General overview

Every time you open MotionLab3, you will get the following welcome window:

In this welcome window, we can separate 4 different regions with distinct overall functionalities:

• General software tools (red rectangle above) → general tabs that allow configuring some of the most high-level tasks of the GUI

• Detected drives (orange rectangle above) → connect to a drive in the network and begin the configuration procedure

• Default workspaces (blue rectangle above) → tools used to manage workspaces, predefined spaces that you can use to work within the GUI

• Widgets (green rectangle above) → all the basic features that MotionLab3 has to help the configuration and testing process

Detected drives

Upon launching, MotionLab3 will automatically scan the network for drives using the following connection protocols:

• CANopen

• Ethernet

• EtherCAT

If a drive is found, it will be displayed in the main window and hovering it will reveal a button to connect to it.

For a detailed breakdown on how to connect to the drives using the different protocols (both automatically and manually), refer to the corresponding pages:

• CANopen

• Ethernet

• EtherCAT

General software features

• File → tab that allows opening/saving workspaces

• Tools → tab that allows loading firmware to the drive using various connection protocols

• Help → tab that contains the basic information regarding MotionLab3 as well as the release notes of the current software version so that you can see the latest features added and bugs solved

Default workspaces 

• Wizard → tab used to guide you through the configuration of your drive

• Tune → workspaces designed to be used for manual tuning of the current/velocity/position loops

• Jog → workspaces designed to perform movements in voltage/current/velocity/position/homing mode

Tools/widgets

• Drive Explorer → shows the drives connected to the GUI and list all the registers available in its dictionary

• Display → tool used to display the values of registers of the drive in real-time in a numerical graphical representation

• Control → tool used to write the values of registers of the drive in real-time

• Scope → tool used to display the values of registers of the drive in real-time in different chart graphs

• Signal Generator → tool used to generate a customized signal and inject it as a disturbance into our drive

• Terminal → tool used to display the actions that certain automatic tools inside the GUI do

• List of errors → History list of all the errors that the drive has reported since the drive has been connected to the GUI

• Inspector → tool used to configure the overall configuration of other widgets/tools (Display, Control and Scope for example)

Additional buttons

• Notification bell → tool that shows when newer MotionLab3 software versions are available to download and install

• F12 button → button available all the time to stop any motion and disable the motor during an emergency situation

Troubleshooting

If the connection to a drive fails, MotionLab3 will display an error message at the affected drive. If you press the refresh button () and the drive disappears, it was no longer visible in the network. Make sure that it is switched on and the cables you are using for the connection are plugged in.

If the issue persists, the firmware on the drive might be faulty - refer to the Firmware update and Troubleshooting pages to help you resolve your issue.