Release Notes for RobotStudio 2023.1
General
The release name is RobotStudio 2023.1 and the build number is 23.1.10349.0. The build date is May 22, 2023.
New Functionality
Path Planning: Medium and High Detail Level for Component Groups
Signals are now available to edit while "submodule" node is selected
ACIS 2023 support
The latest version of the ACIS engine has been integrated to ensure compatibility with current CAD formats.
Autosave options
The options for Autosave have been corrected and simplified.
- "Autosave of station" has been fixed to work with the new Project format. This functionality allows the user to recover data in case of a crash.
- "Automatic backup of station files" has been removed. Users are encouraged to use RobotStudio Cloud or the "Save Project As" function for versioning of a Project.
- The option for "Automatic backup of controllers in project" has been removed. Virtual Controllers in a Project are always backed up when the Project is saved.
Collision Free Path: Improve performance
The speed of generating Collision Geometries has improved by utilizing more CPU cores. This is especially noticeable in projects containing a lot of objects.
Collision Free Path: Plan with multiple targets
The collision free path planning functionality has been updated with support for having multiple start, via or end targets. RobotStudio can also automatically optimize the order of via targets in order to minimize the length of the generated path.
By selecting the "Multiple Paths" option, it is possible to create collision free paths from one target to many targets. Click the reverse order button to create collision free paths from many targets to one target instead. Click the "Return to start" checkbox to make the generated paths return back to the start position.
Documentation tooltip for Smart Components
The properties and signals of a built-in Smart Component can now be reviewed before it is imported by hovering over the corresponding button.
IRB 5510 left and right side
It is now possible to select left or right side of the paint line when creating a Virtual Controller for IRB 5510.
Jobs: Save Assessment Data
There is now a new Jobs action available to save assessment data.
Medium detail level added to Path Planning
The Detail Level menu under Path Planning now includes a new option called "Medium". This allows for the use of multiple convex hulls in the Collision Geometry and provides a better balance between accuracy and performance compared to the Low and High options.
Negative power in Total Motor Energy signal
The Total Motor Energy signal supports negative power if the controller supports refeeding power and the RobotWare version is 7.10 or later.
New signal types for safe signals
Two new safe signal types has been added: "Group input" and "Group output".
- New column "Number of Bits" added which includes a suggested signal size.
- Chosen signal size is presented in column "Device Mapping" in little Endian format.
- Both signal types have two available encoding types: "Two Complement" and "Unsigned".
- "Default Value" is handled as integer instead of float.
- Device Maps for Safe Group signals may not overlap each other or with digital signals.
- Device Maps for Safe Group signals may not involve gaps in numbering (example: 2-3, 5-10)
OPC UA Smart Component: Username authentication
It is now possible to connect to an OPC UA server with user authentication. The smart component can remember credentials by storing them in the Windows Credential Manager.
Path Planning: Medium and High Detail Level for Component Groups
It is now possible to create a Collision Geometry with High or Medium detail level from a Component Group.
PROFIsafe device in IOE
Handling of third-party PROFIsafe devices/modules are supported in IOE.
Protected elements in IOE
Safe devices/modules and signals can be made protected in Visual Safe Move. Once an element is made protected it can not be edited in I/O Engineering.
Protected elements are marked with a "pad lock" in IOE.
Protected elements are marked with a "pad lock" in IOE.
Reduce Zones for non-process instructions
A new submenu added to the context menu for paths: Reduce Zones. It is now possible to select if zones shall be reduced for non-process instructions only, or for all instructions.
Safe and Non-safe signals on same module
Both safe and unsafe signal can be assigned to the same module.
SafeMove Assistant notification
When SafeMove Assistant is enabled in the Virtual Controller and a simulation using stop position signals is started, a notification is displayed informing that the accuracy of the stop positions can be affected.
Select OmniCore controller variant
The OmniCore controller variant can now be selected when creating a Virtual Controller for certain robots. The controller variant can affect robot performance, for example cycle time. The available variants depend on robot model and RobotWare version.
- When creating a new Project with a Virtual Controller or adding a new Virtual Controller, the controller variant can be selected:
- When creating a Virtual Controller from Layout, the controller variant can be selected in the second page of the wizard. The wizard has also been improved by moving the RobotWare selection to the same page, and an appropriate RobotWare version is automatically selected depending on which mechanisms are added.
Signals are now available to edit while "submodule" node is selected
Possible to create and edit signals when submodule-node is selected
Support for PROFIsafe v. 2.6
Added support for configuring devices implementing PROFIsafe v. 2.6
Update Wizard add-in version
The Wizard add-in included in Virtual Controllers for collaborative robots was updated to version 1.5.
Improvements
Collision Free Path Planning: Improvements to the context menu of groups
When 'Use Group's Collision Geometry' is enabled, the chosen detail level will only be assigned to the group, while if it's disabled, the chosen detail level will be assigned to each child object that uses its own collision geometry. It is also possible to select multiple groups and choose 'Use Group's Collision Geometry' or to set detail level on all selected groups at the same time.
Improved Smart Component sensor performance
The performance of the CollisionSensor, VolumeSensor and PlaneSensor Smart Components has been improved when there are multiple sensors in the station by utilizing all CPU cores.
Simulation clock accuracy improvements
The precision of the simulation clock has been improved and compensation has been added for occasional simulation time steps that exceed the desired simulation time step length. The simulation will now try to catch up with real time if it is less than 4 time steps behind.
The changes will lead to a smoother simulation and reduced deviation between the simulated time and real time.
