diff --git a/launch/ur_common.launch b/launch/ur_common.launch
index 6c1cb44..b2ceb0a 100644
--- a/launch/ur_common.launch
+++ b/launch/ur_common.launch
@@ -16,19 +16,12 @@
   <!-- The max_velocity parameter is only used for debugging in the ur_driver. It's not related to actual velocity limits -->
   <arg name="max_velocity" default="10.0"/> <!-- [rad/s] -->
 
-  <!-- copy the specified IP address to be consistant with ROS-Industrial spec.
-  NOTE: The ip address is actually passed to the driver on the command line -->
-  <param name="/robot_ip_address" type="str" value="$(arg robot_ip)"/>
-
-  
-  <!-- copy the specified IP address to be consistant with ROS-Industrial spec.
-  NOTE: The ip address is actually passed to the driver on the command line -->
-  <param name="/robot_ip_address" type="str" value="$(arg robot_ip)"/>
-  
   <node name="robot_state_publisher" pkg="robot_state_publisher" type="state_publisher" />
 
   <!-- driver -->
-  <node name="ur_driver" pkg="ur_modern_driver" type="ur_driver" args="$(arg robot_ip)" output="screen">
+  <node name="ur_driver" pkg="ur_modern_driver" type="ur_driver" output="screen">
+  <!-- copy the specified IP address to be consistant with ROS-Industrial spec. -->
+    <param name="robot_ip_address" type="str" value="$(arg robot_ip)"/>
     <param name="min_payload" type="double" value="$(arg min_payload)"/>
     <param name="max_payload" type="double" value="$(arg max_payload)"/>
     <param name="max_velocity" type="double" value="$(arg max_velocity)"/>
diff --git a/src/ur_ros_wrapper.cpp b/src/ur_ros_wrapper.cpp
index f874b46..5cd23ad 100644
--- a/src/ur_ros_wrapper.cpp
+++ b/src/ur_ros_wrapper.cpp
@@ -431,12 +431,17 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 	if (ros::param::get("use_sim_time", use_sim_time)) {
 		ROS_WARN("use_sim_time is set!!");
 	}
-	if (argc > 1) {
-		host = argv[1];
-	} else if (!(ros::param::get("~robot_ip", host))) {
-		ROS_FATAL(
-				"Could not get robot ip. Please supply it as command line parameter or on the parameter server as robot_ip");
-		exit(1);
+	if (!(ros::param::get("~robot_ip_address", host))) {
+		if (argc > 1) {
+			ROS_WARN(
+					"Please set the parameter robot_ip_address instead of giving it as a command line argument. This method is DEPRECATED");
+			host = argv[1];
+		} else {
+			ROS_FATAL(
+					"Could not get robot ip. Please supply it as command line parameter or on the parameter server as robot_ip");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+
 	}
 
 	RosWrapper interface(host);