Programming industrial robots is not always simple. Using the simple robotics toolbox of Visual Components 3D simulation software, you can plan, design, test and simulate industrial robot work cells without having any programming or robotics knowledge.
Why use “simple robotics” for programming industrial robots?
“Simple Robotics” is a set of features included in all editions of Visual Components 4.0 robot programming software .
In short, these features allow users to virtually teach a robot and validate the work cell.
No programming required, and no prior knowledge of robotics necessary.
With the Simple Robotics Toolkit, it's easy to plan, design, test and simulate robot work cells for a variety of industrial applications. In this article, we'll review some of the key features of Simple Robotics and how to use them.
Main Features of the Simple Robotics Toolbox for Programming Industrial Robots
The Simple Robotics Toolkit includes features that allow users to intuitively teach a robot tasks and validate the robot's work cell . Here is a brief overview of the main features.
Jogging
Jogging allows users to interact with a robot , meaning the robot can be moved, guided and controlled in the 3D world . This allows you to see how far the robot can reach and how the robot's joints move.
Users can move the robot by moving individual joints or by translating and rotating the robot in different coordinate systems, including robot tool coordinates, world coordinates, and part coordinate systems.
Accessibility analysis
Accessibility analysis helps users verify that the robot is able to reach and interact with objects in its work cell.
It also helps visualize the work cell space . This helps users make important design decisions, such as extending the reach of a robot, rearranging equipment in the cell, adding additional robots, or changing the size or position of the robot.
Collision detection
Collision detection allows users to view potential collisions between the robot and other objects in its work cell.
It works by simulating the robot's trajectories and informing users of the location and proximity of detected collisions and near misses .
You can validate safety zones for a robot's cell, workspace, and tool. Additionally, you can identify potential hazards related to the robot's movements by scanning the geometry and comparing it with the path of other resources such as workers and vehicles .
Collision detection is an important step in verifying the robot program and a task that is generally much safer and faster to perform offline .
Program editing
Program editing allows users to define sequences of instructions for a robot and then simulate that program .
You can define robot logic, such as order of steps, type of movements, wait and trigger signals, and subroutines.
You can also test inputs and outputs, optimize logic and task execution, synchronize robot movements, and validate motion trajectories.
The flow of control
Control flow allows you to use conditional IF statements, loops, and variables in a robot program .
- An IF statement defines a condition for executing one of two scopes, THEN and ELSE. The condition can refer to properties and inputs of the robot as well as local variables in the instruction sequence. For example, you can quickly teach a robot to execute a different sequence of instructions based on input from sensors and counters for palletizing parts.
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- A WHILE statement defines a condition for executing a scope of statements in a loop. As long as the condition is true, the loop repeats until the condition is false. For example, you can have a robot do something until a request comes from another customer.
Easily program industrial robots with Visual Components
In this article, we briefly introduced you to the Simple Robotics toolbox in Visual Components 4.0. With the Simple Robotics Toolkit, users can virtually teach robots and validate work cell design. Workflow simulation generates production statistics, such as cycle times, production rates, and process bottlenecks; giving designers and planners valuable information they can use to optimize the design of the robot cell.
Visual Components 3D production simulation software helps manufacturers and system integrators design better robot cells. With over 1,200 robot models from over 30 leading robot manufacturers available in our public e-catalog, Visual Components users have access to a comprehensive and constantly growing library of ready-to-use components.
If you are interested in learning how to use Visual Components to simulate your robotics applications, contact us to schedule a free, personalized web demo.
