General Parameters of Move-Type Steps

Note

Contents of this topic are under maintenance. If you need more information about this topic with urgency, please contact us at docs@mech-mind.net.

Send Waypoint

Selected by default to send waypoint poses to the receiver, such as the robot. When this option is unselected, the waypoint pose will not be sent. However, the waypoint will remain in the planned path.

Try Continuously Running through Succeeding Non-Moves
Unselected by default. When non-move Steps, such as Vision Look, Set DO, Check DI, etc., are connected between move-type Steps, the robot’s path planning will be interrupted, and the actual robot will take a short pause, reducing the smoothness of running. When this option is selected, the project will continue to run without waiting for the current move-type Step to complete execution, and therefore the robot can move in a smooth way without pauses. However, enabling this option may cause the execution of the Step to end prematurely.

Note

Why will this option cause the execution of the Step to end prematurely?
Mech-Viz will send multiple poses simultaneously to the robot when the project is running. When the currently returned JPs of the robot correspond to the last pose sent by Mech-Viz, Mech-Viz will assume that the robot has moved to the last position. For example, there are 10 move-type Steps in a path, and the pose of move_5 is the same as that of the last move Step. When the robot moves at low speed, it sends JPs to Mech-Viz when it moves to move_5 Step, Mech-Viz may mistakenly determine that the robot has finished the move-type Steps and prematurely ends the Steps since the poses of the move_5 and the last Step are the same in the path.
Do Not Check Collision with Placed Workobject
Unselected by default, i.e., the collision with the already placed objects will not be detected. When this option is selected, the collisions between the robot, end effector, and placed objects will be detected.
In palletizing scenarios, the two possible cases of error are as follow:
  1. In palletizing scenarios, when the robot is placing a carton, the carton to place may come into light contact with the placed cartons while no deformation will be caused. After Mech-Viz detects this collision in simulation, it will plan other positions for placing the carton, and therefore a full stack cannot be formed.

  2. Usually, the TCP of a suction cup is inside the suction cup model instead of on the surface of it. Under this circumstance, the suction cup may be embedded in the model of the carton to be picked in the simulation of picking, while Mech-Viz does not detect the collision between the end effector and the object to be picked. After the robot places the object and the carton model turns into an object model in the scene, a collision between the suction cup and the carton will be detected and the palletizing cannot be completed.

When this option is selected, no collision between the robot, end effector, and the placed object will be detected, and the above two cases of errors can be avoided.

Note

Move-type Steps contain the Pick or Place setting. Usually, move-type Steps implemented before Vision Move should be set to Pick, and those after Vision Move should be set to Place.

Point Cloud Collision Detection Mode

Select the proper mode according to the requirement of the on-site situation. Usually, the default setting Auto can be used. NotCheck mode can be used in move-type Steps before the robot picks the object, and Check mode can be used after the robot picks the object.

Auto: Default setting. Collision with point cloud is checked only for the “Vision Move” Step and the “Relative Move” Step that depends on the “Vision Move” Step, but not for all move-type Steps.
NotCheck: Point cloud collisions for all move-type Steps will not be detected.
Check: Point cloud collisions for all move-type Steps will be detected.

Attention

When Collision Detection Configuration‣Detect collision between point cloud and others is enabled, Mech-Viz will detect collisions between the robot, end effector, and point cloud when planning the path. Normally, Mech-Viz detects whether the robot collides with other objects during picking and placing. When there are point cloud outliers, non-exiting collisions will be detected, which leads to errors in path planning.

Ignore Workobject Symmetry

This parameter will only take effect when Waypoint Type of the Step is set to Workobject Pose.

None: Default setting, i.e., do not disable symmetry on any axis.
Around workobject frame Z axis: Only disable Z-axis symmetry.
Around workobject frame X&Y axis: Only disable X-axis and Y-axis symmetry.
Around all axes: Disable symmetry on all axes.

Once the object symmetry is disabled, the robot will place the objects strictly according to the workobject poses.

Note

In some special cases, objects are not pickable due to their peculiar poses. Setting Rotational symmetry under Workobjects ‣ Workobject Configuration in Resources may solve this problem. Based on the settings of Rotation Symmetry, when the default object pose is not pickable, Mech-Viz will calculate candidate poses and determine whether the candidate poses are pickable. As the candidate poses calculated based on the settings of Rotation Symmetry are different from the default one, the consistency of the objects’ place poses cannot be guaranteed.


Held Workobject Collision Detection Settings

Do Not Check Collision with Scene Objects/Robot
Unselected by default. Once this option is selected, the collisions between the picked objects with the scene objects/robot will not be detected, and therefore the calculation workload of collision detection will be reduced, the planning speed can be increased, and the cycle time can be shortened. It is usually enabled in the first one or two move-type Steps after the robot picks the object.
Please enable this option cautiously as there may be collision risks.

Note

  • When Detect collision between picked object and others under Collision Detection Configuration ‣ Picked Object Configuration is enabled, Mech-Viz will detect whether the model of the picked object collides with the models of the scene objects and the robot.

  • In palletizing projects, the calculated carton dimensions have millimeter-level errors with the actual dimensions, and frictions between cartons may occur during picking but no collisions will occur. For some move-type Steps that will obviously not cause collisions, detecting such collisions only adds to the calculation workload and planning time, and consequently extending the cycle time.

  • In palletizing projects, enabling Not Check Collision with Scene Object does not affect the collision detection between the picked carton and the placed cartons. This option can be enabled when there are scene objects under the stack to avoid failure of finding the palletizing solution.

Do Not Check Collision with Point Cloud
Unselected by default. Once this option is selected, the collisions between the picked object models with the point clouds in the scene will not be detected, and therefore the calculation workload of collision detection will be reduced, the planning speed can be increased, and the cycle time can be shortened.

Note

  • When both Detect collision between picked object and others under Collision Detection Configuration ‣ Picked Object Configuration and Detect collision between point cloud and others under Collision Detection Configuration ‣ Point Cloud Configuration are enabled, Mech-Viz will detect whether the model of the picked object will collide with the point cloud of the scene.

  • When Mech-Vision sends the point cloud and object model to Mech-Viz, the point cloud and the object model are fitted together. After the robot picks the object, the model moves along the planned path, and the collision between the model of the picked object and the point cloud will occur.

  • It is known that the model of the picked object will have false collisions with the point cloud. Detecting such collisions unnecessarily adds to the calculation workload and extends the planning time.