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Introduction to the UR3 robot

Aim of the lesson:

In this lesson, the students will familiarise themselves with the physical architecture of the UR3 robot and the programming environment.

Lab tasks:

The task of this lab is as follows:

  1. Basic knowledge

    • Power management of the Robot

    • Intelligent and not so intelligent end effectors

    • Tool center point

    • Free drive

  2. Single instructions

    • Joint movement

    • Descartes movement

    • Path tracking

    • Delay

    • Digital I/O

  3. Exercise 1: Basic pick and place routine

    • Bring the robot to Home position using joint movement [WP1].

    • Move the robot near the object using joint movement (x_ref = x_obj,                                               y_ref = y_obj, z_ref = z_obj + 100mm) [WP2]. [

    • Open the gripper..

    • Bring the gripper down onto the object using linear movement (z_ref = z_obj) [WP3].

    • Close the gripper.

    • Delay for 200ms..

    • Move the robot back to [WP2] using linear motion.

    • Bring the object to the designated location using linear motion (x_ref = x_f,
      y_ref = y_f, z_ref = z_f + 100mm) [WP4]      .

    • Bring the robot down to the designated location using linear movement (z_ref = z_f) [WP5].

    • Open the gripper.

    • Delay for 200ms.

    • Bring the robot to [WP4] using linear motion.

    • Close the gripper.

    • Move to [WP1].

Offline simulation of a pick and place program

Add a new program.

  • The first instruction is advised to be the "replace objects" by setting every objects position (relative) as defined by the user - this is a reset function in case of misalignment or deleted parts.

  • Set the reference to the robot manipulator base.

  • Set the tool to the gripper.

  • Create a joint movement with the manipulator Home position as target - this command assures that the manipulator starts the routine from the same configuration.

  • Create the joint movement to the box object.

  • Attach the box to the gripper with an event instruction.

  • Test out the different movements (Joint, Linear, Circular).

  • Create the path given by the following graph (every coordinate given is in mm for (x,y) ), and release the object from the gripper:

The smooth command will round corners of a path by a given length (mm) or percentage(%).

Pause instructions can be added for the robot to wait for an object or for a given time interval.

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Test the program in a loop, fix any run-time errors or singularity errors if there are any.

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Generate and study the robot manipulator scrip.

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