Method for operating a robot

A method for operating a robot, comprising:

• importing a production robot program into a robot simulation module;
• importing mass property data into the robot simulation module for a robot end effector and an object to be gripped by the end effector during production;
• performing an offline simulation of robot motion along a robot path using the production robot program and the robot simulation module, wherein the simulated robot motion includes a simulation of picking the object up from a first location using the robot end effector and depositing the object at a second location;
• analyzing loads between the robot end effector and the object to be gripped by the robot end effector and transported by the end effector along the robot path, based on the offline simulation, to identify a maximum load experienced during the simulation;
• determining whether the maximum load is within a predefined limit;
• tuning parameters of the robot program/path if the maximum load was not within the predefined limit;
• generating a test robot program to test the end effector and the object with the maximum load, as identified during the simulation of the production robot program and which is within the predefined limit;
• testing the end effector with the object using the test robot program;
• determining whether a peak load occurring with the test robot program is the same as the maximum load experienced during the simulation;
• adjusting, if the peak load is not the same as the maximum load, parameters of the test robot program so the peak load occurring with the test robot program is the same as the maximum load experienced during the simulation;
• and
• operating the robot using tuned program parameters to pick objects up from the first location and deposit the objects at the second location.

A method for operating a robot, comprising:

• importing a production robot program into a robot simulation module;
• performing an offline simulation of robot motion along a robot path using the production robot program and the robot simulation module, wherein simulated robot motion includes picking the object up from a first location using a robot end effector and depositing the object at a second location;
• recording simulated robot motion dynamic property data from the offline simulation;
• identifying a maximum load experienced during the simulation and a section of the robot path where the maximum load occurred;
• determining whether the maximum load is within a predefined limit;
• tuning parameters of the production robot program to reduce the maximum load if the load was not within the predefined limit;
• generating a test robot program to test the end effector and the object with the maximum load, as identified during the simulation of the production robot program;
• testing the end effector with the object using the test robot program;
• determining whether a peak load occurring with the test robot program is the same as the maximum load experienced during the simulation;
• adjusting, if the peak load is not the same as the maximum load, parameters of the test robot program so the peak load occurring with the test robot program is the same as maximum load;
• and
• operating the robot using tuned production robot program parameters to pick objects up from a first location and deposit the objects at a second location.