Support for DSQ2000 CTM with Ole OS 3.7
Support has been added for configuring and communicating with the DSQ2000 Conveyor Tracking Module (CTM) with the operating system Ole OS 3.7.
Corrections
| PDD | |
|---|---|
| 14509 | Issue with Auto Connect Signals for Smart Components The check for duplicate connections has been corrected. Auto-connect signals will only create a new connection if it's not already present. |
| 14582 | RobotStudio does not consider the base frame defined in the Virtual Controller Fixed an issue with the motion configuration when simulating a robot mounted on a robot. |
| 14652 | RS 2022.1 Station and exe file size Fixed an issue that could cause unused geometric and graphics data to be left in the station file, causing it to grow unnecessarily. |
| 14830 | RobotStudio simulation is slower than real-time Fixed an issue that could cause the simulation to run slower than real time when using certain Smart Components, even when the simulation performance is not CPU limited. |
| 15015 | "Identifier not found" in RAPID when using hidden modules Fixed a bug that made RAPID code editor incorrectly mark symbols from hidden modules with "Identifier not found"-error. |
| 15124 | Removed undocumented sign from signal editor. Removed the undocumented red exclamation mark from the signal editor. |
| 15134 | Hardware version and software version is visible in Device catalog Two new columns (hardware version and software version) in the Device catalog has been added for PROFINET device. For the PROFINET modules there was only one column added (software version). |
| 15151 | Node "Categories" will not be expanded when creating or loading projects Node "Categories" will not be expanded when creating or loading projects |
| 15250 | Parsing exponential numbers It was added possibility to parse exponential numbers for different properties. |
| 15284 | Safemove for external axis Axis Position Supervision and Axis speed supervision is now enabled for the external axis. |
| Visual SafeMove translation Corrected several German translations in Visual SafeMove. | |
| Visual SafeMove: UI doesn't show the edit bar for logic expressions Now the UI shows the edit bar for logic expressions. | |
| Visual SafeMove: Tooldata is not loaded when encapsulating a tool Now active tooldata is loaded when encapsulating a tool. | |
| Signal Analyzer Online: Signals from multiple controllers not recorded Signal Analyzer Online only supports recording signals from one controller at a time. In Signal Setup you will now get a disclaimer warning that you have selected signals from multiple controllers and the Record button will be disabled. | |
| Fatal error with External Axis Wizard with RobotWare 7 system Fixed so it no longer crashes. Instead an error message is displayed. | |
| Output window not automatically shown when errors occur Fixed a regression where the Output window would not be shown if it was set to Auto-Hide and an error message was logged. | |
| Incorrect last edited time for cloud projects Last edited time on cloud projects in the gallery view previously showed local edit time. This has now been changed to show when the branch was edited. | |
| RAPID editor does not support named required arguments Named required arguments are now supported in the RAPID editor and will not indicate errors.  | |
| Wrong RobotWare version displayed in Unpack and Work Corrected the "Original version" displayed for RobotWare 7 Virtual Controllers in the Unpack and Work wizard. | |
| Part of tool not excluded from Path Planning An issue where the tool's collision geometry was incorrectly including parts that were supposed to be excluded from path planning has been fixed. The tool's collision geometry now correctly excludes the intended part, ensuring accurate path planning. | |
| Incorrect CRB/IRB 1100 robot models An error in the geometry of the CRB 1100 and IRB 1100 simulation models has been corrected. | |
| Input signals displayed incorrectly in Smart Component designer Corrected the display of Input signals in the designer view for Smart Components and Station Logic. | |
| Collision Free Path Planning: Part not included A bug that incorrectly excluded parts even though they were set to "Include in Collision Free Path Planning" has been fixed. | |
| Collision Geometry incorrectly displayed Fixed a bug where the Collision Geometry for Component Groups was incorrectly displayed when 'Include in Path Planning' was selected. | |
| Line Sensor SmartComponent Sensed Part Discarded Fixed a regression that was introduced in RobotStudio 2022.3.1 that caused the sensed part to be cleared when the Line Sensor Smart Component was deactivated. The previous behavior has now been restored. | |
| Timer Smart Component hangs Fixed an issue where RobotStudio could hang when using a Timer Smart Component with "Interval" set to zero and "Repeat" set to true. | |
| Collision Free Path: "Error creating window handle" when generating collision geometries. Issue is fixed and "Error creating window handle" will not appear anymore. | |
| Compare Files: Freezes when "move to previous difference" button is clicked Compare Files no longer freezes. | |
| Sync to station fails for modules with TriggL instruction Fixed issues with synchronization of TriggL/TriggJ/TriggC instructions between the station and RAPID code. The fix only applies to new stations, not existing. | |
| Upload to RobotStudio Cloud fails Fixed an issue where uploading projects to the cloud would fail if multiple uploads are started at once. | |
| Collision Geometries shown when executing a rapid program | |
| Added help with ordering bytes in signal's Device map according to principal of little Endian. Device map will be automatically ordered to principal of little Endian when changing signals "Number of bits"  | |
| Exception when editing a mechanism Fix so we no longer get an exception when editing a joint on a mechanism where variable joint limits have been set. | |
| Signal Analyzer does not show SC signals "live" Fixed so the Signal Analyzer shows Smart Components signals live. | |
| Files & Folders Options - OK button disabled Fixed an issue where the OK button in Options > Files & Folders would be disabled without any error message present. | |
| High collision geometry for component group not shown on changing collision detail from low to High No progress was showing, making the user think that something was wrong. Now, when a collision geometry is being generated, a progress dialog will always be shown. |