Robots!

[Anonymous]

Just wondering if there would ever be any interest by HSMWorks to get into the offline robot programming market?  There is a company called RobotMaster who has done it with MasterCAM - so I was wondering if HSMWorks would ever have interest in looking into it?  Robots don't really make good CNC machines for milling metals, but many people are using them for deburring, welding, dispensing, handling, and various other material removal systems that could take advantage of HSM 2D and 3D toolpaths....

We toyed around with making a post processor for a robot we use in house for plasma cutting...this video shows a Motoman UP50 robot that posted to from HSMWorks after going through our small post-post processor to arrange the G-code into an actual Motoman robot program, as well as add some more math for the robot to interpolate the circles better...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkkHI2FJxV8&feature=g-upl

It would be very cool to see HSMWorks get into the offline programming market for industrial robots - and we could offer our expertise or even some robots for testing....

[fonsecr]

Robots are cool. Maybe we'll add some specific features for them in the future.

The extra conversion from G-code is not required as the post processor can generate the robot code directly. If you send me you current output conversion then we can make a direct post for it.

I do have a Kuka post if anyone should be interested.

[Anonymous]

I'll send you a Motoman program soon - that would be perfect.  Would love to see how it goes.

Our post-post processor includes some math for the robot circular interpolation - it beaks the circles up for tighter resolution....also it calculates a point past where the robot actually has to move, but the robot does not move there - it uses that data to give better resolution to the robot for the circular cut...  This is for a 2D contour cut.. 

We have run 3D toolpaths, but have not actually cut anything with them - we were only using 3 axis at the time - I think RobotMaster can take advantage of all 6, plus 2 aux axis...

[Anonymous]

Edited

[Anonymous]

2 Rene

THANKS!!!!

MiRu

[Anonymous]

Rene,
Would it still be possible to get a robotic arm post from you all?  I am looking into an ABB robotic arm and would really love to be able to do programming offline.

[fonsecr]

If your robot control supports XYZ with direction vectors or euler angles we could make a post - similar to TCP for CNC controls.

[Anonymous]

Awesome, thanks Rene.

[Anonymous]

Did we ever get the Motoman going?

[Anonymous]

Dear HSM crew,

I started this post a while back while experimenting with the G-code HSMWorks created and post processing that code into robot code - and I had great success with it in 2D. 

Moving forward - I am considering purchasing a water jet system for manufacturing some parts.  I looked at Flow, Omax, etc.  However, since I am a robot integrator, and I have robots sitting around, I thought it might make sense to use a robot for the cutting.  I'd like to be able to make 3D cuts, and also potentially add an aux axis.

The missing link is the software.  Right now the only option out there is RobotMaster which runs within MasterCAM.  It requires 5 axis mill, and is aimed specifically at 6-axis robots doing various processes.  Basically it's exactly what I'd love to see as an option / add-on to HSMWorks...

I would love to see if AutoDesk/HSMworks would be interested in developing something similar based on the HSMWorks platform.  I would be happy to supply our knowledge and expertise, as well as utilizing any of the robots we have in stock (Motoman, Fanuc, Kuka, ABB) for beta testing and development.

If this is something that is feasible and of interest, please let me know.  This could be used for welding, routing, plasma and laser cutting, among many other robotic processes.

Otherwise I'll probably pick up a canned waterjet system, but I'd sure like to see something like this come to fruition w/ HSMWorks...

[Anonymous]

I would definitely be interested in this as well.  I actually just purchased a robotic arm from IndustrialRobotix and am looking to program the robot offline with HSMWorks.

[fonsecr]

We don't plan on adding direct support for robots for now in the user interface. However, we your robot controller supports TCP mode then the HSMWorks post processor can output code already that will run. I already made a Kuka post for this. So the same is possible for any other controller with TCP support.

PS. If you have an existing APT post processor for the robot it will also be possible to interface to this automatically when posting from HSMWorks.

