Realtime Robotics RapidPlan Software Simplifies and Speeds Programming and Deployment Time for Industrial Robots

Company’s Software Streamlines Production of Complex Cells with Offline Programming that Synchronizes to Live Operations

Realtime Robotics, the leader in collision-free autonomous motion planning for industrial robots, announced the release of its new RapidPlan software, which helps manufacturers design and deploy industrial automation faster and more efficiently.

“Optimizing the efficiency of your industrial and factory operations should not be held back by technical barriers”

In an industrial setting, each robot in use needs a complex motion path for each task that identifies a string of points in space. Depending on the complexity of the project, such as the number of robots being programmed, the number of tasks, and whether users are starting from scratch or making modifications, the entire process can take anywhere from weeks to months of engineering time to accomplish.

Realtime Robotics RapidPlan software autonomously creates and choreographs all robot movements and removes the need for brand-specific robot programming. Within the software environment, users simply click on robots and target points to visualize task plans, saving weeks to months of programming time per project. The same software provides the simulation environment and controls real robots. Cell modeling, task planning, programming and operations are all handled within the same workflow tool. The motions in simulation and as-built reality match, dramatically speeding up the design and deployment processes.

Also Read: Social Media Monitoring: Meaning, Importance, Functioning, and Pricing

With any changes, such as geometry or robot locations, automated robot paths remain collision-free, giving manufacturers highly-flexible, multipurpose workcells. RapidPlan adapts to changing environments, either using the information from PLCs (programmable logic controllers) or from dedicated 3D sensors.

“Optimizing the efficiency of your industrial and factory operations should not be held back by technical barriers,” added George Konidaris, co-founder and Chief Roboticist of Realtime Robotics. “We specifically designed RapidPlan to deliver an accurate simulation of robot task planning, making it easy to program models and use them directly on the factory floor, but did so in a way that streamlined the process and made the technology easy-to-use for all.”

For example, bin picking has traditionally been a challenging application for a multi-robot setup. Users don’t know the exact part location for picking, making it challenging to predict an accurate collision-free path for multiple robots that are completing tasks in the same area. With RapidPlan, robot space reservations are released in real time as soon as the robot moves to another location, dramatically improving cycle time or other parameters that users prioritize.

During the on-site physical validation stage, a manufacturer typically needs to have a highly-skilled team working after hours to manually run through every move combination, ensuring seamless operations on the live factory floor. Because RapidPlan inherently produces collision-free paths, it reduces the need to verify against potential collisions – resulting in significant time savings.

RapidPlan helps manufacturers have peace of mind in a high-stress and tight space environment, where every minute of downtime is expensive. It is easy to make a mistake, such as grabbing the wrong teach pendant and jogging the robot in the wrong direction, causing a collision. RapidPlan will alert the user of any potential collision beforehand, so steps can be taken to prevent it. If a cycle is interrupted for any reason, the user can easily and quickly return the robots to their home poses without needing to individually jog them home.

“The combination of Kawasaki’s quality robots, advanced programming platform and Realtime Robotics software is an industry game changer. Providing manufacturers from all industries with unprecedented flexibility, from automating programming of robotic motion and collision avoidance to the very design of the manufacturing floor. This is the future of automation, and the very best has yet to come,” added Kazuhiro Saito, President at Kawasaki Robotics.

Please see the following link for the video of Realtime Robotics RapidPlan software in action, highlighting its use with Kawasaki Robotics Inc. in a demo cell at Automate 2022.

Realtime Robotics RapidPlan software consists of two main components:

RapidPlan Create

With RapidPlan Create, users can easily create a digital twin workcell. Users import cell elements, such as CAD files or other components from a library, then click and point to create targets and goals. Realtime Robotics software automatically generates offline programs and interlock locations for industrial robots.

RapidPlan Control

RapidPlan Control makes collision-free operation a reality for industrial settings and factory floors. Customers can have confidence in robot motions and dynamic obstacle avoidance because of Realtime Robotics software. Motions remain collision-free, even after live floor changes. Automated fault recovery provides high flexibility and adaptability to robot cells.

The launch of RapidPlan marks a shift by Realtime Robotics towards software products, based on customer feedback, with the goal of making it even easier to integrate the company’s solutions into existing technology stacks. Realtime Robotics’ innovative RapidPlan software is compatible with engineering workstations, field laptops and industrial PCs, giving customers the option to utilize the software in their method of choice. RapidPlan’s modular flexibility empowers organizations to better scale their production lines across multiple factories, as their operations expand.