC 23 1 24 24 8 Power consumption W 1 4 18 30 Current limit A 0 75 Operational time s 300 Duty cycle 69 0 g ...

Page 14: ...ing case is to be considered 3 5 Tool connector pinout On the qb SoftHand flange there is a Phoenix Contact 8 position M8 connector A coded with gold plated copper alloy contacts Part Number 14242321 The following cables are compliant and recommended Phoenix contact 3m free cable end with angled socket Part Number 14041922 Phoenix contact 30mm female female with angled sockets Part Number 10983153...

Page 15: ...QB SOFTHAND RESEARCH USER GUIDE 11 WARNING Any error in the pins connection may cause irremediable damages to the device ...

Page 16: ... composed of a logic stage for communication and low level computation and a power stage for motion control This together with a DC motor and its absolute encoder establishes a simple position and current control feedback regulated by a properly tuned PID controller The intelligence is delegated to a Cypress PSoC 3 microcontroller i e a programmable embedded system on chip which runs a custom firm...

Page 17: ...2 0 kg maximum payload Maximum closure time of 1 1 s Total weight of 770 g including aluminium flange and screws Universal Robots plug and play certified ROS packages and general C API available Grasp forces and payloads highly depend on object dimensions and approaching strategy cf Mechanical Characteristics see Page 6 4 3 Standard customization Mechanical flange adapters for non standard robot f...

Page 18: ...UR user interface e g from the UR Teach Pendant To assemble the hand on the UR robot arm please follow the following instructions INSTRUCTIONS 1 Insert 1 into the 6 mm hole on the UR wrist 2 Center 2 on the wrist diameter 63 mm taking care that the cylindrical pin 1 fits into one of the four d6 reamed through holes WARNING Use only the screws provided within the package Longer screws could damage ...

Page 19: ...s 5 You need the 2 mm Allen wrench Table 1 Installation guidelines of the SoftHand research on UR Referring to the baloons in the pictures 1 cylindrical pin EN ISO 8734 A d6x14 h6 2 MC_WR_ALU_ISO_04_33_102 3 n 4 metrical screws EN ISO 4762 M6x10 4 EE_H_RES_R_24V_83_123 5 n 8 metrical screws EN ISO 10642 M3x8 5 2 Cable connections for e Series robots With e Series robots you are now able to direct ...

Page 20: ...e max tightening torque 0 2 Nm Table 2 Installation guidelines of the SoftHand research on UR Referring to the ballons in the pictures 10 EC_CBL_26_M8FA8_M8FA8_030 If you use this type of connection you must set up the robot as follows in order to properly communicate over RS485 through the wrist connector WARNING Be careful to insert the connector in the correct direction Do not rotate the M8 con...

Page 21: ...ions below INSTRUCTIONS 1 Connect the free Faston of the brown power cable to one of the available 24 V sockets inside the Digital Inputs panels Connect the free Faston of the white power cable to one of the available 0 V sockets inside the Digital Outputs panels You need the flat blade screwdriver WARNING It is worth noticing that an incorrect connection of the power pins may lead to faulty behav...

Page 22: ...ening torque 0 2 Nm Table 3 Installation guidelines of the SoftHand research on UR Referring to the ballons in the pictures 6 power cable EC_CBL_22_02_L50_RR_200 7 EC_CBL_USB2_A_MICRO_R_50 8 LA_PCM_DUMMY_110 9 EC_CBL_26_M8FA8_WIRE_300 WARNING Be careful to insert the connector in the correct direction Do not rotate the M8 connector when inserted into the receptacle Minimum curve radius of the cabl...

Page 23: ... connection state Red is for communication fault or non connected device Green when everything looks good If there is a connection problem the Reconnect button is enabled to manually reset the communication to the robot controller In the same panel are shown the identification name of the device and the serial port on which it is connected e g dev ttyTool if the wrist connection cable is used Belo...

Page 24: ...amed grasp value can be recalled by every Program Node at any time If a stored grasp previously set is modified at a given time all its occurrences used in any program are modified accordingly to the new value set This is possible thanks to a grasp database saved in the current Installation loaded WARNING If you change or remove an Installation file on your robot you may not be able to exploit thi...

Page 25: ... or remove a stored grasp value from the internal database The value shown in the slider is the one sent to the qb SoftHand while the program is running While creating a robot program you can check if the grasp command is suitable by testing it through the Grasp button on the top right of the panel NOTE If you have selected a stored grasp and change its command value through the slider you change ...

Page 26: ...two predefined options Wait for a given amount of time expressed in seconds Wait until the grasp is stable If none are satisfying for the given application feel free to add a Wait Node after the qb SoftHand one Figure 9 qb SoftHand URCap Program Node NOTE As for the Installation Node the small gear does nothing at the current state and will be enabled in the following releases NOTE If both the opt...

