Coordinated control of complex workcells

Looking after up to 20 motion axes is a cinch with a new open architecture PC-based workcell controller from Epson Robots (Carson, CA). The RC620+ is capable of controlling up to four SCARA robots, three six-axis robots, or two SCARA and two six-axis robots.

Further, three PCI slots are available for options such as Vision Systems, Fieldbus masters or third party plug-in cards to expand the RC620+ controller as needed for particular applications. The RC620+ runs a separate CPU dedicated to motion control and real time options including additional I/O, conveyor tracking, expansion I/O and DeviceNet, Profibus and EtherNet/IP Fieldbus slave options. This reportedly gives users the best of both worlds with the open architecture, ease of use and expandability of Microsoft Windows while also providing real time performance for time critical components such as motion and I/O control.-Stephen Moore