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One pick-and-place, seven robot languages

One 12-step pick-and-place cycle written in ABB RAPID, KUKA KRL, FANUC TP, Mitsubishi MELFA BASIC V, Universal Robots URScript, Yaskawa INFORM and Kawasaki AS. Each row is one step of the cycle, so read across a row to see how each controller says the same thing. The listings show the program body; the files you load onto a controller carry extra header and position data, covered in the notes at the bottom.

ABB · RAPID

KUKA · KRL

FANUC · TP

Mitsubishi · MELFA BASIC V

Universal · URScript

Yaskawa · INFORM

Kawasaki · AS

Step	ABB RAPID	KUKA KRL	FANUC TP	Mitsubishi MELFA BASIC V	Universal URScript	Yaskawa INFORM	Kawasaki AS
01 Program header	PROC main()	DEF main()	/PROG MAIN	10 ' Pick and place	def main():	NOP	.PROGRAM main()
02 Set default speed	! speed via v-tag	$VEL.CP = 0.5	! speed in motion	20 Spd 100	# speed in motion	'speed in motion	SPEED 50 ALWAYS
03 Move joint to home	MoveJ home, v1000, fine, tool0;	PTP home	J P[1] 100% FINE	30 Mov P0	movej(home, a=1.4, v=1.05)	MOVJ P000 VJ=50.00	JMOVE home
04 Move linear to pick	MoveL pick, v500, fine, tool0;	LIN pick	L P[2] 500mm/sec FINE	40 Mvs P1	movel(pick, a=1.2, v=0.25)	MOVL P001 V=100.0	LMOVE pick
05 Close gripper (DO ON)	SetDO doGrip, 1;	$OUT[1] = TRUE	DO[1]=ON	50 M_Out(1) = 1	set_digital_out(1, True)	DOUT OT#(1) ON	SIGNAL 1
06 Wait 0.5 s	WaitTime 0.5;	WAIT SEC 0.5	WAIT 0.50(sec)	60 Dly 0.5	sleep(0.5)	TIMER T=0.50	TWAIT 0.5
07 Retract to home	MoveL home, v1000, fine, tool0;	LIN home	L P[1] 1000mm/sec FINE	70 Mvs P0	movel(home, a=1.2, v=0.5)	MOVL P000 V=100.0	LMOVE home
08 Move linear to place	MoveL place, v500, fine, tool0;	LIN place	L P[3] 500mm/sec FINE	80 Mvs P2	movel(place, a=1.2, v=0.25)	MOVL P002 V=100.0	LMOVE place
09 Open gripper (DO OFF)	ResetDO doGrip;	$OUT[1] = FALSE	DO[1]=OFF	90 M_Out(1) = 0	set_digital_out(1, False)	DOUT OT#(1) OFF	SIGNAL -1
10 Wait 0.5 s	WaitTime 0.5;	WAIT SEC 0.5	WAIT 0.50(sec)	100 Dly 0.5	sleep(0.5)	TIMER T=0.50	TWAIT 0.5
11 Return to home	MoveJ home, v1000, fine, tool0;	PTP home	J P[1] 100% FINE	110 Mov P0	movej(home, a=1.4, v=1.05)	MOVJ P000 VJ=50.00	JMOVE home
12 End of program	ENDPROC	END	/END	120 End	end	END	.END

Full programs, side-by-side

The same cycle again, one block per language, so you can read or copy a whole program at once.

ABB

RAPID

PROC main()
  ! speed via v-tag
  MoveJ home, v1000, fine, tool0;
  MoveL pick, v500, fine, tool0;
  SetDO doGrip, 1;
  WaitTime 0.5;
  MoveL home, v1000, fine, tool0;
  MoveL place, v500, fine, tool0;
  ResetDO doGrip;
  WaitTime 0.5;
  MoveJ home, v1000, fine, tool0;
ENDPROC

KUKA

KRL

DEF main()
  $VEL.CP = 0.5
  PTP home
  LIN pick
  $OUT[1] = TRUE
  WAIT SEC 0.5
  LIN home
  LIN place
  $OUT[1] = FALSE
  WAIT SEC 0.5
  PTP home
END

FANUC

/PROG MAIN
  ! speed in motion
  J P[1] 100% FINE
  L P[2] 500mm/sec FINE
  DO[1]=ON
  WAIT 0.50(sec)
  L P[1] 1000mm/sec FINE
  L P[3] 500mm/sec FINE
  DO[1]=OFF
  WAIT 0.50(sec)
  J P[1] 100% FINE
/END

