How to Improve Communication Speed on a Robotiq Gripper

Context
This article explains how to improve the communication speed between your control system and a Robotiq gripper. Optimizing this speed can help achieve more responsive performance in certain applications.

Information

• Understand the Frequency Limitations
  The gripper’s manual states that 200 Hz is the maximum communication frequency. Therefore, it is recommended to send commands with a minimum delay of 5ms.

  

• However, this is not necessarily the recommended frequency for all applications. Pushing the system to this limit may not always yield reliable results.

• Check the Full Communication Chain
  Several components can affect the effective communication speed, such as:

  • USB-to-serial adapters

  • Operating system USB drivers

  • Application-level control software

  • Robot controller hardware
    These components may introduce latency or fail to keep up at high polling frequencies.

• Reduce USB Latency on Windows
  If you're using a Windows PC and USB communication, reducing the latency timer may improve responsiveness. This involves adjusting driver settings for the USB port.
  Follow the detailed procedure in this external guide:
  How to speed up serial communication on Windows – Qontrol
  
  

• Test Before Applying in Production
  Always validate changes in a safe test environment. Lower latency may improve responsiveness, but could introduce instability if the system or software cannot keep up.

Conclusion
Improving communication speed may involve more than just increasing the polling rate. Reviewing the full system chain and adjusting USB latency settings can lead to measurable performance gains.
Need more help? Contact support@robotiq.com