Page 27: ...ogram Example The following example is a simple pick and place robot program where the qb SoftHand is used as grasping tool The example should be self explainatory but it is worth noticing that in many case a pre grasp can help to accomplish a task in a better fashion This is strictly related to the specific task but you can add as many qb SoftHand Program Nodes as you need to let the hand pass in...

Page 28: ...er of the device cycles since the last maintenance string qbsofthand getInfo returns details about device internal parameters and it is mainly aimed to our support team during incident investigation int qbsofthand getMeasurements returns a two integer vector data the first value is the current motor position in percent value 0 100 while the second represents the motor current consumption expressed...

Page 29: ...te of their return to Buyer whichever expires the later Unless otherwise restricted by mandatory applicable law the warranty set forth herein is expressly in lieu of all other warranties whether expressed or implied including without limitation any and all warranties of merchantability quality and fitness for use and for purpose any advice and recommendation and any obligations or liabilities whic...

Page 30: ...6 mailto support qbrobotics com 26 MAINTENANCE AND WARRANTY RELEASE 1 0 1 15 JULY 2020 For any support request please contact our support team6 ...

Page 31: ...lified CAD models of the qb SoftHand see Page 36 URCap installation see Page 36 URCap uninstallation see Page 37 8 1 The hand never connects to the robot system 8 1 1 Problem The user interface says that the device is not connected even if it should be 8 1 2 Solution The first steps to try to solve the issue are the followings Check whether the wiring is correct cf cable connections see Page 14 Ma...

Page 32: ... a robot program it often happens that it stops saying that the hand is not connected any longer 8 2 2 Solution There may be a couple of reasons for this unexpected behavior Some cables are not properly connected or secured and robot vibrations when it starts moving can cause faults in the communication channel If you are powering the device from an external power source there may be some electric...

Page 33: ...mber The robot system type and software version The installed qbrobotics URCap version The list of any other URCap installed in your robot The power supply configuration Any error reported in the UR logs tab Any remarkable info WARNING Please also have a look at each connector and check if any is damaged Do not force a connector plug if it seems not to match properly its location It may be already...

Page 34: ...ry to manually adjust the thumb configuration by pulling or stretching each phalanx If you make sure that thumb phalanges are aligned you should have no more troubles If the thumb seems ok just try to do the same to all the other fingers pull and twist a bit each distal phalanx until it seems to be in the proper place set the hand reference to 0 i e fully open when you do such maintenance Please l...

Page 35: ...vice action To check whether you are on such a case or not you should perform this simple mechanical test Disconnect the hand from the power source Flex the fingers from index to little all together in the direction of the back of the hand i e opposite to the usual closure direction Repeat point 2 several times and take care whether the thumb moves while doing such a movement or not If the thumb d...

Page 36: ... reproduce the task yourself and even if you believe to know what you are doing try to see whether your wrist is slightly tilted w r t the expectation or if you approach the object a bit displaced from its center If you place the robot hand in a very similar way you should get a more natural outcome And do this for all the motions in the given task For example grasping and moving a joystick involv...

Page 37: ... close the hand around the minimum closure that it is suitable for the given object This will lead to a more gentle grasp which can be really helpful when dealing with fragile objects For example a bottle can be grasped with a closure of something about 60 if it is not full higher values may result in an unwanted squashing of its plastic A good approach for the very first times is to increment the...

Page 38: ...r portal as soon as you notice the problem We will do our best to ensure that this goes as quickly and as smoothly as possible 8 7 The USB flash drive is not working 8 7 1 Problem It is not so common but it may happen that any of the files provided through the USB flash drive is corrupted 8 7 2 Solution You can find all the USB flash drive files in our download section at the bottom of the qb Soft...

Page 39: ...rdware fix that cause the fault in e Series robots If you have updated the URCap but the C740A0 error still appears on your Teach Pendant you have two possible solutions Get rid of this problem using an external 24V isolated power supply e g http www deltapsu com products din rail power supply DRC 24V60W1AZ instead of the UR Control Box Raise a Service Request in our portal with at least the follo...

Page 40: ...sequent increase in complexity of the control Anyway since the qb SoftHand can grasp a huge variety of objects with just one synergy we prefer to have a simple and powerful device w r t a bit more versatility alongside with a complex control system behind Quite for sure you can find another way to perform the task you have in mind Have a look at our suggested articles and try to exploit those tips...

Page 41: ...RCap available in robot system 8 12 URCap uninstallation You can find the most up to date uninstallation process in the official robot manual provided by Universal Robots12 8 12 1 Step by step guide CB Series From the start view go to Setup Robot Then click on URCap to access the URCap settings From there you just need to select the URCap named qb SoftHand and click on the minus at the bottom of t...

Page 42: ... the sub tab URCap From there you just need to select the URCap named qb SoftHand and click on the minus at the bottom of the page A reboot is needed to completely remove the URCap from your robot system WARNING These steps may differ a little from the real ones Please refer to the official robot manual in case this guide does not help you ...