Hello Pros

I asked this before, but I am not confident I have the most effective answer. https://dof.robotiq.com/discussion/897/installation-or-feature-xyz-orientation#latest

What is the best/proper way to teach a feature point using the TCP, and then have the TCP go back to that same point when referenced in a MoveL command?

When I teach Feature_X, the TCP setting is p[0,0,0.240.0.0.0]. In the program, I then do a MoveL to a variable waypoint p[0,0,0,0,0,0] the robot arm wants to go to that point, but on the opposite side of what is was when the feature was taught. How do I teach the feature so the TCP will go to it (on the correct side) when the MoveL is executed in the program?

What type of feature are you teaching?  Most likely the Z orientation is not what you think it is but rather points 180 degrees from where you think it does, common with planes and lines. 

Quickbway to fugure it out is to go to the move screen and move in that feature along the Z axis. Does it move in the same direction as the Z axis of the tool, assuming the tool is oriented in the same general direction or opposite. 

To keep it simple, for example, say the UR10 Base is on a table, in normal orientation. There is a coin on the table to be defined as a feature point. The TCP is set as 0,0,0.240,0,0,0. To teach the point, I move the TCP (simple 2-finger gripper) so that it touches the top of the coin. Now I save that point as the feature point.

What I now see in my program, when I want to moveL to p[0,0,0,0,0,0], the robot arm wants to invert the 2-finger gripper and touch the coin from underneath. Why does it not simply move to the same point as when I taught it?

My "solution" has been to change the TCP setting to 0,0,0.240,0,3.1416,0 when I teach the feature point, but this doesn't make sense to me. I get the feeling there must be a way to do this without the method I have, or else it would be more clearly defined in the UR Software manual.

What type of feature are you teaching?  Point, plane or line?  Hard to help when we can’t follow exactly wht you are doing. 

In the table and coin example, feature point. However, I also have the same thing happen when I teach a feature plane.

Feature points are stored as floating coordinates of the TCP. So the stored information is just 1 point, it doesn't take the position of the arm in consideration as it would with a waypoint in the program itself. Moving to a feature point is always along the shortest route and most of the time impossible, it doesn't calculate the movements of the joints.

A way to avoid unwanted movements towards a feature point is to place a waypoint just before, so that the route to the point will always be predictable.