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Firmware

The gripper has no firmware of its own: it runs the STEPFOC driver's firmware with gripper mode turned on. This site describes the firmware release named in the version box on the landing page, for the gripper release the site is versioned by; a new firmware release for the same gripper updates these pages in place.

Which release does my gripper run?

Over CAN, Send_Respond_Device_Info returns the firmware version as its third byte; over UART, #Info prints Software version: <number>. The compatibility table says which releases go with which Python library and bootloader.

Updating

A gripper shipped with firmware 104 or newer carries the driver's bootloader and updates over its CAN cable: the host tells the driver to reset, the bootloader waits two seconds for a host, and the host streams the new image into it. Nothing is opened. The image is stepfoc-firmware-V<number>.bin from the driver's GitHub releases, with a manifest firmware.json and the release notes.

From How
a PC with the CANvas adapter Motor GUI over CAN: choose the release, the GUI fetches the image and flashes it
a PC, scripted host_tools/bl_flash.py from the bootloader repository, over CAN (slcan or gs_usb adapters) or over the driver's UART port
a PAR6 control box the box updates every device on its bus, the gripper included, from its dashboard or tools/flash_motor_firmware.py

The procedure, the bootloader's protocol and what to do when a flash is interrupted are in the STEPFOC documentation: Updating through the bootloader and The bootloader.

Before you update

  • Open the gripper or take the object out: it loses its grip during the update and until it is calibrated and commanded again.
  • An update may clear the driver's configuration (the release notes say so when it does). A bought gripper's configuration is in Driver configuration, so it can be restored; note what #Info prints before you start.
  • Give the gripper a node ID from 0 to 13: the bootloader cannot address 14 or 15.

Check

After the update, #Info prints Software version: with the new release (over CAN, the third byte of Send_Respond_Device_Info), and the gripper calibrates and moves as before. If it no longer answers as a gripper, its configuration was cleared: restore it as in Driver setup and first run.

A gripper whose driver runs firmware 103 or older has no bootloader; it is updated once with a programming adapter on the driver's JTAG pads, inside the housing, as described in Installing the bootloader on an older board. From then on it updates over CAN like any other.

Release notes

The release notes of every STEPFOC release up to the one this site describes are in the appendix, Firmware release notes.

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