Extending the capabilities of mitsubishi MELFA industrial robot with Raspberry Pi microcomputer - Part 1 (the potential for Raspberry Pi integration)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to provide a solution for expanding the potentialities of Mitsubishi industrial robot system for interaction with its environment by the means of connecting with additional hardware, which is open-sourced, more flexible and much cheaper than the corresponding high-end branded equipment. In Part 1, system components and their connection options are reviewed. Attention is paid to the communication functionalities, which could allow inclusion of external devices. Some disadvantages of the available programming and processing capabilities are highlighted. The paper proposes a method for improvement by adding a Raspberry Pi microcomputer to the robot system and ensuring its proper communication trough MC Protocol. It can serve as a linking layer for other external devices such as data processing equipment, various sensors and vision systems which to enrich the robot performance at an affordable price.