User Manual
7 The web interface
Meca500's web interface is more or less the equivalent of the teach pendant's interface of a
traditional industrial robot. The interface is essentially an HTML 5 web page with JavaScript
and WebGL scripts. All of these les reside in the robot's controller, so you do not need to
install anything on your computer, but Google Chrome.
The interface basically translates your mouse clicks, joystick movements and keyboard
entries into proprietary commands that are sent to the robot's controller. These are the
same commands described in the
that you will eventually start sending
from your own application, written in C++, Java, Python or any other modern programming
language. In addition, the web interface displays the feedback messages received from the
robot and the 3D model of the actual robot.
The web interface is intended mainly for testing and writing simple programs. You must
create your own software application or program if you intend to use the robot for complex
tasks, such as interacting with inputs and outputs (in which case you also need a third-party
I/O module).
The web interface is also used for updating the rmware of your robot.
7.1 Updating the robot's rmware
Before you continue to read any further, make sure that you have the latest rmware in-
stalled on the robot and that you read the manuals corresponding to that rmware. Go to
https://www.mecademic.com/Downloads/Updates/Robot%20Meca500/R3/
and download
the most recent zip le. Unzip it. Then, while the robot is still not activated, click on
Update in the Options menu in the web interface (Fig. 7). A new interface will load in the
same browser tab. Click on Choose File and select the le with the extension *.update that
you just extracted. Then click on the Upload button. Wait a couple of minutes for the
update to be completed. Once completed, the robot will reboot and the new web interface
will reload.
Now that you have installed the latest robot rmware, make sure to download the latest
user and programming manuals from
https://www.mecademic.com/resources/documentation
and keep these manuals until you update again your rmware.
Next time you update your robot's rmware, you must also read the PDF le that is in
the zip package (i.e., the Release Notes). That document lists of all the recent rmware
changes.
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2020 by Mecademic Inc.
