Robot API example

Introduction

This example is based on the RobotExample.py example.

You may use this file directly if you want.

Example how to use the basic robot class Robot6Axis which represents a 6-axis industrial robot. The Robot module is dependent on Part but not on other modules. It works mostly with the basic types Placement, Vector and Matrix. So we need only:

from Robot import *
from Part import *
from FreeCAD import *

Basic robot stuff

create the robot. If you do not specify another kinematic it becomes a Puma 560

rob = Robot6Axis()
print rob

accessing the axis and the TCP. Axes go from 1-6 and are in degree:

Start = rob.Tcp
print Start
print rob.Axis1

move the first axis of the robot:

rob.Axis1 = 5.0

the TCP has changed (forward kinematic)

print rob.Tcp

move the robot back to start position (reverse kinematic):

rob.Tcp = Start
print rob.Axis1

the same with axis 2:

rob.Axis2 = 5.0
print rob.Tcp
rob.Tcp = Start
print rob.Axis2

Waypoints:

w = Waypoint(Placement(),name="Pt",type="LIN")
print w.Name,w.Type,w.Pos,w.Cont,w.Velocity,w.Base,w.Tool

generate more. The trajectory always finds automatically a unique name for the waypoints

l = [w]
for i in range(5):
  l.append(Waypoint(Placement(Vector(0,0,i*100),Vector(1,0,0),0),"LIN","Pt"))

create a trajectory

t = Trajectory(l)
print t
for i in range(7):
  t.insertWaypoints(Waypoint(Placement(Vector(0,0,i*100+500),Vector(1,0,0),0),"LIN","Pt"))

see a list of all waypoints:

print t.Waypoints

del rob,Start,t,l,w

Working with the document objects

Working with the robot document objects: first create a robot in the active document

if(App.activeDocument() == None):App.newDocument()

App.activeDocument().addObject("Robot::RobotObject","Robot")

Define the visual representation and the kinematic definition (see Robot 6-Axis and VRML Preparation for Robot Simulation for details about that)

App.activeDocument().Robot.RobotVrmlFile = App.getResourceDir()+"Mod/Robot/Lib/Kuka/kr500_1.wrl"
App.activeDocument().Robot.RobotKinematicFile = App.getResourceDir()+"Mod/Robot/Lib/Kuka/kr500_1.csv"

start positon of the Axis (only that which differ from 0)

App.activeDocument().Robot.Axis2 = -90
App.activeDocument().Robot.Axis3 = 90

retrieve the TCP position

pos = FreeCAD.getDocument("Unnamed").getObject("Robot").Tcp

move the robot

pos.move(App.Vector(-10,0,0))
FreeCAD.getDocument("Unnamed").getObject("Robot").Tcp = pos

create an empty Trajectory object in the active document

App.activeDocument().addObject("Robot::TrajectoryObject","Trajectory")

get the Trajectory

t = App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory

add the actual TCP position of the robot to the trajectory

StartTcp = App.activeDocument().Robot.Tcp
t.insertWaypoints(StartTcp)
App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory = t
print App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory

insert some more Waypoints and the start point at the end again:

for i in range(7):
  t.insertWaypoints(Waypoint(Placement(Vector(0,1000,i*100+500),Vector(1,0,0),i),"LIN","Pt"))

t.insertWaypoints(StartTcp) # end point of the trajectory
App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory = t
print App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory

Simulation

To be done.....

Exporting the trajectory

The trajectory is exported by Python. That means for every control cabinet type there is a post-processor Python module. Here is in detail the Kuka post-processor described

from KukaExporter import ExportCompactSub

ExportCompactSub(App.activeDocument().Robot,App.activeDocument().Trajectory,'D:/Temp/TestOut.src')

and that\'s kind of how it\'s done:

for w in App.activeDocument().Trajectory.Trajectory.Waypoints:
    (A,B,C) = (w.Pos.Rotation.toEuler())
    print ("LIN {X %.3f,Y %.3f,Z %.3f,A %.3f,B %.3f,C %.3f} ; %s"%(w.Pos.Base.x,w.Pos.Base.y,w.Pos.Base.z,A,B,C,w.Name))

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