Simulating and Editing Tasks

You can edit and simulate robot tasks without leaving the Teach environment.

This task shows you how to:

Simulate a Task

You can simulate a task without leaving the Teach environment.

  1. Click Teach .
  2. Select a robot or task.
    • The Teach panel appears:



    • The context toolbar appears.
  3. In the Play Simulation panel, click Play .

    The simulation plays from the first robot motion to the end of the robot task.



Edit a Task

You can edit the name and type of task.

  1. In the Teach panel, right-click on the task node and select Edit from the context menu.


    The Edit Task panel appears.

  2. You can edit the name of the task, as well as select whether the task is a service (not local to the selected resource, can be called in the organizational resource) and is spawnable (can be called from the main task, can be run in parallel with the calling task).
  3. Click OK to close the Edit Task panel.

Edit a Robot Motion Target

You can edit the target of a robot motion in Teach.

  1. In the Teach panel, select the operation that you want to edit.
    The robot moves to the target of the selected operation.
  2. In the work area, manipulate the tag until the robot can reach it.
  3. Click Modify Current Target to record the modification.

    If the robot cannot reach a tag, the orientation Robot snaps to the tag. You can manipulate the orientation Robot to orient the tag into a position that the robot can reach it. The robot snaps to the tag when it becomes reachable.

    Robot motions with a Home target can also be modified with Modify Current Target . Only Home Positons that are not locked can be modified. The lock status of defined Home Positions can be viewed in the Home Positions dialog box, accessible by clicking Home Positions in the Setup section of the action bar.



Edit, Copy, and Paste Motion Attributes

Parameters in the table are editable inline. Changes made are reflected immediately.

  1. Double-click a parameter value.

    The value becomes editable.



  2. Enter a new value and press Enter.

    The new value appears. If the parameter change affects values of other parameters (such as a change in target Cartesian values affecting target Joint values), they are updated automatically. You can edit both TCP target and DOF (Joint value)



    When a cell is in an editable state, its value can be copied from and pasted to.

  3. In the Teach table, right-click a robot motion and select Copy from the context menu.


  4. Right-click the robot motion that the copied motion will be pasted before or after.
    • Select Paste Before to paste the copied motion immediately before the selected motion in the Teach table.
    • Select Paste After to paste the copied motion immediately after the selected motion in the Teach table.
    • Select Paste Special to choose whether only the operation or both the operation and target are pasted.


    When Paste Special is selected, the following dialog box appears.



    The following paste options are available:

    • Before pastes the copied operation before the selected instruction.
    • After pastes the copied operation after the selected instruction.
    • Operation only pastes the copied operation without creating new target.
    • Operation and Target pastes the copied operation and creates a new target (tag, home position) at the same location. The newly created tag or home position is set as the target to the pasted operation.
    Notes:
    • Operation and Target applies only for robot motions.
    • When Operation and Target is selected, a new tag is created under the current tag group. If the current tag group is not available, the new tag is created under the source tag group.
  5. Click OK.

    The copied motion is pasted according to the options selected.



Comment Instructions

You can comment specific instructions in the table that are then skipped during simulation.

  1. Right-click an instruction in the Teach table and select Comment from the context menu.


    The instruction appears commented with a // prefix, and will be ignored during simulation.



  2. Right-click the commented instruction and select Uncomment to restore the instruction behavior.


Switch Between Tasks

When multiple tasks are defined for a given robot, you can edit another task from the same Teach panel session.

  1. Right-click the task node in the Teach panel and select another task from the context menu.

    You can also double click the task node to display a list of tasks for the current resource, and select the task to switch to it.



    The Teach panel opens the selected task.

  2. Optional: To re-open the original task, repeat the previous step.

Replicate a Task

You can copy tasks across resources.

Many scenarios involve working with left- and right-hand versions of a given task. You can program one side and copy the task to the other side. Other scenarios require duplicate fixtures that need to be programmed in different locations. Rather than recreating the program, you can copy the task and generate new tag points or trajectories automatically.

  1. Right-click the task node in the Teach panel and select Replicate.


  2. Select the target robot to paste the task.
    The Task copy across controllers dialog box appears.

    Map the items to be copied from the source device to the target device, including:

    • Motion groups
    • Motion controller attributes
    • Controller profiles
    • Home positions

    You can also define the trajectory reference and how trajectories are copied.

  3. Click OK to replicate the task on the target device.
    Copies of the replicated task and associated trajectories/tag groups appear in the Behavior side tab

Save a Partial Task Template

You can save partial template of selected instructions.

  1. From the Teach panel, select one or more instructions to be templated.
  2. Right-click the selected instructions and select Save To Library from the context menu.


    The Save Template to Library dialog box appears.

  3. Enter a Name for the template, and specify if it is to be saved to a New or Existing library.
  4. Click OK.
    A Template successfully saved to library notification appears.

Edit a Called Task

You can select Teach from the context menu of any ProcedureRun or ServiceCall to open a Teach panel for the selected task.

  1. Right-click a called task in the Teach panel and select Teach from the context menu.


    If the called task is from another resource, a new panel is opened. If the called task is in the same resource, the current panel switches to teach the called task.

  2. You can switch back to teaching the original task by selecting Teach Caller Task from the context menu of the task node.


  3. When a called task is opened from the Behavior side tab, right-click the task node to display the tasks that call it in the context menu.


Insert a Home Target

You can insert a Home target from the Teach context menu.

  1. In the Teach table, select a reference instruction.
  2. In the Teach context menu, click Insert Home Target .

    A new robot motion is inserted with a Target of Home Position.



    If the current robot and Aux device position matches any existing defined Home position, the existing Home position is used as the target. Otherwise, a Group Home position is created based on the current DOFs and is assigned to the robot motion and aux device target.

Insert a Spot Operation

You can insert a spot operation in Teach Mode.

  1. In the Teach panel, select the position in the program to insert the spot operation.
  2. In the context toolbar, click Insert a Spot Operation .
    You are prompted to select a spot or design weld.
  3. In the work area, select a spot or design weld.
    A spot operation appears.

    If the robot has a weldgun mounted, a spot welding operation is created task with the current active profiles. If a Servo gun is mounted, the spot operation points to a spot profile. In the case of an air gun, the spot operation points to a spot weld task (weldgun task). A default profile is created while creating the spot operation if no spot profiles are available. If multiple spot profiles are available, the first spot operation created points to the first spot profile, by default.

    If no weld gun tasks are available, a default task is created while creating the spot operation. If multiple weld gun tasks are available, the first spot operation created points to the first weld gun task, but default. If you set a different weld gun task to the spot operation (by double-clicking the spot operation), all subsequent spot operations point to the newly set weld gun task.

Edit a Spot Task

You can edit a spot task in Teach Mode.

  1. In the Teach panel, select a spot operation.
    The Robot TCP moves to the corresponding manufacturing spot weld.
  2. Right-click on the spot operation to edit its properties.
    You can:
    • Associate a different spot profile to the spot operation (for Servo guns).
    • Associate a different weld gun task (for air guns).
    • Create a new spot profile (for Servo guns).
    • Create a new weld gun task (for air guns).
    • Edit an existing Spot Profile.

Insert an Arc Operation

This task shows you how to insert an arc activity.

  1. In the Teach panel, select the position in the program to insert the Arc activity.
  2. In the context toolbar, click Insert an Arc Operation .
    An arc operation is created.