Robot software is the set of
coded commands or instructions that tell a
mechanical device and electronic system, known together as a
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...
, what tasks to perform. Robot
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
is used to perform autonomous tasks. Many software systems and frameworks have been proposed to make programming robots easier.
Some robot software aims at developing intelligent mechanical devices. Common tasks include
feedback loops,
control
Control may refer to:
Basic meanings Economics and business
* Control (management), an element of management
* Control, an element of management accounting
* Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization
* Controlli ...
,
pathfinding
Pathfinding or pathing is the plotting, by a computer application, of the shortest route between two points. It is a more practical variant on solving mazes. This field of research is based heavily on Dijkstra's algorithm for finding the s ...
, data filtering, locating and
sharing data.
Introduction
While it is a specific type of software, it is still quite diverse. Each manufacturer has their own robot software.
While the vast majority of software is about manipulation of data and seeing the result on-screen, robot software is for the manipulation of objects or tools in the real world.
Industrial robot software
Software for industrial robots consists of data objects and lists of instructions, known as program flow (list of instructions). For example,
Go to Jig1
It is an instruction to the robot to go to positional data named Jig1. Of course, programs can also contain implicit data for example
Tell axis 1 move 30 degrees.
Data and program usually reside in separate sections of the robot controller memory. One can change the data without changing the program and vice versa. For example, one can write a different program using the same Jig1 or one can adjust the position of Jig1 without changing the programs that use it.
Examples of programming languages for industrial robots
Due to the highly