Start Guide:

Hardware Interfaces

Components of robotic arm

Realman's collaborative robot system is mainly composed of the robot body, controller (integrated in the robot base), and teach pendant touch pad (optional).

Controller

No.	Interface	Function
1	Power switch	Control the power supply to the robot, and the blue indicator light is on after being turned on
2	Power plug	Insert the power cord
3	Extension plug	Lead out the RS485, I/O, and other interfaces of the controller
4	WIFI/Bluetooth antenna	For wireless communication
5	USB interface 1	Extension interface, for connecting external handle receiver
6	USB interface 2	Used as a virtual network interface
7	Network interface	Communication network interface
8	Status indicator light	Change among blue, white, green, yellow, and red with the status of robotic arm ① indicates controller start and initialization; ②White indicates joint start and initialization; ③ indicates normal operation of robotic arm; ④ indicates the warning of a common fault, which must be handled immediately; ⑤ indicates a major fault, which must be handled immediately.

There is a 16-core connector on the robot controller panel, from which all I/Os of the robot are led out, as shown in the figure below.

WARNING

Hot plugging of an aerial plug is not allowed during wiring. When inserting the aerial plug, make sure that the pin is aligned with the hole position and check whether the pin is normal.

The definitions of wires are explained in the table below.

No.	First-generation cable wiring sequence	Second-generation cable wiring sequence	Definition	Description	Wire number (for second-generation cables only)	Remarks
1	Pink and brown	Black stripe brown/brown	VOUT	External output +	NO.1	12 V/24 V
2	Gray and purple	Gray/purple	P_IO_GND	External output -	NO.2
3	Yellow	Yellow	485A		NO.3
4	Yellow and green	Black stripe yellow	485B		NO.4
5	Purple and white	Black stripe white	IO1	Multiplexible IO	NO.5
6	Red and white	White stripe red	IO2	Multiplexible IO	NO.6
7	Green and white	Black stripe green	IO3	Multiplexible IO	NO.7
8	Yellow and white	White stripe black	IO4	Multiplexible IO	NO.8
9	Blue and white	Black stripe orange	OUT_P_IN	Digital power supply for external input	NO.9	0−24 V
10	Light blue	Black stripe blue	OUT_P_OUT	Digital power supply for external output	NO.10	0−24 V
11	Deep blue	Blue	OUT_P_GND	External digital ground	NO.11
12	Green	Green	FDCAN_A	CAN_H	NO.12
13	Red	Red	FDCAN_B	CAN_L	NO.13
14	White	White	Blank	Reserved	NO.14
15	Black	Black	Blank	Reserved	NO.15
16	Orange	Orange	Blank	Reserved	NO.16

WARNING

The voltage of digital I/O is determined based on the reference voltage connected, and the 16-core extension interface cable of robotic arm provides only 12 V and 24 V power supply voltages. If other output voltages are required for the digital I/O, then reference voltages need to be led in from the pins OUT_P_OUT+, OUT_P_IN+, and OUT_P_GND.

Power output

The 16-core cable of robot outputs 12 V/24 V power (in the case of 24 V output voltage, the actual output voltage is the same as the power voltage of the robot, and if the power voltage is unstable, the output voltage will be affected). The power output type is configured and controlled through the teach pendant or JSON protocol. The electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Parameter	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Power voltage	0	——	24	V
Power current	——	1,000	1,500	mA

WARNING

When the controller power supply is used as the power supply to external devices, the current parameter limits specified in the above table must be followed to prevent overload and burning of the controller.

Digital input

The controller interface has four channels of digital inputs, and users need to connect the external input digital power channel (OUT_P_IN+) and the external digital ground channel (OUT_P_GND) to provide level reference for the digital inputs. The electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Digital input	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Input power Vin	0	—	24	V
Input voltage	-0.5		24	V
Low logic level			1	V
High logic level	Vin-0.5			V

With the wiring of NPN photoelectric sensor as an example, the input reference level of robotic arm adopts the 12 V power supply of the 16-core aerial plug cord, and the wiring is as shown in the following figure:

Digital output

The controller interface has four channels of digital outputs, and users need to connect the external output digital power channel (OUT_P_OUT+) and the external digital ground channel (OUT_P_GND) to provide level reference for the digital outputs. The electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Digital output	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Input power Vin	0	—	24	V
Input current	—	—	2	mA

When the digital output signal of robotic arm is connected with an external device, the power supply to the external device can be used as the reference level of the output end of robotic arm, which shall be no higher than 24 V. The wiring mode is as shown in the figure below.

