LAUNCH OF e-Series
Universal Robots launches the e-Series platform!
This week UR has launched a new generation of robotic arms, the e-Series.
e-Series will feature brand new PolyScope 5.0, which has a new and improved layout, which can speed up the development.
On the hardware side, e-Series include a number of upgrades, such as:
- Tool Communication Interface, where the Tool Connector can be used for RS485 serial communication up to 5 Mb data rate.
- 500 Hz control frequency, and 500 Hz IO control speed. Meaning the robot can follow e.g. a path much more accurately.
- Increased Tool current, as the Tool can now deliver up to 2 A in peaks.
- New Teach Pendant with true capacitive touch, and a much thinner and nicer cable.
- New Safety features, such as restricting a sphere (and not just the TCP point) from entering an area or safety plane, limits on stopping speeds and distances, etc.
- Built in FT sensor, to allow out-of-the-box force based robot applications.
The existing CB3 platform will remain in the market, and the PolyScope 3.6 is as well released this week.
Both PolyScope 5.0 and 3.6 will be compatible with SDK 1.3.55, and both generations are backward compatible to SDK 1.0.
Going forward UR will hence supply two lines of arms, e-Series as the flagship, and the existing CB3 generation. Both in three sizes; UR3e, UR5e, UR10e, UR3, UR5 and UR10.
While older URCaps are compatible with PolyScope 5.0, we still recommend testing out your URCap with PolyScope 5.0, due to the changed user interface.
It is not possible to upgrade PolyScope between generations, meaning a CB3 robot cannot be upgraded to run PolyScope 5.0.
Learn more about e-Series here.
NEW FEATURES IN URCAPS API WITH SDK 1.3.55
The main new feature in SDK 1.3.55 (both covering PolyScope 5.0 and 3.6) is the ability for URCaps to contribute a Java Swing based UI.
When creating a URCap, the Service class decides whether nodes UI is based on the existing (legacy) HTML framework, or is done directly in Java Swing.
This means, that a lot of new amazing user interfaces can be acheived in the future.
When creating a new node, e.g. a Program Node, by implementing the ProgramNodeService-interface, the node will use an HTML user interface, while implementing the SwingProgramNodeService-interface, the nodes UI will be done in Swing. All existing samples in the SDK have now been converted to a Swing option as well, so you can chekc them out immediately in the latest SDK.
In PolyScope 5.0 only, URCaps are also able to contribute a Toolbar, as a brand new type of service.
This can be used for controlling external hardware, such as a gripper or similar, from any place in PolyScope.
Toolbars can only be created using Swing, and are not supported by HTML.
Due to the new flexibility and freedom offered by Java Swing, we have also released a URCaps Style Guide, which outlines the user interface objects, that should be used in a URCap. Note that the UR+ certification of URCaps are still dependent on the coherence with general PolyScope look-and-feel.
You can check out the general release notes on the UR Support Site.
We added some nice new features such as a Feature Plane teach wizard, URScript getter for the active TCP, and yeah, given you access to forward and inverse kinematics from the existing get_forward_kin() and get_inverse_kin() script functions, so you can now optionally specify joint angles or Pose, and get the according result back.
You can find the PolyScope 3.6 release notes here, the same changes are applied to 5.0:
Release notes for PolyScope 3.6
NEW DEVELOPER SITE
To make it even easier getting started with URCaps development, to make this community flourish even more, to support you guys even better in your development projects - we have today launched a new and improved UR+ Developer Community site. As you login from the UR+ Showroom website, you may have noticed a slightly updated look and feel. If not, try logging out and back in, or go to plus.universal-robots.com and experience the new portal.
The new UR+ Developer site includes a number of Getting Started articles, an API reference for the URCaps API Javadoc, and a Download Center where you can find the latest Starter Packages, SDK’s and more.
We did it for you, so we hope you like it!
WHAT NOW?
If you would like to see the new e-Series for real, come to Automatica in Munich this week. You can find us, and the many e-Series robots at booth B4.303.
If Automatica is not on your itenerary this year, come by us at IMTS in Chicago this September, or get a hold of one our distributors to get your own brand new e-Series robot.Delivery starts August 1st.
Or you could swing by the Download Center, and find the latest Starter Package, which now feature Ubuntu 16.04, Eclipse Oxygen and both URSim 5.0 and 3.6.
Happy development!