2F-85 Gripper suddenly stopped working

matthewd92 2016-06-02

We are programming a new robot with the 2-finger 85 gripper on a UR3. Everything has been working fine all week until just a few moments ago when we get the screen in the attached image. The LED on the gripper is still blue, I have tried disconnecting it from the controller, rebooting the robot and neither has helped the issue. Any ideas on what to try next?

Etienne_Samson 2016-05-17

Hi Matt,

If you still have a blue LED then the communication is fine and it's probably a driver package issue. We know have package DCU-1.0.10 so you should update that first (we can see in your screenshot you have 1.0.9).

Beside that, what's your Polyscope version ? Do you have any other package installed and/or devices ? (like the FT Sensor)

Best,

matthewd92 2016-05-17

Etienne,

I will have to look at PolyScope tomorrow when I am back with the robot. Here's the weird issue, went to lunch and came back and it was working again. Haven't had any more issues this afternoon. I'll let you know should we see any other weird issues. My only concern is this customer is 1000 miles from us so hoping once we are gone next week that he does not see the issue popping up since I do not know what actually fixed it. I will do the firmware upgrade tomorrow as well

Kaleb_Rodes 2016-05-18

Matt,

Keep in mind that updating the robot software (polyscope) may cause changes or restrictions to functionality of the robot. Only update, if you can benefit from the new features or the fixed issues.

Here is the release notes for the newest UR CB3 software update: Version 3.2.21545

I'd advise you to thoroughly read the release notes before doing an update, in order to avoid surprises, caused by changed or added functionality.

Regards,

Etienne_Samson 2016-05-18

Kaleb is right about the Polyscope update, but keep in mind we always test with the latest, so package 1.1.10 was tested with CB3 - 3.2.21545

On another note, I could replicate your issue by disconnecting the RX signal from the USB converter. If the TX signal is working fine, sending commands to the Gripper, LED will be blue. But the Gripper answers via the RX, if you disconnect it, no more functionality but LED is still blue. So maybe you have a connectivity issue...

matthewd92 2016-05-18

@krodes I completely agree with you about the upgrade. UR actually introduced new bugs in the 3.2.21xxx release that cause their own issues like overwriting files that have a similar name making it very hard to make a quick copy of a program to test a new feature in. This one bit us in the butt big time on our last install. There are some others as well that we have reported back to the development team in Denmark.

Fortunatley, the free drive issue that we have been experiencing on another worker was resolved with this release. That robot would just randomly decide to start missing a single point in the program. It occurred less than 5% of the time but we perform about 3000 cycles a day so some days we were missing as many as 150 times.