ArtiMinds TECHTIP: CAD2PATH

For the TCP addi­tional to its posi­tion in space also the ori­en­ta­tion is stored. If the ori­en­ta­tion of a point does not fit the ori­en­ta­tion of the TCP, this can lead to a sit­u­a­tion where a point the­o­ret­i­cally in reach of the robot is marked as not reachable.

In order to avoid such acces­si­bil­ity prob­lems due to an incor­rect ori­en­ta­tion after the path import, when using the CAD2Path fea­ture, it is advis­able to per­form an approach move­ment close to the path to be imported (e.g. with a Move to State block, see Fig. 1). Since the CAD2Path tool will always place the gen­er­ated path at the end of a pro­gram, it is also rec­om­mended that no other tem­plates fol­low the approach move­ment in the pro­gram. This (last) block should be selected before the CAD2Path tool is started so that the ori­en­ta­tion of the cur­rent TCP becomes vis­i­ble. The TCP is rep­re­sented by the small, inner inter­ac­tive marker in Fig. 2.