Planes

Safety planes restrict the robot workspace, the tool, and the elbow.

PolyScope X screen displaying Safety Planes.

 

You can configure safety planes with the properties listed below:

• Name. This is the name used to identify the safety plane.

• Offset from base. This is the height of the plane from the base, measured in the Y direction.

• Tilt. This is the tilt of the plane, measured from the power cord.

• Rotation. This is the rotation of the plane, measured clockwise.

You can configure each plane with the restrictions listed below:

• Normal. When the safety system is in Normal mode, a normal plane is active and it acts as a strict limit on the position.

• Reduced. When the safety system is in Reduced mode, a reduced mode plane is active and it acts as a strict limit on the position.

• Both. When the safety system is in either Normal or Reduced mode, a normal and reduced mode plane is active and acts as a strict limit on the position.

• Trigger Reduced Mode. The safety plane causes the safety system to switch to Reduced mode if the robot tool, wrist joints, or elbow is positioned beyond it.

The feature is enabled by default.

You can use Restrict Elbow to prevent the robot elbow joint from passing through any of your defined planes.

Disable Restrict Elbow to allow the elbow to pass through planes.

Restricting the tool flange prevents the tool flange and the attached tool from crossing a safety plane. When you restrict the tool flange, the unrestricted area is the area inside the safety plane, where the tool flange can operate normally. The tool flange cannot cross the restricted area, outside the safety plane.

Removing the restriction allows the tool flange to go beyond the safety plane, to the restricted area, while the attached tool remains inside the safety plane. You can remove the tool flange restriction when working with a large tool offset. This allows extra distance for the tool to move.

Restricting the tool flange requires the creation of a plane feature. The plane feature is used to set up a safety plane later in the safety settings.

Safety planes are defined in relation to a frame defined in the installation or the robot world frame. The robot is allowed to move such that all monitored parts of the robot arm and user-defined safety spheres are in front of the plane.

When a safety plane restricts the tool flange position, it also restricts the position of the wrist joints. This prevents the wrist joints from penetrating the plane, so both the tool flange and the wrist joints remain inside the unrestricted area of the safety plane.

For a reduced mode plane, the position of the wrist joints also triggers Reduced mode, in the same way as the tool flange. When a wrist joint moves beyond a reduced mode plane, the safety system switches to Reduced mode.

Wrist joint monitoring is coupled to tool flange monitoring. When you disable monitoring of the tool flange, you also disable monitoring of the wrist joints.