Creating Robot Programs

Owned by Daniel Rogge
Last updated: Feb 11, 2022 by Amanda Lucas
1 min read

The Tormach ZA6 Robot uses Python as its programming language. Just as you don’t necessarily need to know how to write G-code to run a CNC machine, you can create robot programs in PathPilot without any knowledge of Python programming. 

Python is very easy to learn, yet very powerful as well. Its huge popularity means that many tasks you might want to accomplish in Python (for example, sending yourself a text message) have already been written by other programmers. Knowing enough about Python programming to glue other authors’ code into your robot programs unlocks a massive portion of the Tormach robot’s potential.

If you're new to Python, there are endless online resources to help you get started (YouTube, https://www.learnpython.org/, and Google are your friend). You can also post questions on the Tormach Robot community forum.

In general, there are three ways to create robot programs:

  1. Using the Conversational tabs of PathPilot.

  2. Using a CAM system like AutoDesk Fusion or SprutCAM in conjunction with the Tormach ZA6 post processor.

3. Using a text editor to write (or modify) programs “by hand”.