Development of an interactive graphical simulator for the IBM 7545 robot

Abstract

In this work an enhanced graphical simulator for the IBM 7545 robot running on the AML/E language was developed. The simulator provided two views with the facility to chose either one as the major view, and pan/zoom into that view. It gives the user the facility to define equipment and workcell setups, accepting data in the International Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) Version 3.0 format. The user can interactively simulate either the complete program, partial program or any subroutine. The system was integrated including the facility to edit, compile, generate cross references, set system configuration, simulate and run the robot either continuously or interactively.

The system was developed on an IBM Personal Computer using two monitors, text and enhanced graphics for maximizing the display surface for the graphics. The programs developed for this work can be broadly classified into the various menu programs, the definition programs to define and display the equipments and workcells, and the graphic programs for driving and displaying the graphics and altering the views.

The limitations and assumptions made in developing this system along with the scope for further work are presented.