Sysmac Studio · NJ/NX · the rulebook

The PLCopen state machine

Every motion FB you call makes sense once you hold one rule in your head: an axis is always in exactly one state, and commands move it between them. Skip memorising the diagram and drive it instead.

🚦 6 of the 8 PLCopen axis statescommand → transition
01 · Drive the axis

Issue a command, watch the state move

Start in Disabled. Each command is legal only from certain states; try an illegal one and the axis tells you so. That is exactly why a MoveAbsolute "does nothing" on a disabled axis.

🔌
Disabled
⏸️
Standstill
⌂
Homing
➡️
DiscreteMotion
🛑
Stopping
⚠️
ErrorStop
02 · The two rules to remember

It always lands somewhere known

🧭 One state, always. There's no "in between". After a move completes, the axis returns to Standstill; after a fault it sits in ErrorStop until you MC_Reset. Your code can always ask "where am I?" and get one answer.

🚧 ErrorStop wins. A fault from any state drops the axis straight to ErrorStop, and the only way out is MC_Reset back to Standstill (or Disabled). That guaranteed fallback state is what the whole model is built around.

03 · Check yourself

One quick question

An axis is in ErrorStop. You send MC_MoveAbsolute. What happens?