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Integrate with External Equipment

Learn how to integrate external sensors and actuators

Gaurav Shetty avatar
Written by Gaurav Shetty
Updated over 2 years ago

Have you ever wanted to control an external device such as a clamp, a rotary table, or a light tower during the welding process of a part? How about having the ability to wait for more than just a light button? This guide will you walk through how to take advantage of external inputs and outputs.

Let's Get Started

There are 4 available ports on the left side of the robot cabinet with input/output functionality which are named RED BUTTON, BLUE BUTTON, YELLOW BUTTON and GREEN BUTTON. Each port consists of 2 channels (input and output) and a splitter can be used to isolate individual capabilities, if necessary.

Pinout of the Receptacle

The pins on the receptacles on the robot have the following functions:

Pin 1 - +24V Brown Wire

Pin 2 - Output from Robot - White Wire

Pin 3 - +0V Blue Wire

Pin 4 - Input to Robot - Black WIre

The following illustration shows cable colors for connecting a M12 4 pin cable to the receptacle on the cabinet.

To wire a single device to the robot cabinet you will use the corresponding pin pairs.

To connect an output such as a solenoid valve you would wire it using pins 2 and 3, the white and blue wires on a standard IO cable set.

To connect an input such as a proximity switch to the robot you would wire it using pine 1 and 4, the brown and black wires on a standard IO cable set.

An example of a useful cable can be found at Cable Example

Using a Splitter to Isolate Input and Output

Here is an example of a splitter with 2 channels. Channel 1 will control output devices and Channel 2 will be used to connect input devices such as sensors.

Considerations

  • A 4-pole (or 5-pole) M12 male Field-wireable T coupler will be needed to isolate the input and output channels on each available port.

  • Channel 1 (pin 2 on the robot cabinet receptacle) is for Output Devices and Channel 2 (pin 4 on the robot cabinet receptacle) is for Input Signal Devices.

  • 24VDC compatible devices must be used

  • Maximum current drawn across all color-coded output ports is 900mA.

  • You can use either 4-pole M12 to 4-pole M12 or 4-pole M12 to 3-pole M8 splitters

  • Many sensors and solenoid valves use M8 3 wire connections making them easy to hook up using dual ended cable assemblies

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