Related Manuals for QB Robotics SoftClaw
Summary of Contents for QB Robotics SoftClaw
- Page 1 Universal Robots Manual PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE. DO NOT DISCARD: KEEP FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. ...
- Page 2 Dear customer, Thank you for purchasing our product. The present document provides information at best of our knowledge at the time of publication. This document could present differences from the product and it is subject to changes without notice: the latest version is available on our webpage www.qbrobotics.com.
-
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents 1 Preface .......................... 1 Using this document 1 Symbols and conventions 1 Kit content 2 2 Safety..........................3 Intended use 3 Safety instructions 3 EC Directives on product safety 3 Environmental conditions 4 Environmental safety ... - Page 4 The USB flash drive is not working 45 The device is connected but does not move 45 URCap installation 46 URCap uninstallation 46 Error C740A0 on e-Series robots 47 Setup button on qb SoftClaw 48...
-
Page 5: Preface
SOFTCLAW — 5 1 Preface 1.1 Using this document Please, check that the document release date is before the product purchase date. The documentation must always be complete and in a perfectly readable state. Keep the document accessible to the operating and, if necessary, maintenance personnel at all times. -
Page 6: Kit Content
Identifies file paths, file names and software functions. Monospaced text 1.3 Kit content The kit consists of: • N.1 qb SoftClaw; • N.1 ISO 9409-1-50-4-M6 tool flange adapter; • N. 1 0.3m direct wrist connection cable for compatible robots only;... -
Page 7: Safety
SOFTCLAW — 3 2 Safety 2.1 Intended use The product design is intended for grasping objects up to 3700 g. Fragile, sharp or sharp-edged objects shall not be grasped. Objects having the main dimension greater than 200 mm shall not be grasped. -
Page 8: Environmental Conditions
Use in outdoor applications. 2.5 Environmental safety The qb SoftClaw must be disposed of in accordance with the applicable national laws, regulations and standards. All the components of this product have been chosen in accordance with the EU RoHS directive 2011/65/ EU: they are produced with restricted use of hazardous substances to protect the environment. -
Page 9: Technical Data
Be aware that the above figure may be out of scale. 3.2 Center of Mass The following table gives also the position of the Center of Mass of the SoftClaw and defines its Coordinate System, like depicted in the following schemes. UNIT... -
Page 10: Mechanical Characteristics
6 — TECHNICAL DATA Figure 1. — Robot Tool Coordinate System On the left, it is represented the mechanical interface coordinate system Σ ) of an articulated robot, as defined by ISO 9787:2013. In particular, the center of the coordinate system, O , is on the interface surface of the robot tool flange and the Z axis is coincident with the tool flange axis of... -
Page 11: Electrical Characteristics
SOFTCLAW — 7 3.4 Electrical characteristics MINIMUM NOMINAL MAXIMUM Power supply [VDC] 23.1 24.8 voltage Power — consumption Current limit — 0.90 Operational time — — Duty cycle — — Operating [°C] temperature Relative humidity — Typical noise level [dB] —... -
Page 12: Tool Connector Pinout
On the qb SoftClaw flange there is a Phoenix Contact 8-position M8 connector, A-coded, with gold-plated copper alloy contacts — Part Number: 1424232 The main cable of the qb SoftClaw is a Phoenix contact 3m free cable end with angled socket — Part Number: 1404192 The RS485 protocol characteristics are as follow: •... -
Page 13: Fingers Exchange System
SOFTCLAW — 9 3.6 Fingers exchange system The fingers are provided of magnetic system to easy setup the gripper with desired kind of soft interface. You can directly place the pad on its socket and it will be automatically constrained. ... -
Page 14: Description
4 Description 4.1 General The qb SoftClaw is a compact, light and versatile Variable Stiffness Gripper. It's able to grasp objects of the most disparate nature, exploiting the intrinsic mechanical intelligence of its variable stiffness system, without the use of any type of sensors on the contact surfaces or specific algorithms on the absorbed current by the motors. -
Page 15: Characteristics And Key Features
SOFTCLAW — 11 commanded value. Small values allow to grip fragile and low-weight objects; on the contrary higher values can be used for heavy and rigid objects. 4.2 Characteristics and key features • Adaptive grasp; • Variable Stiffness grasp; •... -
Page 16: Mounting And Wiring
12 — MOUNTING AND WIRING 5 Mounting and wiring 5.1 Tool mounting The qb SoftClaw Kit allows you to connect the device to your robot arm. The device can be mounted on any robot equipped with a mounting interface ISO 9409-1-50-4-M6. It is possible to control it directly from within the UR user interface — e.g. from the UR Teach Pendant ... -
Page 17: Cable Connections For Universal Robots
Table 1. — Installation guidelines of the qb SoftClaw on robot arm. 5.2 Cable connections for Universal Robots This section illustrates how to wire the qb SoftClaw in order to exploit the button on the wrist flange as a trigger for a Universal Robots Digital Input. This button allows to customise the behaviour of the robot, such as enabling freedrive mode when it is pressed. - Page 18 Connect the External Power Supply before switch ON the UR robot, to avoid Fault C314A0. To correctly wire the SoftClaw please follow the instructions in the table, using the provided kit: Figure 3. — Connection kit for qb SoftClaw: optional power supply unit kit (A)+(C3)+(C4), RS485-USB converter (B), main cable (C1), USB-A extention cable (C2).
