Glossary
Motion group
A motion group is the robot arm or an external axis controlled by the robot controller which they are connected to. Commonly referred to as a robot. The API can interact with virtual and physical motion groups.
Robot
A robot is common language for motion group. A motion group is the robot arm or an external axis controlled by the robot controller which they are connected to. Commonly referred to as a robot. The API can interact with virtual and physical motion groups.
Robot cell
A robot cell contains one or more robot controllers as well as connected periphery.
TCP
Tool center point of an end effector. The default tool center point is the flange where the tool is attached to the motion group. When attaching a tool, you need to define a corresponding tool center point in relation to the flange by specifying a position offset and a relative direction. To execute motion commands, the API uses the TCP as reference for movements, e.g. the tip of a dispenser or the center of a sanding disc.
Robot controller
A robot controller mainly takes care of the networking, kinematics and motion control of the robots and periphery connected to it.
Rotation
Wandelbots NOVA API uses two different ways to describe a 3D rotation: Rotation vector in radians and quaternions.
| Rotation vector order | Quaternion order |
|---|---|
| X = Vector[0], Y = Vector[1], Z = Vector[2] | X = Vector[0], Y = Vector[1], Z = Vector[2], W = Scalar[3] |
Simulation
Simulation is an accurate virtual representation of a robot cell. It is used to test robot programs before deploying them to a physical robot cell.
With Wandelbots NOVA, simulation is uniquely associated with using NVIDIA Isaac Sim. Learn how to simulate with NVIDIA Isaac Sim™ x Wandelbots NOVA here.
Virtualization
Virtualization in Wandelbots NOVA describes all processes and results connected to creating a virtual impression of a physical robot cell. This virtual impression is used to create robot programs and test them in a virtual environment before deploying them to a physical robot cell.
The 3D view in Robot Pad offers a visual representation of the virtual cell and the planned paths.
Not to be confused with simulation.