Mitsubishi

MELFA BASIC V

10 ' Pick and place
20 Spd 100
30 Mov P0
40 Mvs P1
50 M_Out(1) = 1
60 Dly 0.5
70 Mvs P0
80 Mvs P2
90 M_Out(1) = 0
100 Dly 0.5
110 Mov P0
120 End

Universal

URScript

def main():
  # speed in motion
  movej(home, a=1.4, v=1.05)
  movel(pick, a=1.2, v=0.25)
  set_digital_out(1, True)
  sleep(0.5)
  movel(home, a=1.2, v=0.5)
  movel(place, a=1.2, v=0.25)
  set_digital_out(1, False)
  sleep(0.5)
  movej(home, a=1.4, v=1.05)
end

Yaskawa

INFORM

NOP
'speed in motion
MOVJ P000 VJ=50.00
MOVL P001 V=100.0
DOUT OT#(1) ON
TIMER T=0.50
MOVL P000 V=100.0
MOVL P002 V=100.0
DOUT OT#(1) OFF
TIMER T=0.50
MOVJ P000 VJ=50.00
END

Kawasaki

.PROGRAM main()
  SPEED 50 ALWAYS
  JMOVE home
  LMOVE pick
  SIGNAL 1
  TWAIT 0.5
  LMOVE home
  LMOVE place
  SIGNAL -1
  TWAIT 0.5
  JMOVE home
.END

Three more instructions, seven spellings

The pick-and-place cycle above never needs an arc, a blended corner or a subroutine. This table shows those three in each language. Names such as pVia, p1 and PICK are placeholders.

Instruction	ABB RAPID	KUKA KRL	FANUC TP	Mitsubishi MELFA BASIC V	Universal URScript	Yaskawa INFORM	Kawasaki AS
Circular move through a via point	MoveC pVia, pEnd, v200, z10, tool0;	CIRC P_VIA, P_END	C P[3] P[4] 200mm/sec FINE	Mvr P2, P3, P4	movec(p_via, p_end, a=1.2, v=0.25)	MOVC P003 V=80.0 MOVC P004 V=80.0 MOVC P005 V=80.0	C1MOVE via C2MOVE arc_end
Blend past a point instead of stopping	MoveL p1, v500, z10, tool0;	$APO.CDIS = 10 LIN P1 C_DIS	L P[1] 500mm/sec CNT50	Cnt 1	movel(p1, a=1.2, v=0.25, r=0.01)	MOVL P001 V=100.0 PL=3	ACCURACY 10 ALWAYS
Call a subroutine	Pick;	PICK()	CALL PICK	GoSub *PICK	pick()	CALL JOB:PICK	CALL pick

FANUC shows one circular instruction over two lines, via point then end point. Yaskawa needs three MOVC points in a row (start, via, end). Kawasaki splits the arc into C1MOVE to the via point and C2MOVE to the end.
ABB z10, KUKA C_DIS, UR r and Kawasaki ACCURACY are distances, in millimetres except for UR, which uses metres. FANUC CNT runs from 0 to 100 and is not a distance. Yaskawa PL is a level from 0 to 8 whose distances are set in parameters. MELFA Cnt 1 turns continuous-path motion on for the moves that follow.
MELFA GoSub jumps to a label in the same program and comes back on Return; CallP runs another program. FANUC, Yaskawa and Kawasaki call a separate program by name. ABB, KUKA and URScript call a routine defined in the program or module.

Notes

FANUC TP puts the speed on each motion line, and ABB RAPID gives each move its own speed argument (v500, v1000). KUKA KRL sets $VEL.CP once, in m/s, but it only applies to LIN and CIRC; PTP speed comes from $VEL_AXIS, a percentage per axis.
Yaskawa INFORM stores positions as P000 to P002, FANUC TP as P[1] to P[3]. In URScript, home, pick and place are variables holding pose values such as p[x, y, z, rx, ry, rz], in metres and a rotation vector in radians.
Digital outputs look different and do the same job: ABB SetDO, KUKA $OUT[], FANUC DO[], MELFA M_Out(), URScript set_digital_out, Yaskawa DOUT OT#(), Kawasaki SIGNAL n (SIGNAL -n switches it off).
MELFA BASIC V programs carry line numbers; the other six languages do not need them in the source.
On the pendant every FANUC TP line has a line number. The /PROG and /END lines come from the .LS text file, which also has /MN and /POS sections and ends each line with a semicolon.
Comment markers: ! in ABB RAPID and FANUC TP, ; in KUKA KRL and Kawasaki AS, # in URScript, and a leading apostrophe in MELFA BASIC and Yaskawa INFORM.