Forward and Inverse Kinematics Demonstration using RoboDK and C#

Abstract

Purpose: Robot researchers need a simulator to understand better the algorithm on path planning, arm movement, and many more. They need a good simulator. RoboDK is an excellent simulator to fulfill the research work. It has calibration facilities, so it is industrial-grade software. Its forward and inverse kinematics accuracy is better than any competing software. The main advantage is all robots under one IDE. When we use an industrial robot, and we must use their software environment to operate the robot. But the RoboDK covers most of the robots and runs under one roof. And we need to learn only one IDE. The RoboDK online library is full of the standard robot. And all robot’s operation procedure is the same. So, the learning curve of new robots is easy. It is easy to simulate, and it can connect with a practical robot to execute the task. Using this software, we can quickly create digital twins for the industry. Now we think about control the robot from our application. When we use to control the robot from an external environment or remote software, we need the use the API to control the robot. Here we will see how easily we can operate the robot from our custom application. We adopted RoboDK C# API and integrated it into Visual studio using a User interface to control the robot movement. Keeping this research as a reference, the robotic arm researcher can add value to their research. Our primary purpose is to shorten the learning curve to integrate the RoboDK with their custom application.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Taking the RoboDK C# API they provided, we customized it according to our purpose with minimal components. After developing a graphical user interface, we interact through API. Then, opening both RoboDK IDE and C# application, we can send the End effector position using the sliding movement.

Findings/Result: After our research, we found that RoboDK is a good IDE for our research on the robotics arm. We can easily integrate the C# API they provided with our custom application for research purposes.

Originality/Value: If we want to test robotic arm movement in the simulator, we need an excellent simulator like RoboDK. Integrating the RoboDK C# API is a little bit time-consuming. Using our approach, the researcher can continue their research in a minimal period. And find adequate information here to integrate easily into their project.

Paper Type: Simulation-based Research.