This video documents the ambitious two-year project of reviving a discarded Yaskawa Motoman UP6 industrial robot by designing and building a completely custom, open-source controller from the ground up. The controller is centered around a Xilinx Zynq SoC, leveraging its FPGA to create versatile hardware interfaces capable of communicating with proprietary components. A significant challenge involved reverse-engineering the robot's undocumented encoder protocol, which was achieved by analyzing oscilloscope captures from a working system. The creator develops a sophisticated software ecosystem with a visual, node-based programming environment and real-time inverse kinematics. For intuitive user interaction, a 3D mouse is retrofitted to allow direct, "click-and-drag" manipulation of the robot arm. The project faced major setbacks during high-voltage testing, including a MOSFET explosion caused by non-dielectric thermal paste and suspected inductor failure, forcing a switch to lower-voltage operation. The completed system, equipped with safety-rated LIDAR scanners, was successfully demonstrated at the OpenSauce event, where it ran reliably for attendees to use.
Bringing an Abandoned Industrial Robot Back to Life
0:00:01 - The Problem with Old Robots: Used industrial robots are inexpensive because their proprietary electronics often fail or become obsolete. Without manufacturer support or documentation, they are incredibly difficult to repair, especially when they lose memory from dead internal batteries.
0:03:05 - A New Open-Source Controller: To overcome these limitations, the creator develops a versatile, open-source controller intended to run almost any industrial robot. The core of the system is a Xilinx Zynq chip, which combines a CPU with an FPGA.
0:03:42 - FPGA for Maximum Versatility: The FPGA is the key component, allowing the creation of custom hardware interfaces on the fly. This enables the controller to communicate with proprietary devices, such as the robot's unique motor encoders, without needing hardware changes.
0:08:41 - A New Robot and a New Challenge: The project pivots from a large Fanuc robot to a more portable Yaskawa Motoman UP6 for an event. This introduces a major hurdle: the Yaskawa's encoder communication protocol is completely undocumented.
0:09:47 - Reverse-Engineering the Encoders: After initial attempts fail, the creator successfully decodes the proprietary encoder protocol by analyzing oscilloscope captures from a working controller. A custom decoder is then implemented in the FPGA, allowing the new controller to read the motor positions.
0:15:10 - Intuitive 3D Mouse Control: To make the robot easy for anyone to use, an old 3D mouse is gutted and retrofitted with a modern microcontroller. This allows users to intuitively control the robot's position and orientation by simply moving the mouse.
0:18:21 - Advanced Custom Software: The controller runs on a custom-built, visual node-based programming environment. This software handles complex tasks like inverse kinematics (calculating joint angles from a target position) and automatically manages communication with all connected hardware devices.
0:26:21 - High-Voltage System Failures: Attempts to run the system at its full 300V potential lead to critical hardware failures, forcing a switch to a safer, lower voltage for the event.
0:29:00: A MOSFET explodes due to an electrical arc caused by thermal paste that was not sufficiently insulating at high voltages.
0:30:18: A gear reducer makes a terrible crunching noise, which is traced back to suspected internal arcing in underrated output inductors on the servo drives when operated above 100V.
0:31:51 - Implementing a Robust Safety System: For the public exhibition, safety is paramount. The system uses an E-stop board with redundant hardware relays and two safety-rated LIDAR scanners that create a virtual wall, automatically shutting the robot down if anyone gets too close.
0:36:26 - Success at the OpenSauce Event: The robot and controller perform flawlessly throughout the OpenSauce event, running continuously for attendees to control. The intuitive 3D mouse interface proves to be a success.
0:38:09 - An Open-Source Future: The entire project, including all hardware designs and software code, is made available on GitHub. The creator is exploring the possibility of making the controller system available for others to purchase in the future.