Here is an add-on for creating robot process paths on surfaces. Add-on requires access to topology so Premium level product is needed.
Add-on has a bunch of parameters that affect the path generation. Check out attached pdf for details. Easiest way to see parameters’ effect is to try them out. There is a preview of the path that is updated whenever parameters are changed. So launch the add-on, select a surface, tune the parameters and generate the path or hit cancel to delete preview path.
There is no tutorial for this unfortunately. But here’s a bullet point process for using the add-on:
Unzip the add-on under My Commands folder.
Launch VC and some robot cell.
Select the robot, go to program tab.
Click "Path On Face" button on program panel.
Click "Select Surface" button and click some surface on the 3D scene. Preview of the path should be displayed.
Tune the parameters. Hitting Enter after changing some value should update the preview path. There's a frame at the start of the path that displays the tool frame orientation.
Hi there, not sure if you’ll be able to help. I use path on face a lot. thank you so much for creating it! Recently something has changed and there is no ‘accuracy method’ dropdown on the points it creates. then when post processing i get an error that it is an “Invalid value for AccuracyMethod.” Do you know what happened?
thank you so much
-Joe
Could it be that you started to use path statement instead of linear statement? Add-on had a missing feature where it didn’t create AccuracyMethod property at all for path statement positions. This doesn’t affect simulation but some post-processors throw an error if that is missing. I modified the add-on so please try to download new version from the original post attachment “PathOnFace_13_09_2021.zip”. Now it should create AccuracyMethod property for path statement and it should work better with post-processor.
Thanks for supporting this add-on! I downloaded the new files today and it appears to have added the correct accuracymethod property! however, now there is a new error in the post processor. I’m using the universalrobot post processor. but i’m guessing others will have issues.
thanks again for the help!
File “file:///\inf-ict-03\s2608054$\Visual Components\4.3\My Commands\RobotPostProcessor\PostProcessLauncher.py::”, line 186, in callPostProcessor
File “\inf-ict-03\s2608054$\Visual Components\4.3\My Commands\RobotPostProcessor\Translators\UniversalRobots_script.py”, line 233, in postProcess
translateRoutine(routine, routine.Name, output_file)
File “\inf-ict-03\s2608054$\Visual Components\4.3\My Commands\RobotPostProcessor\Translators\UniversalRobots_script.py”, line 206, in translateRoutine
translator(output_file,statement)
File “\inf-ict-03\s2608054$\Visual Components\4.3\My Commands\RobotPostProcessor\Translators\UniversalRobots_script.py”, line 164, in writePath
motiontarget.CartesianAcceleration = statement.getSchemaValue(i,“Acceleration”)
TypeError: CartesianAcceleration must be a real value.
Ok I made another fix so add Acceleration and Deceleration properties to path positions. There was also a bug in UR post-processor with handling the path statements. So please get the latest path-on face addon on this thread and latest post-processor here: https://forum.visualcomponents.com/t/robot-program-post-processor-downloader/
I did some tests to use the feature but found a problem with the version with OLP that doesn’t work normally.
I can’t find the icon for that ADD ON in VC 4.8 Premium OLP, 4.9 Premium OLP.
Is there a way to fix it?
OLP products use different program editor so add-ons won’t show up on it. You can replace the add-on’s init file with the attachment. Then the button will appear on the Program tab’s ribbon and then it works also on OLP. init.py|attachment (767 Bytes)
If you are using OLP product then I suggest to get familiar with its inbuilt path generation tools for surface processes. In many ways I think those are better than this python add-on.
