Off-line programming of an industrial robot for manufacturing

A procedure for the automatic generation of the robot programming used in welding operations is introduced in the present paper. The developed off-line programming system includes graphical simulation of the robot and its workcell, kinematic model of the robot, motion planning and creation of the NC code for welding. The proposed system is applied in a case of a robot with six revolute joints for welding operations.

2004

The 29th Int. Symp. on Robotics, Birmingham, …, 1998

This paper discusses the problem of automatic off-line programming and motion planning for industrial robots. At first, a new concept consisting of three steps is proposed. The first step, a new method for on-line motion planning is introduced. The motion planning method i s based on the A*-search algorithm and works in the implicit configuration space. During searching, the collisions are detected in the explicitly represented Cartesian workspace by hierarchical distance computation. In the second step, the trajectory planner has to transform the path into a time and energy optimal robot program. The practical application of these two steps strongly depends on the method for robot calibration with high accuracy, thus, mapping the virtual world onto the real world, which is discussed in the third step.

2006

International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 2018

STEP-NC is the next generation of data models between CAD/CAM and CNC systems and it aims at providing a digital thread for CNC manufacturing. After more than a decade of investigation, the STEP-NC technology is still underdeveloped. As the industrial robots are getting more and more capable of taking on machining operations, it is necessary to couple the robot for machining towards new STEP-NC standards. The paper presents an indirect method of industrial robot programming for machining tasks by applying standard ISO 10303-238. A methodology has been established to enable programming and simulation of industrial robots for machining, where information on the machining project is saved at a high information level in the STEP-NC format, which can be readily exchanged between different users for machining, either on machine tools or robots for machining. The methodology also includes the developed robot language converter for STEP-NC programme translation to robot programming language for machining tasks. Developed programming method verification has been performed by simulation in STEP-NC Machine environment using configured virtual robot and after that through several real experiments of drawing the toolpath in 3-axis machining tasks on available vertical articulated robot.

Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 2012

Although an automated flexible production cell is an intriguing prospect for small to median enterprises (SMEs) in current global market conditions, the complexity of programming remains one of the major hurdles preventing automation using industrial robots for SMEs. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent research progresses on the programming methods for industrial robots, including online programming, offline programming (OLP), and programming using Augmented Reality (AR). With the development of more powerful 3D CAD/PLM software, computer vision, sensor technology, etc. new programming methods suitable for SMEs are expected to grow in years to come. (C)

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 2011

Although robotics based flexible automation is an intriguing prospect for small to median enterprises in the era of the global competition, the complexity of programming remains one of the major hurdles limiting its applications. This paper presents an automated offline programming (AOLP) method to address this issue. AOLP is software that automatically plans and programs for a robotic welding system with high Degree of Freedoms (DOFs). It takes CAD model as input, and is able to generate the complete robotic welding code without any further programming effort.

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 1990

Information theory constitutes more and more an essential element for robots control. It gives a primary role to programruing systems which make it possible to take full advantage of the flexibility possibilities of robots. The informatic structure on which these systems rest is more often than not organized around the concept of a programming language specific to robotics [1]. This article sets out the development of a system for automatic production of programs for welding robots control, from CAD specification till welding parameters.

2010

International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, 1987

This paper describes the development of software to produce automatically an off-line robot control program when given only the layout of the cell and the part programs for the individual components. Based on an FMS simulation system developed at UMIST, a number of special purpose facilities have been incorporated for programming a robot which have reduced the effort required in the modelling of manufacturing systems. In particular, the coordinates are calculated at each point to which the robot gripper moves, the robot control program is generated, auxiliary requirements are displayed on the screen, and the new package is linked to the basic simulation system. While the system is simulating the real system, the robot control program is created automatically. At the same time, the auxiliary requirements of each step are displayed on one of the display screens. The robot control program can then be transmitted from the VAX 11H50 computer on which the simulation runs to a Cromemco microcomputer which is linked to the robot controller.