Possibily move robot between machines, without having to set every waypoint again

EmileDerache

I want to be able to move my whole robot from setup 1, put it to work on another machine (setup2) , and then put it back at the machine of setup 1, calibrate the robot with 1 or 2 waypoints, and run the whole setup 1 program again without having to change it. Is this possible in any way? Because the company would like to be able to move the robot between machines. I figured I could try to do this by setting feature planes, but only movements L and P  are supported with features and are much slower than movement J type. Thanks in advance.

Emile Derache
Student @ KU Leuven
Graduation project with Niko (Belgium)

roehlkk

You are able to do this by keeping your moves relative to a feature. movej should only be used for moves in free space where collision is unlikely. you could also fixture the robot base in a way that could be more repeatable using something like ball locks or pins.

Trj7ca

I realize that this is a slightly old thread, but in case someone else has a similar problem in the future, here are my 5 cents:

I was working on a similar task with a Universal Robot during my internship recently and I agree with roehlkk's post. The key word to solving a variable environment is relative movements. What I've done with a succesful result is somehow localize the object, calculate a new custom origo and then make movements relative to it with the pose_trans(pose0, pose1) command. Be careful not to mix up different coordinate systems. As for localization, I tried two methods, both of them functional.

• Freedrive localize - Make the operator drag the tool to the object. Make sure the tool tcp is defined correctly, and, depending on your problem, it might be useful to force a certain axis-angle.
• Scan localize - Make the robot assumes a basic start position (could be defined by the operator), and then use sensors to scan and accurately find relevant positions and angle relative to the object.

Freedrive scan is the lazy answer. Very easy to implement, but it can be annoying for the operator. Quite useful for testing though.
Scan localize requires some additional coding and design of the tool, but I feel like my results were pretty good. For a long-term professional solution, this is what I'd recommend.

Kirk_Reed

Although I have not tried this, and I am learning how to setup my Robotic Cell, this 'Relative' positioning for my moves seems key to follow.  I appreciate Trj7ca and the pieces of info for me to learn and follow.  Giving me the correct terms to look up and learn are so important to finding solutions.