By February 7, 2014 Read More →

Ethernet POWERLINK comms enable flexible real-time robotics

140207_EPSGWith 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 solution while lowering its total cost.

“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,” explains Francis Columeau, R&D manager in charge of electronics and software design at SEPRO. “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. “This feature made the transition quite simple for us,” says Francis Columeau, “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.”

EPSG (Ethernet POWERLINK Standarization Group) is an independent organization founded to standardize and develop the POWERLINK protocol first introduced by B&R in 2001. Visit the EPSG website for more information.

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