New Whitepaper: Controlling Hexapods via EtherCAT® – Easy Integration of Six-Axis Robots into the Process Environment

Manufacturing and quality assurance processes in electronics production, mechanical engineering, and the automotive industry increasingly require multi-axis positioning systems. At the same time, the requirements for accuracy are also increasing. Because of their design, parallel-kinematic hexapod robots can move and position tools, workpieces, and complex components with weights ranging from a few grams to several hundred kilograms or even several tons in any spatial orientation with high precision – regardless of the assembly orientation.

Complex Kinematic Easily Integrated: Multi-Axis Drive with Fieldbus Connection

In a parallel-kinematic system, the motor axes do not correspond to the Cartesian axes. Therefore, a computation-intensive coordinate transformation is necessary for each new position. The digital hexapod controller carries out the computation and, thanks to the integrated EtherCAT® interface, hexapods can easily be integrated in the higher-level control system.

By using standardized real-time Ethernet protocols and moving the transformation calculations to the hexapod controller, the user is not dependent on a specific control manufacturer.

This new whitepaper explains

• how the integration works, 
• how Work and Tool coordinate systems can be used, and 
• how the range of motion of the hexapod can optimally be used.

The whitepaper is available for download free of charge at: www.pi.ws/hexapods/whitepaper/ethercat