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Author(s): Donald T. Carter, Sidney M. Blankenship,
Supervising faculty: Ognjen Kuljaca, PhD, Pritpal Dang
Undergraduate student project poster presentation by Advanced Technologies
Department students Donald T. Carter, Sidney M. Blankenship has won first prize
at 7th Annual HBCU-UP research conference poster competition in Computer Science
and Information Systems section. The conference was held on February 9-12, 2006
Bowie State University, Maryland. The poster was presented by Mr. Donald Carter.
The student research on this project was supported by Alcorn State University
HBCU-UP grant funds and Alcorn State Foundation.
Abstract of presentation
A wireless accessible network of robot controllers can be of great benefit in a
manufacturing environment. An Ethernet network of Fanuc’s R-J3iB Controllers
enables users to conduct real time operations such as transfer robot programs,
controller backup and restore, monitor robot operation, collect production data
and troubleshoot robots from a remote computer. Such a network can also be made
accessible via the internet allowing users from various geographical locations
the capacity of performing Internet-based control of robots remotely. This work
addresses the design and implementation of a wirelessly accessible network of
Fanuc’s R-J3iB Controllers. The prototype network was designed and implemented
at the Nissan Training Facility in Canton, Mississippi. The security for such a
network is of a paramount nature. The issues related to security are discussed.
The work describes the architecture of both a wired and a wireless network and
illustrates the differences between wired network and wireless accessible
networks. Special attention was given to the network protocols FTP, TFTP, and
Telnet as they are utilized in the network implementation on the factory floor.
The Web Server located on Fanuc’s R-J3iB Controller is a vital component that
facilitates real-time monitoring of the robot it’s attached to. The Web Server,
although not a network protocol, is discussed in its usage in monitoring the
network. The protocols and equipment used for networking are described. The
features of the R-J3iB Controllers as they relate to the network design and
implementation are also discussed in detail. The implementation of the network
creates the capacity for the design of a dynamic database of robot error codes
and a condition based maintenance program. Such a maintenance program will
involve predicative failure of both robots and its respective components.
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