node-red-contrib-abb-gofa 1.0.1
Node-RED nodes for controlling an ABB GoFa (CRB 15000) collaborative robot via RWS and a RAPID TCP socket server
node-red-contrib-abb-gofa
Node-RED nodes for controlling an ABB GoFa (CRB 15000) collaborative robot with an OmniCore controller over the local network. Motion, telemetry, I/O, RAPID program control, saved-point teach & replay — no extra ABB licenses required.
Developed and live-tested against a GoFa 12 (CRB 15000-12/1.27) on an OmniCore C30, RobotWare 7.21.
⚠️ Safety and security
This package moves a real robot arm.
- The software STOP command and Node-RED itself are not safety functions. The robot's own safety controller, reduced-speed collaborative limits, and the physical emergency stop are the only real safety layer. Never rely on a flow to keep people safe.
- The RAPID socket server (port 1025) accepts motion commands from anyone who can reach the robot's IP — there is no authentication on that port. Run the robot on an isolated or firewalled network segment. The same goes for RWS credentials sent over HTTPS with certificate checking disabled (the controller uses a self-signed certificate).
- Jog/rotate step limits (50 mm / 30°) are enforced in the RAPID module, not in Node-RED — if you edit
MainModule.mod, keep them.
How it works
Two transports, one rule — motion goes through a TCP socket, everything else goes through RWS:
- TCP socket (port 1025) — a small RAPID program (
rapid/MainModule.mod, bundled with this package) runs a socket server on the controller. Each motion node opens a connection, sends one newline-terminated command (HOME,GOTOJ…,J1+10, …), reads oneOK:/ERR:reply, and closes. - Robot Web Services (HTTPS, port 443) — OmniCore's built-in REST API, used for telemetry (pose, joints, state), motor on/off, RAPID start/stop, I/O read/write, file transfer, and WebSocket subscriptions.
RWS-only nodes (status, pose, joints, I/O, …) work without the RAPID module; motion nodes need it loaded and running.
Requirements
- ABB GoFa CRB 15000 with an OmniCore controller, RobotWare 7.x
- Node-RED ≥ 3.0, Node.js ≥ 18
- Network access to the controller (HTTPS 443 + TCP 1025)
- RobotStudio (free) — once, to create an RWS user with the right grants
Install
From your Node-RED user directory (usually ~/.node-red):
npm install node-red-contrib-abb-gofa
(or Menu → Manage palette → Install inside the Node-RED editor.)
Restart Node-RED — a gofa-robot config node and 39 gofa-* nodes appear under the GoFa category.
Controller setup (once)
1. Create an RWS user. The built-in Admin account cannot start/stop RAPID remotely. In RobotStudio: connect to the controller → Authenticate → Edit User Accounts → add a role with the Remote Start and Remote Stop grants → create a user with that role. Read-only nodes work with any account.
2. Upload the RAPID module. The module ships in this package. Easiest path: add a gofa-upload-mod node and set its Local Path to the absolute path of the bundled file (e.g. /home/pi/.node-red/node_modules/node-red-contrib-abb-gofa/rapid/MainModule.mod — a relative path resolves against the Node-RED process directory, not your user dir). It uploads over RWS and automatically patches the module's SERVER_IP constant to your robot's IP (the RAPID socket server cannot bind a wildcard address, so this must match). Or upload manually:
curl -sk -u <user>:<password> -X PUT -H "Content-Type: text/plain;v=2.0" \
--data-binary @rapid/MainModule.mod \
"https://<ROBOT_IP>/fileservice/\$HOME/Programs/MainModule.mod"
(If you upload manually, edit SERVER_IP in the file to your robot's IP first.)
3. Load and start it on the FlexPendant. Code → ⋮ → Load Module → HOME/Programs/MainModule.mod, then Debug → PP to Main, switch to Auto mode, Motors on, Play (▶). The controller now answers on port 1025 (test: send PING\n, expect OK:PING).
Usage
- Open any
gofa-*node → add a gofa-robot config node: robot IP, ports (443 / 1025), the username/password from step 1. - Wire an
injectinto e.g.gofa-statusorgofa-pingto verify connectivity, then go from there. - Every node has full usage docs in the Node-RED sidebar help.
Ready-made example flows (a per-node demo, a full control dashboard, and a physical-button teach workflow) are in the GitHub repo's flows/ directory.
Nodes
| Node | Transport | Description |
|---|---|---|
gofa-robot |
config | Shared connection settings (IP, ports, credentials, points storage) |
gofa-status |
RWS | Controller state, operating mode, speed ratio, RAPID execution state |
gofa-pose |
RWS | Current TCP pose (position + quaternion + config flags) |
gofa-joints |
RWS | All 6 joint angles |
gofa-system-info |
RWS | RobotWare version, controller identity |
gofa-elog |
RWS | Controller event log |
gofa-motor |
RWS | Motors on/off |
gofa-move |
Socket | Go home / set home |
gofa-movej |
Socket | Absolute joint move |
gofa-jog |
Socket | Cartesian jog (±mm / ±°) |
gofa-joint-jog |
Socket | Single-joint jog |
gofa-zone-set |
Socket | Path blend zone (FINE…Z100) |
gofa-speed-set |
Socket | Speed override % |
gofa-stop-motion |
Socket | Immediate motion halt |
gofa-ping |
Socket | Connectivity test with round-trip time |
gofa-grip |
RWS | Digital output on/off (gripper-style) |
gofa-save-point / gofa-go-point / gofa-point-list / gofa-delete-point |
mixed | Teach & replay named points, stored locally or on the robot's own disk |
gofa-points-export / gofa-points-import |
disk | Bulk export/import of the point list |
gofa-sequencer / gofa-stop-seq |
Socket | Visit saved points in order (dwell, loops, ping-pong) / stop the sequence |
gofa-rapid-exec |
RWS | Start / stop / reset-PP / load / activate RAPID program |
gofa-rapid-var-read / gofa-rapid-var-write |
Socket | Read/write RAPID PERS variables |
gofa-rapid-tasks |
RWS | List RAPID tasks and modules |
gofa-upload-mod / gofa-file-read |
RWS | Upload / download controller files |
gofa-io-list / gofa-di-read / gofa-do-write |
RWS | List signals, read inputs, write outputs |
gofa-leadthrough-enable / gofa-leadthrough-disable |
Socket + RWS | Hand-guiding (lead-through) on/off |
gofa-asi-led |
Socket | Arm status-light color and blink |
gofa-subscribe-state / gofa-subscribe-io |
RWS WebSocket | Push on controller-state / I/O-signal changes |
gofa-subscribe-var / gofa-subscribe-pose |
RWS poll | Poll a RAPID variable / TCP pose on an interval |
The full RAPID socket protocol reference, RWS endpoint notes, and troubleshooting guide are in the GitHub README.
Test
From a git checkout (the test suite is not included in the npm package):
npm test
Runs test.js — unit tests for the pure helpers (gotoToken, parseXhtml, points persistence, LED payload resolution) plus integration-style tests that drive node input handlers against a minimal Node-RED harness.
