A suspension type robot comprises posts, support arms having apical ends, a traveling rail mounted between the apical ends of the support arms and robot body. The friction rim surfaces are in mutual contact with each other and thereby enabled to transmit a friction-based torque between each other. The method also includes translating the linear APS messages into a shared mesh protection message and exchanging the shared mesh protection message between the network element and the other network element over an intraportal link.