Creating and Using Waypoints

Waypoint motion allows robots in robot surface workcells to traverse a potentially complicated workpiece in a safer manner than traditional via points that execute sequentially through a program. If a robot needs to exit a part program prematurely and subsequently return where it left off, having the points for doing so kept separate from the sequential execution of the main program makes it far easier to do so. You can create the Waypoint motion structure, save it as a template, use it in a robot task, and update the robot task when any changes in the structure occur.

This task shows you how to:

Create Waypoint Motions

You can insert Waypoint motions in a robot task and visualize the Waypoint hierarchy.

Before you begin: The following steps assume you are in the Teach environment editing a robot task.
  1. In the Teach context toolbar, click Insert Waypoint Motion .
    The Insert Waypoint Motion dialog box appears.



  2. Enter the necessary values and click Display Waypoint Hierarchy.

    The root Waypoint motion doesn't have a Waypoint Parent Waypoint ID. There can only be single root Waypoint in a task.

    The Waypoint Hierarchy dialog box appears, displaying each Waypoint ID that has been created relative to its parent in hierarchical form.

  3. Click OK to close the Insert Waypoint Motion dialog box.
    A Waypoint motion is created with current compass location as the target location.

Save Waypoint Motions as a Template

You can save Waypoint motions as a template that you can later retrieve and use when creating a new suface task.

  1. In the Behavior side tab, right-click a Waypoint task and select Save To Library from the context menu.


    The Save Template to Library dialog box appears.



  2. In the Library section of the dialog box, enter a name for the template and click OK.


    The template is saved to the library.

Create a Surface Task with Waypoint Operations

You can browse and select a Waypoint Template, and to assign a Waypoint ID to each Surface operation.

  1. From the Surface section of the action bar, click Generate Robot Task .
    You are prompted to select a robot.
  2. Select a robot in the work area or the tree.

    The Create Operations dialog box appears.



  3. Select one or more trajectories to add to the task.
    Each selected trajectory appears in the list in the Create Operations panel.

  4. To select a Waypoint template, click Select Template in the General Options section of the dialog box.

    The PLM Chooser appears, and you are prompted to enter a search term to locate the template in the library.



    Assign Waypoints becomes enabled when a Waypoint Template is selected.
  5. Select the template from the search results.

    It appears in the Waypoints list.



  6. Click Assign Waypoints .

    The Assign Waypoints dialog box appears with a table containing tags associated to the paint operations and default Waypoint ID.



    Note: Default Waypoint IDs are suggested based on the closest Waypoint to the tags associated to paint operations.
  7. You can set a different Waypoint by selecting from the leaf Waypoints in the Waypoint ID list.
  8. Define Escape Zones by clicking in a cell and typing a name for the zone. Safe Zones can then be defined by selecting from the Safe Zones list.


  9. Click Display Waypoint Hierarchy to view the current waypoint layout.


    Escape Zone and Safe Zone information also appears for each tag row.

  10. Click OK to create the Surface task with Waypoint operations.
    The Waypoint Operation contains a sequence of Waypoint motions that are created based on the Waypoint ID assigned to each surface operation and parent Waypoint ID assigned to each Waypoint Motion.



  11. Right-click a Paint Operation in the Teach table, and select Waypoint Parameters from the context menu.

    The Waypoint Parameters dialog box appears.



    You can edit the Waypoint ID and Safe Zones, add and edit Escape Zones, and define the Escape Motion Type.

    The following image shows the task with red axis coordinates shown for the Waypoint Motions in their default XYZ_Orient Escape Motion type.



    If the Escape Motion Type is changed, a blue axis system appears at the default location. The red axis moves to the new location, and a blue dotted line connects the default and new positions.



Insert a Waypoint Operation in Teach

You can insert a Waypoint operation in a Surface task via Teach.

Before you begin: Insert a Waypoint Operation is available only if the current task is associated to a Waypoint Template.
  1. In the Teach context toolbar, click Insert a Waypoint Operation .
    The Insert a Waypoint Operation dialog box appears.
  2. Select a Target Waypoint Id from the list.
    A Waypoint Operation is created based on the selected Waypoint ID. It is inserted after the selected paint operation in the task, and subsequent Waypoint Operations are updated, including assigning the selected Waypoint ID as the parent of all subsequent paint operations until the next change Waypoint.