On September 20, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology meticulously organized, compiled, and officially released the "Guidelines for Equipment Upgrading and Technological Transformation in Key Industrial Sectors (Key Sectors)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines").
To thoroughly implement the national strategic plan for enhancing the core competitiveness of industry and promoting the high-quality development of manufacturing, and to further improve the resilience and security of my country's industrial chain and supply chain, STEPStudio, an offline programming and simulation software from STEP, has achieved a major breakthrough—a comprehensive upgrade of its CAM function.
Guidelines for Equipment Upgrading and Technological Transformation in Key Industrial Sectors (Key Sectors)
The guidelines cover several key industrial sectors, and in the area of industrial software, they propose to prioritize the upgrading of multiple products, including computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). By 2027, the goal is to complete the upgrading of approximately 2 million sets of industrial software and 800,000 sets of industrial operating systems.
Page 64 of the Guide
Application of CAM in the field of industrial robots
CAM stands for Computer-Aided Manufacturing, which refers to the use of computer systems to design, plan, control, and optimize the manufacturing process.
So, what assistance can CAM software provide in the application of industrial robots?
For machining applications involving complex curved surfaces, such as grinding and cutting, it is difficult for humans to accurately teach the robot's motion trajectory. However, the CAM function can automatically plan the robot's motion path based on the imported 3D model, quickly generate the robot's motion points, significantly shorten programming and debugging time, and ensure high-precision machining.
STEPStudio's CAM Programming Advantages
STEPStudio boasts a rich set of CAM programming strategies. The software offers multiple path generation methods, deeply mining line and surface features from model data, accurately analyzing running points through geometric models, efficiently completing path planning, and shortening debugging time.
More diverse path generation strategies
• Automatic Path: STEPStudio's automatic path function can quickly extract the trajectory of complex curves and generate robot working points.
• Surface Streamlines: This function analyzes the geometry of a surface, parameterizes the surface, and obtains features such as curvature, concavity/convexity, U-curves, and V-curves. Based on the analysis results, it automatically generates and arranges points that perfectly match the shape of the surface.
• Parallel Section: For machining flat curved surfaces, the software's parallel section function can be used. The software generates equally spaced parallel sections on the flat curved surface by offsetting along the XZ plane according to the set gap and angle.
• Contour Shape: For columnar models, the contour shape function can quickly extract the trajectory of the surface. The software will generate contour lines with equal spacing by dividing the pick surface along the Z-axis according to the set gap.
• Projected Curve: The curve projection function can be used to project a curve onto a specified surface and create a path based on the generated projection curve.
• Face Midline: The face midline function can automatically create face midlines based on two pairs of edges and the selected face, thereby creating a path.
Point generation method is more flexible
When generating robot running points, the path trajectory can be generated either by uniformly distributing equal arc lengths or flexibly by generating it based on equal chord height errors, ensuring the smoothness and accuracy of the robot's motion trajectory and further controlling the processing quality.
Post-processing seamless integration operating software
The post-processor of STEPStudio offline programming and simulation software is seamlessly integrated with STEP Robot System (SRS) robot operation software. Motion parameters are generated synchronously with point information, and path programs can be directly imported into the controller via the software's file transfer function and run through the teach pendant.
Additional shaft coordination
Newstar CAM programming is also suitable for applications involving additional axis coordination. When generating robot program points from path trajectories, the motion angles of additional axes for specified path segments can be customized, or the robot pose and additional axis angles at the starting point of the path can be agreed upon, allowing the software to automatically calculate the information of the remaining discrete points. Both flexible setting methods can achieve coordinated movement between the robot and the additional axes.
This update not only significantly improves programming efficiency but also dramatically enhances simulation accuracy, enabling engineers to more accurately predict various situations during the production process in a virtual environment. In the future, STEPStudio will continue to contribute even more value to the field of industrial automation.
