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For a school project we're attempting to establish a connection between TwinCAT & ROS, with TwinCAT as slave and ROS as the master.

I'd like to know if it's possible for TwinCAT run locally to behave as a slave in the TcXaeShell. And if yes, I'd like to know how to set up TwinCAT as slave in a TcXaeShell.

All tutorials reagarding masters & slaves treat TwinCAT running in the shell as the master, making me doubt if its possible for TwinCAT being run as a slave locally.

With kind regards,

Schweini

Schweini14
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2 Answers2

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This is possible, but for it to work the TwinCAT device/PLC needs to have an EtherCAT slave controller. One way (depending on your hardware setup/requirements) is to order a PLC with the B110 extension. Another way is by utilizing an EtherCAT bridge. This will act as a bridge between two masters. It works between it has two slaves built-in which exchange data between each other.

Jakob
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TwinCAT can be run as a slave without the EtherCAT Slave Controller (ESC) hardware by using the TwinCAT Simulator: https://www.beckhoff.com/en-en/products/automation/twincat/te1xxx-twincat-3-engineering/te1111.html.

Another option for running on a standard PC without an ESC is the acontis EC-Simulator: https://www.acontis.com/en/ethercat-simulation.html

Jon
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