Cobot programming

What the cobot programming service includes

We write control programs and set up collaborative robot arms on your equipment, without supplying or manufacturing the arms ourselves. We capture the geometry of the work area, describe the points and trajectories, set the gripping logic, the signal exchange with the PLC and peripherals, and handle the stop and home-return scenarios. We calibrate the tool (TCP) and the workpiece coordinate system so that repeatability stays within the arm's rated tolerances. If the cell cuts, welds, prints or moves parts, then physically that's done by your equipment, and our area of responsibility is the program, the motion parameters and the integration with the line. In the end you get a debugged cycle, documentation on the points and signals, and instructions for operators.

How the process and technology work

Cobot programming is built around the arm's kinematics: we set positions in Cartesian and joint coordinates, and the planner computes the trajectory between them with control of speed, acceleration and singularity zones. We define movements with linear, circular and joint-move primitives, tying them to the part's coordinate system rather than absolute floor coordinates, so that refitting the tooling doesn't break the program. The I/O synchronizes the robot with clamps, the conveyor and sensors: a ready signal launches the cycle, feedback confirms the grip and position. For collaborative work with people, we set the limits on force, power and speed, the slowdown zones and the safe stop. Before handover the cycle is run at reduced speed, then brought up to the working pace with a repeatability measurement.

The history of robots and cobots

Industrial robotics is counted from Unimate: George Devol filed a patent for programmable article transfer in 1954 and received it on 13 June 1961, while the first arm went onto a General Motors line in New Jersey in 1961. Devol, together with Joseph Engelberger, founded the world's first robotics company, Unimation; the hydraulic Unimate had five degrees of freedom and took over dangerous work with red-hot castings and welding. The idea of a collaborative robot matured later: the company Universal Robots was founded in Odense (Denmark) in 2005 by Esben Ostergaard, Kasper Stoy and Kristian Kassow. In December 2008 the Danish company Linatex bought a UR5 arm and placed it without a safety fence next to its employees — and that's considered the first commercial application of a cobot. So over half a century the arm went from a machine isolated behind a cage to a device working side by side with a human.

Why the software and precision part is critical

An arm on its own only holds its rated repeatability, while whether it hits the right point on the part is determined by the calibration of the tool and the workpiece coordinate system. An error in setting the TCP or the part zero by fractions of a millimeter, over a long reach, results in a visible shift of the seam, the cut or the placement point. The trajectory matters no less than the coordinates: jerks in speed and acceleration produce vibration, wear and scrap at the part's edges, so the motion profile is computed rather than set by eye. Next to people, the software part is also responsible for safety — the limits on force and speed, the slowdown zones and the reaction to contact are built into the program and verified by measurement. So in cobot programming the result on the part is determined not by the arm itself but by the correctness of the setup and the precision of the trajectories.

What languages and tools we work with

For the Universal Robots platform we write in URScript — this lets us control motion, I/O and logic more finely than through the teach pendant's visual interface. For flexible cells with machine vision and complex planning we use ROS2 as the connecting environment and MoveIt for computing trajectories, collision checking and obstacle avoidance. On ABB industrial arms we work in RAPID, on KUKA machinery — in KRL, describing the points, tools, coordinate systems and signal exchange with the line's equipment. The stack is picked to fit the make of your arm and the task, not the other way around: on a single UR, URScript is enough, while on a heterogeneous fleet a ROS2 and MoveIt layer is justified. In all cases the outcome is the same — a program and a setup for your equipment, with no supply of the robots themselves on our side.

When the key languages and standards appeared

The RAPID language was introduced by ABB in 1994 together with the S4 controller, and it remains the main one for ABB arms. KUKA presented the KRL language in 1996 with the arrival of the PC-based KRC1 controller. The robotics environment ROS was first released publicly on 7 November 2007 at Willow Garage, founded in 2006; the MoveIt planning package was presented in 2012, and the first stable release of ROS2 (Ardent Apalone) came out on 8 December 2017. In parallel the safety regulatory base was forming: the basic standard for industrial robots, ISO 10218, was published in 2011, and the dedicated specification on collaborative robots, ISO/TS 15066, in February 2016. These documents set the framework for the force and speed limits that we rely on when setting up collaborative work.

Why you can trust this to us

The combined experience of our development team in IT exceeds 45 years, and we approach arms as an engineering task rather than setting up a box by the manual. First we analyze the kinematics, tooling and signal scheme of your line, then we write and debug the cycle, fixing the points, coordinates and motion parameters in documentation readable without us. Every cycle is verified before the production launch: a run at reduced speed, a repeatability measurement, control of forces and stop zones where people are nearby. We honestly delineate areas of responsibility — the cutting, welding, printing and moving of parts is done by your equipment, and we're responsible for the program and the setup. This approach to cobot programming yields a predictable result on your part and leaves you a transparent, maintainable program.