In many of the following tutorials, you will be required to manually position the robot. GD provides several ways of accomplish this (e.g. the Red "Free" button on the Air Dispenser, the Virtual Manual Control Pendant (VMCP), the optional hardware Manual Control Pendant, and the Robot Status and Mini Jog panel on the Edit and Configuration Pages). All of these methods. provide an equivalent or subset of the capabilities of the VMCP that will be discussed in this section.
» Open the Virtual Manual Control Pendant by clicking Virtual Pendant >.
The VMCP will appear in its own browser window. The upper section of the VMCP provides a dynamic display of the robot's current location. The lower area contains the "Jog Control" section whose modes are summarized in the following table. Prior to jogging the robot, motor power must be enabled and the robot must be "homed".
Jog Control |
Description |
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Disables Jog Control and permits GD to take control of the robot and automatically move its axes. This mode should always be selected when you have finished moving the robot in jog mode. |
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Moves all of the axes of the robot in a coordinated fashion such that the selected syringe tip travels in a straight-line path along or rotates about the X, Y, or Z axes of the robot’s world reference frame. |
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Similar to World mode except that the reference frame is determined by the selected syringe's orientation. For example, since the Z-axis of the syringe normally points down, a positive motion in tool Z will move the syringe down. |
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Moves individual axes one at a time. Even if an axis is beyond its limit stops, this mode can be used to drive the axis back into the working range. |
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Allows one or more axes to be taken out of position control mode to permit the axis to move freely. For lightweight robots, this allows the operator to grip an axis and manually repositioned it. |
To move a single axis in manual mode, do the following:
» Press Jog Control > Joint.
» Select a joint to move, e.g. Joint 1
» Select a slow speed initially, e.g. “10”
» Move the axis in the positive or negative direction by holding down the “+” or “-“ keys.
The World and Tool modes operate in the same fashion. The Free mode is a bit different in that multiple joints can be freed at once and the speed setting is not used. For this mode, each time you select an axis and press the “+” the axis is freed until you press the “-“ key to place the axis back into position control mode.
In Joint, World and Tool modes, if any of the "INC" speeds are selected, the
robot will move a discrete increment and then stop instead of moving continuously. If
you release the "+" or "-" key
and press it again, the robot will move another increment. This is very
convenient for fine positioning the robot.
Try to move the robot in each of the manual modes and at various speeds to get a feel for the virtual pendant.
» When you are done practicing manual control, press Jog Control > Computer. This disables Jog Control and permits GD to automatically move the robot when required.
For additional experience, you should try to move the robot using the alternate interfaces, i.e. the optional hardware Manual Control Pendant, and the Robot Status and Mini Jog panels on the Edit and Configuration Pages.