- Page 19 SOFTCLAW — 15 INSTRUCTIONS This step illustrates how to power the robot digital I/O with the provided power supply. For Universal Robots it is possible to power the digital I/O from an internal 24V power supply or from an external power source by configuring the terminal block called Power in the Universal...
- Page 20 Then connect the RS485-USB converter (B) (or the USB extension cord (C2)) to an USB type-A available in the UR Control Box. If the qb SoftClaw has to be used through C++ APIs or ROS packages, then the USB communication cable has to be connected to the workstation UNIVERSAL ROBOTS MANUAL ...
-
Page 21: Cable Connections
(see Page 48) 5.3 Cable connections If you have wired the qb SoftClaw according to the previous procedure, you can skip this section. Otherwise, if the SoftClaw is wired according to the following steps, the button cannot be used... - Page 22 18 — MOUNTING AND WIRING To correctly wire the SoftClaw please follow the instructions in the table, using the provided kit. For external power supplies, use only 24VDC with at least 2.5A (60W) and 3.75A overload current. The following images include an external power supply kit (sold separately). If your robot's control box allows to power external devices, it is not necessary.
- Page 23 BROWN wire → B-port. Then connect the RS485-USB converter (B) (or the USB extension cord (C2)) to an USB type-A available port. If the qb SoftClaw has to be used through C++ APIs or ROS packages, then the USB communication cable...
- Page 24 YELLOW and GREEN wires on (C1) cable are optional. They are used to enable the button on the qb SoftClaw wrist flange as a Digital Input for the robot on which the gripper is mounted. If your robot provides digital inputs, you can connect one of these wires (for example the yellow one) to a digital input port.
-
Page 25: Software
Ubuntu Packages qb SoftClaw nodes are derived from qbmove ones. If you have already installed them just upgrade to the new version or verify if you can launch SoftClaw control nodes. If you prefer to leave your catkin workspace as it is, you can simply install all the ROS packages from the... - Page 26 22 — SOFTWARE These packages may not always be updated, as they are only synchronised at certain intervals. To keep up-to-date with our public releases, install the packages with the source code, as described in the section Sources Sources Since you are interested in the ROS interfaces for our devices, it is assumed that you are ...
- Page 27 In a single-device system the synchronous mode is a nonsense. Figure 5. — qb SoftClaw ROS control mode schemes In both cases there is always one central Node which manages the shared resources for the serial communication (e.g.
- Page 28 To understand what is hiding under the hood, have a look at the C++ classes overview which sums up all the main concepts of our ROS packages: Figure 6. — qb SoftClaw ROS packages and classes overview Communication Handler The Communication Handler Node has no parameters to be set, therefore it is always launched like this: roslaunch qb_device_driver communication_handler.launch...
- Page 29 Control Modes For the sake of simplicity, we are going to cover all the control modes for a single qb SoftClaw, but it is just a matter of putting things together and set the launch file parameters properly to control several devices together.
- Page 30 : Choose whether or not to send commands without waiting for ack. set_commands_async [true] • : Choose whether or not to use rviz. If enabled you should see a virtual SoftClaw use_rviz [false] on screen performing a similar behavior. When this parameter is set to true, by default is enabled an Interactive Marker too, which allows to control the Claw graphically.
- Page 31 This enables the right menu which provides all the controllers available for the connected device. Select the qb SoftClaw controller from the second drop-down menu and enable it through the circular button. A single slider will appear in the GUI to control the closure of the gripper, it takes both positive values (grip strength) and negative values (to open the claw).
- Page 32 You won't see any control interface in this case but the use_controller_gui qb SoftClaw should start moving according to the given trajectory, parsed from a yaml file located at the following path: qb_move_control/config/qbsoftclaw_waypoints.yaml Customization You can modify the waypoint trajectory to replicate the behavior you want: either change the or add another custom application-specific...
- Page 33 To help you in the best way we can, we are asking you to do the most suitable of the following steps: It is the first time you are holding a qb SoftClaw, or the first time you are using ROS, or even both: it is always a pleasure for us to solve your problems, but please consider first to read again the instructions above and the ROS tutorials.
