Controlling an industrial robot using a graphic tablet in offline and online mode

Abstract

The article presents the possibility of using a graphics tablet to control an industrial robot. The paper presents elements of software development for offline and online control of a robot. The program for the graphic tablet and the operator interface was developed in C# language in Visual Studio environment, while the program controlling the industrial robot was developed in RAPID language in the RobotStudio environment. Thanks to the development of a digital twin of the real robotic workstation, tests were carried out on the correct functioning of the application in offline mode (without using the real robot). The obtained results were verified in online mode (on a real production station). The developed computer programmes have a modular structure, which makes it possible to easily adapt them to one’s needs. The application allows for changing the parameters of the robot and the parameters of the path drawing. Tests were carried out on the influence of the sampling frequency and the tool diameter on the quality of the reconstructed trajectory of the industrial robot. The results confirmed the correctness of the application. Thanks to the new method of robot programming, it is possible to quickly modify the path by the operator, without the knowledge of robot programming languages. Further research will focus on analyzing the influence of screen resolution and layout scale on the accuracy of trajectory generation.