What am I doing here?

 

Robots don't just move from here to there, but activate hardware and tools at points along the way. This activity or event is attached to a point, and the robot takes care of it when it reaches that point during motion.

While the path itself may be entirely geometry driven, events require the knowledge of the robotic process itself. Sometimes the design engineer may do it himself. Usually the robot operator, engineer or supervisor will need to add their touch to the final outcome by supplying the missing events.
Once the path is made and visualized from beginning to end, you can scroll slowly along the path one point at a time, with the tool shown at each point. One click opens an event form, where you click or enter the actions you want the robot to take at that point.
Event includes many options. You can trigger a digital output, set voltage of an analog output, change tool, set speed and tool offsets, and more. For example, in painting application you can change the nozzle angle at both ends of a pass while turning the spray off and on.

All the event data is gathered into a database, accessible to other Windows programs. Later a software driver written in the robot native language may use this data to create a complete robot program, not just 'where to go' but also 'what to do when you get there'.
You can also convert the numeric data of location and orientation to many formats, paste it into spreadsheets and manipulate the data further to suit your particular need.
 


 


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