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Quicktip videos:

Conversational programming overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yrPNYcFdq4&list=PLrWhN_9rAUJ7c7usu7E2JeRU6QmnF4gBU&index=5

Waypoints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVbS52MQpDE&list=PLrWhN_9rAUJ7c7usu7E2JeRU6QmnF4gBU&index=8

Overview

The Move tab of the Conversational Notebook allows users to:

  • View a list of waypoints

  • Create and delete waypoints

  • Edit waypoints

  • Add moves to waypoints to robot programs

    • Moves types include joint, linear, and free moves

  • Jog the robot to an existing waypoint

  • Add a command to change the user frame (work offset) to the robot program

Global versus Program Waypoints

Global waypoints:

  • Are stored in the computer’s persistent memory

  • Can be used in multiple robot programs

  • Are typically used for common poses like a “home” position or a “safe passage position” through the enclosure door of a machine tool

  • Are less transportable to other robots’ users

Program waypoints:

  • Are stored as part of a robot’s program (typically at the very top of the program)

  • Can only be used in the program in which they are stored

  • Are preferred for general program use because they leave the global waypoint list uncluttered.

  • Are easily transportable from one robot to another. All example programs that are shared on https://github.com/tormach/example_robot_programs use program waypoints so that users may download and run these programs without the need to recreate waypoints.

Joint Waypoints versus Pose Waypoints

Waypoints are defined either as joint configuration, as list of joint positions, or as a robot pose with location in Cartesian coordinates XYZ and orientation in Euler angles ABC. Robot poses furthermore relate to an offset from the world origin, usually located at the robot base. If no offset is active or specified with the waypoint, reference to the world origin is assumed.

Joint waypoints:

  • Store the robot’s individual joint angles at the time they are created

  • Moves to joint waypoints not altered by user frames or tool frames

  • Are analogous to G53 (machine) coordinates in CNC machines

  • Are preferred for most taught robot moves

Pose waypoints:

  • Store the robot’s position as XYZABC coordinates

  • Moves to cartesian waypoints may change when the user frame or tool frame is changed

  • Are analogous to the way most CNC machines are programmed

  • Are required when generating robot programs from a CAD/CAM software package (e.g. SprutCAM or Fusion 360)

It is important to note that global/program waypoint types are independent of joint/pose waypoint types. Both joint and pose waypoints may be either global or local to a program.

Move Types

The robot will execute the following types of moves, described in detail in the Tormach Robot Programming Language documentation:

  • Joint moves (movej) move the robot end effector from the current position to the target waypoint using the fastest combination of joint angle changes available. Targets may be program or global waypoitns definied as pose or joints types.

  • Linear moves (movel) move the robot end effector in a straight line from the current position to the target waypoint. Targets may be program or global waypoitns definied as pose or joints types.

  • Free moves (movef) move the robot in a non-deterministic way (meaning that the path taken may change during different executions of the program). For this reason, free moves are not usually recommended, but they may be more adept at moving around obstacles in the collision scene that the other two move types.

When adding a move to a waypoint using the “Add Move to Selected Waypoint to Program” button, the user may choose between move types using the move type radio button at the bottom left of the waypoint list.

Waypoint list

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