Set up a robot

Describe your robot’s mechanism to Motorcortex: kinematics, mass, frames, jog limits and singularities.

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Step 4 depends on what you are building. Pick your application type:

Robot

Anthropomorphic robot

You are on the right page: continue below.
Machine

Multi-axis machine

Go to Set up a machine, a checklist of the axis settings a machine depends on.
AGV

Four-wheel mecanum AGV

Go to Set up an AGV: the vehicle type, wheels, speed limits and odometry.

Robot

A robot moves in Cartesian space: you jog or program the tool, and Motorcortex works out the joint angles. For that it needs a model of your robot’s mechanism, and limits that keep the arm away from poses it cannot handle. Work through the five parts below in order; click one to open it.

Step 1: Kinematics Kinematics segments, solver 1 Step 2: Mass, inertia Mass, inertia optional: dynamics 2 Step 3: Frames, tool Frames, tool base and tool point 3 Step 4: Jog limits Jog limits joint jog range 4 Step 5: Singularities Singularities manipulability 5
Part What you set Needed for
1. Kinematics The segments of the arm and the solver, in mech-parameters.xml Any Cartesian motion. Required
2. Mass and inertia The mass, centre of gravity and inertia of each segment Gravity compensation, compliance and collision detection
3. Frames and tool Where the robot stands, and where its tool point is Correct Cartesian positions
4. Jog limits The range each joint can be jogged in Safe manual joint moves
5. Singularities When to warn, stop or slow down near a singular pose Safe Cartesian moves

Axis settings a robot needs

The per-axis settings from step 3 apply to a robot too. These matter most:

Setting For a robot
Position transformation Required. The joint angles must be right before the model can be
Sensor torque transformation Required for compliance control and collision detection, if the joints have torque sensors
Limiter Limits each joint’s position, velocity and acceleration in every mode
Setpoint jump detector Recommended: stops the robot when a target jumps, for example near a singularity
Position window detector Strongly recommended: stops the robot before an axis leaves its safe range, so it does not hit itself or anything around it
Other window detectors Optional: tracking error, velocity, acceleration and torque

Next: Describe the kinematics.