-
Page 34: Configuration Gui
6.2.2 Usage The qb SoftClaw GUI (generally referred as qbtools) is a simple application to quickly test the basic functionalities of the device through a personal computer. It may be also useful to diagnose — together to support team —... - Page 35 • : clear the information printed in the panel. Clear Log • : shows useful information about the qb SoftClaw in the panel. It prints the current state Get Info and its settings, e.g. firmware version, parameter values, measurements... • shows a list of device IDs connected to the system; by selecting one of them from the Devices ID: drop-down menu you are able to query that specific device —...
-
Page 36: Urcap
Depending on the control modality set, it is possible to set the strength (position Input and sliders: command to motors) and the stiffness of the qbmove using sliders. The qb SoftClaw behaviour described in datasheet can be tested moving only the position slider, and setting the stiffness to 0. Changing stiffness value could vary the qb SoftClaw behaviour. - Page 37 Installation Node, you can see these status bar varying accordingly to the SoftClaw motion. Grasp Values In order to make the SoftClaw quick to use, a basic operating mode has been developed that can be used during the programming phase (see Program Node - Basic Panel section).
- Page 38 Teaching Mode section, which is described in the following sections. Teaching Mode Panel To simplify the usability and re-usability of qb SoftClaw, you can teach and store a given grasp value to recall it whenever you need it in a given Program Node.
- Page 39 Advanced panel. Basic Panel This panel allows the user to program the qb SoftClaw simply by using 4 icons. By pressing one of the buttons displayed in this tab, the deflection control modality is set automatically and thanks to them, it is possible to set closure forces (to the soft, medium or strong thresholds that can be customized in...
- Page 40 When deflection control mode is enabled the panel shows a percentage slider, that controls the grip force, and a button (fully open) that commands the claw to move its shaft to the max opening value. Once in deflection mode, the qb SoftClaw does not apply any force selecting zero in Grasp ...
- Page 41 This is made on purpose. In all the cases, the values shown are the ones sent to the qb SoftClaw while the program is running. Thanks to Try it! and Release buttons you can test it without starting the Robot program.
- Page 42 Wait until the grasp is stable. If none are satisfying for the given application, feel free to add a Wait Node after the qb SoftClaw one. If both the options are selected, they are evaluated in sequence: first it waits for the specified ...
- Page 43 • : this command is used to send control reference to the qb void qbdevice.setClawCommand SoftClaw. It works both in position and in deflection mode and the user has to pay attention on the control mode selected. • In deflection it has to be used as and it sends a qbdevice.setClawCommand(int command, 0)
-
Page 44: Maintenance And Warranty
40 — MAINTENANCE AND WARRANTY 7 Maintenance and warranty 7.1 General Products of the company qbrobotics s.r.l. are produced using the most modern production methods and are subject of strict quality inspections. All sales and deliveries are performed exclusively based on our General Conditions of Sale and Delivery, which can be viewed on the qbrobotics home page qbrobotics s.r.l. - Page 45 SOFTCLAW — 41 For any support request please contact our support team mailto:support@qbrobotics.com...
-
Page 46: Faq And Troubleshooting
42 — FAQ AND TROUBLESHOOTING 8 FAQ and troubleshooting For any issue not listed below, please contact our support team 8.1 The device 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 ... -
Page 47: The Device Often Disconnects While The Robot Is Moving
SOFTCLAW — 43 Be aware that the device must not violate our warranty policy, cf. maintenance and warranty, in order to ensure the best support service for our customer. Please, do not forget to mention in your request if you have made forbidden hardware/ software modification to the device before/after the issue —... -
Page 48: The Demo Is Not As Good As Expected
44 — FAQ AND TROUBLESHOOTING • 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. Be aware that the device must not violate our warranty policy, cf. maintenance and ... -
Page 49: The Usb Flash Drive Is Not Working
8.4.2 Solution You can find all the USB flash drive files in our download section at the bottom of the qb SoftClaw page If any of the files is corrupted we recommend to format the flash drive and download again all ... -
Page 50: Urcap Installation
46 — FAQ AND TROUBLESHOOTING 8.6 URCap installation You can find the most up-to-date installation process in the official robot manual provided by Universal Robots 8.6.1 Step-by-step guide Before installing the qbSoftClaw URCap, remove all qb URCaps installed on your robot. Do not ... -
Page 51: Error C740A0 On E-Series Robots
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 SoftClaw" and click on the "minus" at the bottom of the page; A reboot is needed to completely remove the URCap from your robot system. -
Page 52: Setup Button On Qb Softclaw
Freedrive: When the input is high, the robot is in freedrive ( similar to the freedrive button). The input is ignored if a program is running or other conditions disallow freedrive. Figure 15. — Setup button on qb SoftClaw as a Digital Input UNIVERSAL ROBOTS MANUAL — MAR 9, 2023 — RELEASE: V1.0.3... - Page 53 SOFTCLAW — 49 This image refers to Universal Robots CB series robot, but the same can be done for e-series robots.
Need help?
Do you have a question about the SoftClaw and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers