RobotStudio™ 6.03 graphical programming

This paper present the content graphical programming; creating curves; creating paths; adding approach and depart targets; collision detection; reachability... Please refer to the document to understand the content details.

Graphical Programming

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ABB ABRobotics Products SE-721 68 Västerås Sweden2016-06-02 ABB

1 Graphical programming 4

1.1 Creating Curves 5

1.2 Creating Paths 7

1.3 Target Manipulation 12

1.4 Adding Approach and Depart targets 15

1.5 Simulating the robot program 18

1.6 Collision Detection 20

1.7 Reachability 24

1 Graphical programming

Overview

In this module we will learn how to use geometries to automatically create robot paths

In RobotStudio we can create paths from curves, or by selecting the edge of one or moresurfaces on the geometry

In the exercises in this module we will create glue paths on a door panel

Unpack

Use Unpack&Work to open the Pack&Go file GlueStation.rspag from the Courseware >

Stations folder Unpack it to a new folder myGlueSolution in the Solution > Module_2

folder You will need to create a Module_2 folder as well Answer Yes on the Smart

Component question (if it shows)

These message boxes appear because it includes Smart Components made with Code Behind

we will use Border Around Surface and Border From Points, two of the three functions for

geometrically creating curves

Creating a border around a surface

Border around Surface will create curves around all borders on the selected surface.

1 In the Graphics window select Surface Selection.

2 On the Modeling tab click the Border around Surface button

3 On the door plate select the surface as in the picture below

4 Click Create in the Create Border around Surface window.

A new part is created with curves that go along all edges on the selected surface

Creating a border from points

Border from Points creates a curve that will start and end where you set the first and the last

position, respectively The position in between is for determining along which edge betweenthe start and end positions the curve will be created In this exercise we will create a curvealong one of the arcs on the shape below

1 Zoom in and set View Center to the shape as in the picture below.

2 On the Modeling tab click the Border from Points button.

3 In the Graphics window click on the body around the shape (see picture on first step)

4 Click out three points as in the picture below The first point should be at the start of the

arc (use Snap End) The second point should somewhere along the border of the arc (use

Snap Edge) The third should be at the end of the arc (use Snap End).

5 In the Create Border From Points window click the Create button.

6 Save the station as

\Courseware\Stations\Module_2\myGlueSolution\Stations\myGlueSolution_curves.

1.2 Creating Paths

Overview

In this section we will generate paths using a function called AutoPath This feature can be

used in a couple of different ways, both of which we will utilize In the first example we willuse the curves created in the previous section as the basis for some paths We will alsogenerate a path directly on the CAD model using this function

Before creating the paths we will create a workbject

Creating a workobject from three reference points

1 On the Home tab click the Other button and then select Create Workobject.

2 Name the workobject to wobjFixture.

3 Define the User Frame with the Three-point method.

4 Click on the top of the three cones marked in the picture below to define the three points.(Snap Mode: End)

5 Click Accept and then Create to create the workobject Note that due to the location of

the pin the used to define the y axis, the workobject’s origin will float in “free space” andwill not actually coincide with the position of the first pin

wobjFixture

To create paths from curves

1 In the Graphical window select Curve Selection.

2 Select the curve as in the picture below

3 On the Home tab click on the lower part of the Path button and then select AutoPath.

A preview of the path should now be displayed in the Graphical window, and in the

AutoPath window all surface edges around the path should be displayed Note that not

all of the selected edges are referenced to the same plane and/or reference surface.Before creating the path we will select a reference surface

4 Put the cursor in the Reference Surface field, and then click on the same surface as thecurve was created from (with Border Around Surface)

5 Change the Approximation Parameters to Circular and the Tolerance to 0,5 mm, thenclick Create.

6 In the Paths&Targets browser, rename the new path to GluePath1.

7 Select the path in the Paths&Targets browser, then click on PathTools-Modify, and

then click on Rename Targets Change Target Prefix to pGluePath1_ and click Apply.

8 Use AutoPath to create a path on the curve created with Border from Points Use the surface around the curve as Reference Surface and change the Approximation

Parameters to Circular and the Tolerance to 0,5 mm

9 Rename the paths to GluePath2 Give the targets the prefix pGluePath2_

Creating path from edges

We will create the last glue path without any curve; instead select the surface edge along thepath This advantage makes it possible to create a path along multiple surfaces

1 Zoom and rotate so you have a good view of the marked area in the picture below

2 Open AutoPath and on the surface selected in the picture below, click close to the edge

closest the robot The preview of the path should be as in the picture below

3 Move the mouse in the right direction along the edge until you see a new preview in thecorner of the door.

4 Click to add that segment to the AutoPath list.

5 Continue like this around the entire door so all segments are added to the AutoPath list.

6 Leave the Approximation Parameters as Linear and set the Tolerance to 0.5 mm, then click Create.

7 Rename the path to GluePath3 Give the targets the prefix pGluePath3_

8 Save the station as

Offsetting paths

When AutoPath is used to create a path, the targets will be aligned to the selected surface, and with the axis defined as Travel Vector (Options-Mechanism) pointing in the path’s travel

direction This makes it possible to offset the path by moving each target in their local

coordinate system This however needs to be done before the targets are reoriented.

1 In the Path&Targets browser expand the node of wobjFixture_of and multi select all

targets belonging to GluePath1.

2 Click on Target Tools-Modify, and then on Offset Position.

3 Move all targets 4mm in Y direction with Reference set to Local, to offset the path from

the edge

4 Offset GluePaths 2 and 3 the same distance, however be aware that for GluePath2 it

should be in the –Y direction and GluePath3 should be in the +Y direction

Setting Normal to Surface

In some situations, you may need to adjust some of the generated targets to meet your

requirements The function Set Normal to Surface is often a useful tool in such cases Here

we will use View Tool at Target and step through our targets to make sure the Z-orientation

of all targets is pointing in the correct direction This is important because we will later lockthis axis when aligning the rest of the targets

1 In Paths&Targets browser, select target pGluePath1_10 and turn on View Tool at

Target with the tool SingleDoser.

2 Step through the following targets and verify that the Z-orientation towards the surface isOK

3 Stop when you reach the target below

4 In the Modify tab, select Set Normal to Surface.

5 Select the surface as below, select Approach Direction –Z and click Apply.

6 Continue through the remaining targets and make sure no more targets needs to beadjusted.

Aligning Target Orientation

Now we will rotate the targets around their Z-axis to get a good approach direction for therobot

7 Select target pGluePath1_10 and turn on View Tool at Target with the tool

SingleDoser.

8 Verify that the orientation of the tool is as in the picture below If not, rotate the targetaround its Z-axis, so the robot can reach it with a good configuration

Note!

The resulting orientation of the targets when using AutoPath, depend on the settings in

Options>Mechanism If other than default settings are used, the result will be different

than shown above

9 Use Jump To Target to verify that the robot can reach the target.

10.Multi select all targets (excluding pGluePath1_10) for GluePaths 1, 2 and 3, and then

click on Align Target Orientation on the Target Tools – Modify tab.

11.Select target pGluePath1_10 as Reference and press Apply.

This will align the X-axes of all targets according to the reference target This is donewithout moving the Z-axes

12.Use View Robot at Target to verify that all targets are reachable Then turn off View

Adding Approach and Depart Targets

1 In the Path&Targets browser, right click on target pGluePath1_10 and select Copy in

the Context Menu.

2 Right click on the workobject wobjFixture and select Paste A new target is added under

the workobject

3 Rename the new target to pApproach_Path1.

4 Use Offset Position to move the new target 100 mm in –Z direction in Reference Local.

5 Use Jump To Target to verify that the target is placed 100 mm above the path.

6 Copy and Paste the last target in GluePath1 and rename the new target to

pDepart_Path1 Offset the target 100 mm in –Z direction.

7 Right click on pApproach_Path1and select Add to path > GluePath1 <First>

8 Do the same for pDepart_Path1 but put it last in the path.

9 Add approach and depart targets for the other glue paths with the same offsets

Setting robot axis configurations

In many cases the robot may be able to reach a given target in several different ways In thepictures below the robot can reach the same target using three completely different axisconfigurations

When a target is taught by jogging the robot to a given position, the axis configuration is

stored in the target When targets are created in RobotStudio by one of the geometric tools adefault configuration, which may not be accurate, is used When using targets created this way

in a program we either have to assign valid robot axis configurations to each target or add aconfiguration off instruction to make the robot ignore the missing configuration In thisexercise we will use the recommended way, which is to set the robot axis configurations forall targets

1 In the Path&Targets browser select GluePath1 and then click on Auto Configuration

in the Path Tools – Modify tab.

The Select Robot Configuration window is now displayed in which you set the

configuration for the first target manually The configuration you select for the firsttarget might affect the configurations for the following ones

2 After viewing the configurations, select the configuration with values (-1, -1, -1, 0) and click the Apply button.

The robot now steps through the path and sets the configuration for each target in the path Which configuration to use for each target depends on the previous one, so if the AutoConfiguration fails, you might get better results with another initial configuration.

Note: If the first target in a given path already has a configuration assigned then Auto Configuration will use that as a starting point and will not be asked to make a selection.

If you want to change the starting configuration then you must use the Reset

Configurations tool first.

3 Use Auto Configuration to set configurations for the other glue paths The start

configuration in the paths should be as close as possible to the one selected for

GluePath1.

Modifying Instructions

AutoPath uses the active template to decide what type of move instructions should be

created, and with what speed and zone data When we created the glue paths, the defaultMoveL template was active, which means that the speed data was set to v1000 and the zone to

z100 These parameters are not likely optimal for a gluing application, so we will change thisdata to something more appropriate.

1 In the Path&Targets browser expand GluePath1and select all targets in the path except

for the approach and depart targets.

2 In the Instruction Tools – Modify tab click on Edit Instruction.

3 Change the Speed to v300 and the Zone to z1, and then press Apply.

4 Do the same for the other glue paths

10 Save the station as

Synchronizing the program to the virtual controller

1 On the Rapid tab click the Synchronize to RAPID button.

2 In the Synchronize to Virtual Controller dialog verify that the Modules in the picture

below are selected as target modules These modules have earlier been used in the stationfrom the Pack and Go, and are therefore the default selections

Note: Even if you change the module that the paths sync to the targets for each path will

still sync (according to the default settings) into Module1 This can be changed under

Options>Synchronization.

Setting up and running the simulation

A robot program always has a procedure named main, which is used to arrange and start theother procedures When simulating programs in RobotStudio, you create or edit the main

procedure by creating a path named main or doing a procedure manually in the RAPID code.

Let’s do the path one

1 In Paths&Targets, create an empty path and name it Main.

2 Drag the paths that you want to simulate into Main.

3 Drag them to modify the order to make sure it’s correct.

4 In the Home tab right click on the system and select Synchronize to RAPID and select

the module in which you would like to create the main procedure in

5 In the Graphics window click the Play button and verify that the robot moves along all

exercise we will create a Collision Set so that we can determine what collisions we have and

then take actions to prevent these collisions

To detect collisions

We will now create a collision set with two sets of objects, which RobotStudio will watch forcollisions Collisions can be both highlighted in the graphics and/or be reported in the outputwindow

1 On the Simulation tab click the Create Collision Set button.

2 Expand the node of CollisionSet_1.

3 In the Layout browser drag SingleDoser and drop it on ObjectsA.

4 Drag the Component Group fixture and workpiece and drop it on ObjectsB.

We have now defined that RobotStudio will detect collisions between A and B

5 On the Simulation menu, click Play.

We can now see the collisions in both the graphics and in the Output window.

Configuring the collision set

We will now modify the collision set parameters

1 In the Layout browser right click CollisionSet_1 and select Modify Collision set.

2 In the Near Miss (mm) field enter 4.

3 In the Near Miss Color change to green color.

The tooldata named tNozzle was created on the surface of the dispensing nozzle The