Python Example - Simple TCP/IP Socket Client

This example will explore how to set up a simple TCP/IP socket client to exchange data with the robot. The below example is intended to be as a reference of how a TCP/IP client will work with the robot to send and receive ASCII strings. The concepts discussed here can be easily applied across multiple programming languages and PLCs.

import socket
import time

#create an INET, STREAMing socket (IPv4, TCP/IP)
try:
    client = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to create socket')
    sys.exit()

print('Socket Created')

ROBOT_IP= "192.168.0.100"
ROBOT_PORT = 10000
#Connect the socket object to the robot using IP address (string) and port (int)
client.connect((ROBOT_IP,ROBOT_PORT))

print('Socket Connected to ' + ROBOT_IP )
#Read the response sent by robot upon connecting
msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
print(msg)

#Send cmd to Activate the robot
cmd = 'ActivateRobot'
# Add ASCII NULL character at the end of the cmd string
try:
    client.send(bytes(cmd+'\0','ascii'))
    time.sleep(15)
    msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
    print(msg)
    
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to send data')


cmd = 'Home'
# Add ASCII NULL character at the end of the cmd string
try:
    client.send(bytes(cmd+'\0','ascii'))
    time.sleep(5)
    msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
    print(msg)
    
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to send data')


cmd = 'MoveJoints(0,0,0,0,0,0)'
# Add ASCII NULL character at the end of the cmd string
try:
    client.send(bytes(cmd+'\0','ascii'))
    msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
    print(msg)
    
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to send data')


cmd = 'MoveJoints(0,-60,60,0,0,0)'
# Add ASCII NULL character at the end of the cmd string
try:
    client.send(bytes(cmd+'\0','ascii'))
    msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
    print(msg)
    
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to send data')


cmd = 'DeactivateRobot'
# Add ASCII NULL character at the end of the cmd string
try:
    client.send(bytes(cmd+'\0','ascii'))
    msg = client.recv(1024).decode('ascii')
    print(msg)
    
except socket.error:
    print('Failed to send data')


#Disconnect from the robot and close the socket object
client.close()
sys.exit()