Educational packages
Real World
Students need to learn how to solve real world appplications that they will find in industry and research. Industrial users are not interested in the inner workings; they want to get a job done. Our software does not waste time with offline programming, feedback loops, multi-axis kinematics that are of little use on the factory floor. ST software provides tools such as:
  • Cartesian coordinates,
  • pose teaching and editing,
  • Pick and place,
  • World and Tool modes,
  • continuous path control,
  • palletising (matrices),
  • I/O interfacing with sensors, other equipment,
  • interrupts,
  • timing.

    More importantly ST software uniquely gets the student up and running fast. Time is short for students with other classes to attend. Control of the robot is immediate and intuitive. There is an immediate response to everything the student does - no lengthy preparation or programming before anything even moves.

    Most industrial robots have their own proprietary software which is usually BASIC-like. We call those systems 'noddy languages'. ST software, RoboForth is built on proven and standardized Forth. It is not a mainstream language but gets the student up and running far faster than any syntactic language and what he or she learns is a perfect starting point for any make of robot they may encounter in their career.

    "This thing is awesome! Loving it (and I know the students will as well). Great addition to our program.
    16 second video clip attached (was amazed at how easy it was to get program wrote for it)."
    - Halifax CC, NC.

    "We just finished the first course using the robot and everything worked great!
    Students liked the robot a lot and found the programming interface easy to use and very intuitive."
    - Indiana Tech.
    Even though getting started with an ST robot is fast and easy there are a lot of things you can do. This means there is a lot of software. You may need only a fraction of it but it's all there if you need it.

    However
    Students can also write supervisors that send commands to the robot. We support ActiveX, LabView and Matlab.
    Students have also used C and Python. Python is popular and we also have ROS support.
    The R12 robot arm is a good place to start with analysis and understanding of robot configurations and kinetics.
    VIDEO How Rose Hulman have used their R12 robot arm

    Two ideal packages are available:
    • Package A: R12 5-axis robot system with electric gripper, teach pad, emergency stop button, 3 lab workbooks (see below)
    • Package B: R12-6 6-axis robot system with electric gripper, teach pad, emergency stop button, Bluetooth teach console, I/O trainer (a device with switches on inputs and lamps on outputs so the student can program I/O with robot motion), IR Sentry safety sensor, 3 lab workbooks (see below)


    1. R12 robot arm (5-axis version shown)
    2. EG12 parallel action electric gripper
    3. Simple teach pad
    4. Robot controller K11R
    5. I/O trainer
    6. Sentry IR beams safety module (package B)
    7. Stop button
    8. Bluetooth Android Teach Console (package B)

    Coursework

    ST has a specially written course if required (see below). It is a spiral bound landscape format book with 40 pages. Each student gets his/her own copy. There are free copies with each (educational) robot and extra copies cost very little.



    The course has been completely rewritten with better explanations and additional sections. We have also made it less didactic so it is suitable for all ages.

    There is also a complete and thorough hyper-linked pdf tutorial for advanced users.