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Starting MiRco

Pre-checks

Before turning on the power, make sure that:

  • MiRco battery has enough charge. If not, you can plug in the cable for direct power. You can check battery status with the button on the charge controller on MiRco's right side.
  • MiR100 battery has enough charge. Check by plugging in the charger. LED lights on the charger will indicate battery status. See MiR charging instructions.
  • Connection with UR5e controller:
  • UR5e controller is using the correct configuration. This is important because URCaps conflicts can impede gripper control. The only URCaps on the controller should be the externalcontrol-x.x.x.urcap and rs485-x.x.x.urcap.

Power

  • turn on the MiRco battery: power switch on the left side of the housing. Wait for the double audio signal
  • turn on MiRco PC: PC power switch inside the housing
  • turn on MiR100: blue button on the front right corner
  • turn on UR5e: power button on the teach pendant

MiR100 settings

Warning

MiR100 internal clock is prone to desynchronization which can mess with the robot control.
Before controlling the robot, you have to connect to the MiR web interface and go to System -> Settings -> Date & Time and synchronize the internal clock. Click Load from device and Save changes.

Get the MiR100_IP. In the MiR web interface go to System -> Settings -> WiFi. MiR100_IP is listed under the connection details

MiRco industrial interface

For industrial interface control we need to enter UR5e_IP address in the MiR web interface.

  • Go to System -> Settings -> Features and make sure the Universal Robots Interface is enabled.
  • Go to System -> Settings -> UR Interface and enter UR5e_IP address. This IP has to match the IP in the UR5e network settings bellow. 
    # Universal Robot IP address:
192.168.12.244 # example IP

UR5e settings

MiRco industrial interface

The IP address of the internal computer in MiR100 is 192.168.12.20. To establish a connection between the robots, UR5e static IP address should be in the range of 192.168.12.xxx where xxx is a number from 100–255.

Go to Settings -> System -> Network and make sure the network settings are correct.

IP address: 192.168.12.244 # example IP
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

MiRco ROS interface

Go to Settings -> System -> Network and make sure the network settings are correct. This is the UR5e_IP address that the MiRco PC uses to control the arm.

IP address: 192.168.77.245
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Go to Installation -> URCaps -> External control and make sure the network settings are correct. This is the MiRco_IP address that UR5e uses to know where the control is coming from.

Host IP: 192.168.77.240
Custom port: 50002
Host name: 192.168.77.240

External control UR program

Design a UR program to use the externalcontrol-x.x.x.urcap URCap to allow external communication with the manipulator.

Create a new program and insert the External Control program node into the program tree. Save the program. You will see the Host IP and Custom port that you configured in the previous step.

There is a program already prepared. To use it load the home/magisterij/janjericevic/mir100_ur5e_ros program.

UR external control urcap program

MiRco charging instructions

Direct power

MiRco can run on direct power from an outlet. This is useful when developing parts of applications where MiRco is stationary. This does not power MiR100.

Plug the power cable to the direct power plug on the left side of MiRco's housing, below the power switch.

Start charging

  • MiR100 charging: see MiR100 charging instructions
  • MiRco battery: plug in the charger to an outlet. When the charger LED light lights up, plug the charger to the MiRco battery charging plug on the left side of MiRco's housing, below the power switch

Stop charging