Basic KUKA control

[robotronixs]

Hi,
I am really new to the industrial robot design industry, and I am really curious about some of KUKA's robots capabilities. I would like to know more about the software that drives the KUKA machines.

I would like to know more about the programming that is involved in creating a composite part. If I have a composite manufacturing process, laying up fiberglass or carbon ply's in a mold, a process that requires a large amount of human labor (orienting the plys correctly, selecting that right cut out ply, selecting the right ply material, positioning the ply correctly etc...), is it possible to use a KUKA machine for something like this? It seems that its very difficult task to code all these commands using some sort of programming language that drives the KUKA. So my real question is: Is it possible to get a KUKA machine with say a clamp that I can physically move (guide it thru the ply pickup and positioning into the mold stage) and have the commands get recorded while I am guiding it thru the process?

This maybe a really amateur question, so please excuse my novice brain.

Thanks

-Al

[SkyeFire]

  There is, in fact, a new option for KUKA robots which I saw at the most recent open house.  Basically, it's a joystick mounted to the end effector, which you can use to guide the robot into positions and record them, rather than standing nearby and using the teach pendant buttons.  This *might* be what you're looking for.

But for a straight lay-up process, it might well be simpler to program it mathematically.  It really depends on the consistency of the process.  For instance, if you lay down layers in a simple, repeatable pattern, then using some math to offset positions as the program runs is pretty straightforward.  On the other hand, if your pattern has a lot of random moves and curves, trying to reduce it to a cyclic algorithm might be more trouble than it's worth.

One option I would advise looking into would be getting a good robotics simulation/offline-programing tool.  Something like RobCAD, Delmia, Cattia, etc.  These things are *expensive,* but they are to modern robotic programming what AutoCAD was to mechanical design back in the late '80s.  But you'll want the person using this tool to have a good grasp of your process, of the software s/he's using, *and* of robot programming -- I've seen a lot of projects come to grief b/c the people using the software didn't understand what the simulation engine *doesn't* show.