Scenario

When trying to connect to an OMRON robot using ACE 4.4 or 4.5, the robot is unable to be discovered by ACE. However, the PC can ping the robot.

The above diagram shows the controller discovery window, and the connected robot controller does not appear.

Solution

The issue may be caused by Windows blocking ACE via the firewall, on installation. There are 2 places to check to allow ACE will allow to find the robots.

Note: Using Wireshark will appear that the connection is establishing correctly.

1. Go to "Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

2. Select "Inbound Rules"

3. Check if any ACE rules are blocked.

4. Go to "Firewall & network protection

5. Select "Allow an app through firewall"

6. Check if all ACE ports are set to "Public"

Note above shows that ACE 4.4 and ACE 4.5 are not set to Public or Private. Tick all ACE related entries to Public or Private (unless you know which type the port has been set, in which case you can tick only that type).  Note you may need to restart ACE for the changes to take effect.