What is ABB and industrial robots?

ABB is a Swiss-based global leader in electrification, automation, and robotics. Industrial robots, like ABB’s IRB 1200 or IRB 6400, are typically heavier, faster, and more precise than collaborative robots such as the UR5. While collaborative robots are designed for safe interaction with humans and lighter tasks, industrial robots are built for high-speed, high-payload operations in demanding environments like automotive welding or heavy assembly.

Goal of the tutorial

There are 3 goals in this tutorial

  1. Install ABB-Python module
  2. Install RobotStudio (ABB simulator)
  3. Setup a robot cell in RobotStudio
  4. Jog the robot in RobotStudio & real life
  5. Operate the robot from ABB-Python module in RobotStudio & real life.

0. Pre-request

0.a. Basic Robotics Knowledge

This tutorial assumes the user has basic robotics knowledge. Specifically, the user should briefly know:

  1. Frames
  2. Serial robot forward kinematics (preferably with POE parameterization)
  3. Serial robot inverse kinematics

The user is only expected to at least know the meaning for these terminologies. About halfway through RPI Robotics 1 will give the user sufficient background knowledge.

0.b. Github

The user should have a GitHub account and expected to know the basic of Git and GitHub.

Note: Git and GitHub are different things.

0.c. PC preparation