Note: The maximum output current of digital output signal is 2 mA, which can be amplified by installing field effect modules.

IO multiplexing

1The I/O of 16-core cable supports the multiplexing function, which, through the program command or web-end teach pendant, can be switched to:

Input (NPN type)
Output (with a maximum current of 2 mA)
Input start function multiplexing mode
Input suspension function multiplexing mode
Input resumption function multiplexing mode
Input emergency stop function multiplexing mode
Input into current loop drag mode
Input into position-only drag mode (available for the six-axis force version)
Input into orientation-only drag mode (available for the six-axis force version)
Input into combined position and orientation drag multiplexing mode (available for the six-axis force version)
Input external axis maximum soft limit multiplexing mode (available in the external axis mode)
Input external axis minimum soft limit multiplexing mode (available in the external axis mode)

End extension

To make it easy for users to connect tools at the end of the robot, a mounting flange and a communication interface are reserved at the end. There are two buttons on the flange housing, which are used to control the drag teaching and trajectory reproduction, respectively. The following introduces the end dimensions and flange installation method:

The communication end interface is a 6-core connector, which provides power and control signals for the various grippers and sensors connected to the robot.

WARNING

When inserting and pulling out the aerial plug cable of end interface board, make sure that the power output at the end is turned off; otherwise, there is a risk of damage to the hardware. When inserting the aerial plug, make sure that the pin is aligned with the hole position and check whether the pin is normal.

The functional interfaces are listed in the table below.

No.	Interface type	Quantity	Function
1	Power output	One channel	12 V/24 V available, on/off controlled
2	Digital output	A maximum of two channels supported	Reference level same as the power output, only 12 V/24 V supported
3	Digital input	A maximum of two channels supported	Reference level same as the power output, only 12 V/24 V supported
4	RS485	One channel	Communicate with peripherals of RS485 interface
5	Drag teaching button (green)	One channel	Press and hold the button, and the robot will enter the drag teaching mode
6	Trajectory reproduction button (blue)	One channel	Press the button, and the robot will reproduce the drag teaching trajectory

The end tool interface connects external tools through a 6-core aerial plug. The pins and definitions of the aerial plug are as follows.

Pin No.	Wire color	Function
1	Yellow	RS485_A
2	White	RS485_B
3	Red	Digital interface 1 (DI1/DO1)
4	Black	Digital interface 2 (DI2/DO2)
5	Green	Power GND
6	Blue	Power output: 0 V/12 V/24 V, controllable by program

WARNING

The multiplexing functions in the table above are switched by program commands. Pin 3 and pin 4 are digital input channels (DI1 and DI2) by default before delivery, and the power output of pin 6 is 0 V (programmed).

Note: When the power output is set to 5 V, the I/O at the tool end does not support the input/output function.

Digital I/O input

There are two digital input channels at the tool end, and the electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Digital input	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Input power Vin	0	——	24	V
Input voltage	-0.5		24	V
Low logic level			1	V
High logic level	Vin-0.5			V

Digital I/O output

There are two digital output channels at the tool end, which is directly configured through the teach pendant or the controller based on the JSON protocol. The electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Digital output	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Input power Vin	0	——	24	V

Power output

The robot end outputs 12 V/24 V power (in the case of 24 V output voltage, the actual output voltage is the same as the power voltage of the robot, and if the power voltage is unstable, the output voltage will be affected). The power output type is configured and controlled through the teach pendant or JSON protocol. The electrical characteristics are listed in the following table.

Parameter	Minimum	Typical	Maximum	Unit
Power voltage	0	——	24	V
Power current	——	1,000	1,500	mA

WARNING

When the robot end power supply is used as the power supply to end effector, the current parameter limits specified in the above table must be followed to prevent overload and burning of the end interface board.

Communication interface

There is an RS485 communication interface respectively at the 16-core aerial plug of the controller and the 6-core aerial plug of the end interface board (they are only used for the robot to control external devices, but not for external devices to control the robot's motion). The two RS485 interfaces can be configured to standard Modbus RTU mode through the JSON protocol (to ensure the communication stability of RS485 interfaces, the devices shall be connected to the GND of the robotic arm as practical as possible). Then the peripherals connected to the interface can be read or written through the JSON protocol.