[fonsecr]

Sample code for Kuka for swarf toolpath:

; SWARF SINGLE 10MM
; T1
PTP {X -66.145,Y 3.114,Z 78.942,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196,S 2,T 10}
$VEL.CP=0.02
LIN {X -66.145,Y 3.114,Z 78.942,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -66.145,Y 3.114,Z 27.622,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
$VEL.CP=0.01
LIN {X -66.129,Y 3.118,Z 27.446,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -66.084,Y 3.128,Z 27.274,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -66.009,Y 3.142,Z 27.114,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.907,Y 3.16,Z 26.97,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.782,Y 3.182,Z 26.846,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.637,Y 3.207,Z 26.747,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.477,Y 3.235,Z 26.675,A -96.76,B 0,C -13.196} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.294,Y 3.265,Z 26.612,A -96.882,B 0,C -13.815} C_DIS
LIN {X -65.11,Y 3.296,Z 26.549,A -96.998,B 0,C -14.436} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.937,Y 3.364,Z 26.488,A -96.624,B 0,C -15.076} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.78,Y 3.466,Z 26.431,A -95.842,B 0,C -15.761} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.645,Y 3.599,Z 26.38,A -94.748,B 0,C -16.517} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.538,Y 3.757,Z 26.338,A -93.94,B 0,C -17.337} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.462,Y 3.935,Z 26.305,A -94.407,B 0,C -18.073} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.421,Y 4.126,Z 26.284,A -95.763,B 0,C -18.589} C_DIS
LIN {X -64.416,Y 4.322,Z 26.274,A -97.597,B 0,C -18.799} C_DIS
$VEL.CP=0.02

Sample code for Kuka with 3D toolpath. In this case the X-axis is fixed at 0 because we utilize a turn table (E1) to get a bigger work area:

; 2D CONTOUR1
; T1
PTP {X 0,Y 3.9016,Z 0.869,A 0,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.637,E2 0,E3 0,E4 0,E5 0,E6 0}
$VEL.CP=0.002
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9016,Z 0.869,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.637,E2 0,E3 0,E4 0,E5 0,E6 0} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9016,Z 0.119,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.637} C_DIS
$VEL.CP=0
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9016,Z -0.825,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.637} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9016,Z -0.8256,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.635} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9015,Z -0.8262,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.633} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9015,Z -0.8267,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.63} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9015,Z -0.8273,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.628} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9015,Z -0.8279,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.626} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9014,Z -0.8285,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.623} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9014,Z -0.8291,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.621} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9014,Z -0.8297,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.619} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9014,Z -0.8302,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.617} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9014,Z -0.8308,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.614} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9013,Z -0.8314,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.612} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9013,Z -0.832,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.61} C_DIS
LIN {X 0,Y 3.9013,Z -0.8326,A -90,B 0,C 180,E1 -109.608} C_DIS

[Anonymous]

rene can i get that KUKA post??

[fonsecr]

Just sent it.

[Anonymous]

anything regarding motoman? couldn't find TCP support for it...

[fonsecr]

The first post by industrialrobotix shows a Motoman cutting. So it is possible.

I don't have a post for it though.

TCP is a common term for CNC machining. For robots it can be called something different. This is used for 5-axis machining. For 3D machining the robot will commonly be able to do it like in the video.

[Anonymous]

Motoman and ABB robots do not require their programs to be compiled, so it is quite easy to re-format g-code into positional data that a robot needs.  We wrote a simple post-post processor that took the posted g-code and formatted it into the robot program.  Just used VB script and a spreadsheet.  It took some development, but works well.  We incorporated a little more math into some of the circular moves however.

[Anonymous]

I see this as a nice option for sure.industrialrobotix did you ever do anything with the waterjet. I programed years back a Kuka with a Flowmaster head on it. but I used my lic of Robotmaster to do this.

Having some options for robots would be nice.

[Anonymous]

Haven't implemented anything for robotic waterjet cutting yet...  I picked up a nice little Omax 2652 at auction, working on setting that up at the moment, but it has it's own software and control...it's only a 2-axis system.

On the same note, I did also end up picking up a Jetedge 50kpsi intensifier on a robotic system recently.  It isn't the robot of choice, so I am selling that part off, but I am really tossing around integrating a Fanuc or Motoman to run with it....It isn't a priority at the moment (time isn't on my side) - but I really want to give it a shot.  I wish I had more time to toy with ideas...but work gets in the way every time  😕  I'll post updates, but it could be a bit of time before I get anything rolling with it.

HSMWorks - if you ever decide to implement a robotic software add on(waterjet, welding, plasma, etc) - I'd gladly work with you to beta test it on the hardware side of things.  We have a variety of hardware for that type of testing...long shot, but I thought I'd throw that out there.  There is a market for an affordable robot module running in Solidworks...with your expertise and some help from robot guys, it could be quite a useful tool.