It’s almost universally taken for granted that a multi-axis machine tool must be programmed with CAM software especially developed for this purpose. Now, that same kind of software can be used to program a six-axis robot arm. Universal Driver For Usb Gamepad here.

Programming the robot in CAM software makes it unnecessary to “teach” the robot by jogging it manually from point to point and recording these point-to-point moves as the robot’s motion commands. Teaching a robot this way can be cumbersome and time-consuming. During the process, the robot must be taken out of production. Robotmaster is a software package, distributed by In-House Solutions Inc. (Richboro, Pennsylvania), that provides CAD/CAM-based, off-line programming for robots.

4th Axis

Although off-line programming for robots is not new, this software is distinguished by its CAD/CAM integration. It runs fully integrated inside Mastercam CAM software for CNC machine tools. Mastercam, developed by CNC Software (Tolland, Connecticut), is a widely used CAM product that starts with a CAD geometry file and creates two- to five-axis tool paths for machining a corresponding workpiece.

Essentially, programming the robot begins by using the functionality of Mastercam to manipulate the movement and orientation of a cutting tool as if creating a conventional tool path for CNC machining. Later, this machining tool path is converted into robot poses, which combine its position and orientation. Once the cutter trajectory is created, a Robotmaster module lets the programmer draw from a library of pre-configured robots representing various makes and models of articulated robot arms. Normally, Mastercam uses the definitions in a “machine group” to determine the tool path output for the specific machine being programmed. In this case, however, the robot programming module enables the CAM software to treat the pre-configured robot as the definition of a specialized type of machine tool structure.