Product

From the pallet plan to the robot in production

What Stackmill does, in the order you meet it.

Program

Build the pallet, prove the cycle

Everything the previous generation of Stackmill did, and still the way most projects start.

Pallet plans from box, pallet and gripper dimensions, with presets for the patterns you repeat.
Layer and pattern tools that keep the plan editable: change a box size and the plan follows.
Reach, collision and singularity checks against the real robot model and the real cell.
3D simulation of the whole cycle before anything moves.
Robot and tool configuration: work zone, frames, payload, speeds.

An export that stands alone

One click produces the robot's native program. It runs on the controller with nothing of ours beside it — Stackmill can be closed, uninstalled or absent from the plant.

/PROG  SM_PALLET_OBJ_27
   1:  !This file is generated by Stackmill ;
   2:  F[107:pltz_active]=(ON) ;
   3:  UFRAME_NUM=1 ;
   4:  J P[1] 100% CNT30 ;
   5:  L P[2] 800mm/sec FINE ;
   6:  CALL SM_GRIP_CLOSE ;
   7:  R[112:layer]=R[112:layer]+1 ;
/END

The robot's native language, ready to run from its own controller.
Positions, frames, registers and flags, named as Stackmill generated them.
Singularity avoidance and the safety guards written into the program itself.

Run

New

Drive the robot in production

The same project, connected to the controller.

Start, stop, pause and resume programs from the software, through the controller's own start sequence.
Live state: joint positions, status, alarms, speed override, payload and current step.
Recipes and pallet stations chosen by the operator, without touching the program.
Guided recovery from alarms, faults and stops, including handing the robot back to the pendant.
Jog, manual move and free motion for teaching and clearing the cell.
The same screens against a ROBOGUIDE simulation when the cell does not exist yet.

And the PLC?

There is none. The robot controller is already a programmable controller, and the sequence lives there — start, I/O, recipes, alarms. Add an ordinary industrial PC for the software, and the station is complete. If your line already has a PLC, Stackmill talks to it.

Safety hardware is unchanged: emergency stop, safety relays, guarding and the safety circuit stay exactly as your integrator specifies them. Stackmill sequences the cell; it is not a safety device.

Screens

One interface, on whatever the cell has

The interface is served over the network by the machine running Stackmill. There is no dedicated HMI hardware to specify.

The FANUC tablet pendant, on robots that have one — the CRX range and the newer tablet teach pendant.
Any Android tablet, through a kiosk application that points at the machine: the answer wherever the robot has the classic pendant.
Any PC or laptop on the same network, in a browser.
The desktop application itself, on Windows or Linux.
Several screens at once — the operator on the pendant, the integrator on a laptop.

Tablet or laptop

Operator screens

FANUC tablet pendant

The same screens

Operator screen or the FANUC tablet

or the FANUC tablet

Stackmill

Industrial PC or any computer

or a machine we prepare

Ethernet — commands and state

FANUC robot

Programs, I/O, registers

Live state

One computer runs Stackmill; the screens are clients. The robot needs nothing beyond its own controller.

Deploy

Three shapes, one product

The same software, installed to fit the machine it has to live on.

Desktop

Windows or Linux. Programming, simulation and export — and live control of a robot from the same application.

— Installs in a click
— Updates from inside the application
— Works with no internet

A computer next to the robot

Any computer will do — an industrial PC, a standard desktop, even a laptop — running Linux. Nothing real-time, no special card. It runs the software; the robot is on Ethernet and the screens on the network.

— Starts with the machine
— Screens are clients on the network
— One installation for the whole station

Sealed appliance

A flashable image installs Linux, the software and its tooling unattended, on a machine an integrator can build in an afternoon.

— Unattended installation from a USB stick
— Encrypted disk, licence bound to the TPM
— Signed updates, with rollback if a version does not start
— Remote support over an encrypted tunnel, on request

Licence & support

What you own, and what depends on us

Written plainly, because it decides whether a cell can run when the internet cannot.

A licence key is entered once, with internet, and binds to that machine.
With a security module (TPM 2.0) the licence then works offline — the normal case for a production cell.
Without one, the software checks in with our licence server, and drives simulations only.
Demo mode edits, saves and simulates with no time limit; export is disabled.
A board swap or a cleared security module is a request we approve — online, or by file for a machine with no internet.

Will it run on your robot?

FANUC first: everything is developed and tested on FANUC hardware, and the live driver reaches the controller through a small program on it and a TCP link. Other brands are on the way — inside, the driver, the solver and the exporter already ignore the brand. Send us the model and the option list of your controller and we will tell you what your robot needs.

Ask about your cell Docs