Common Robot Data Formats

ABB robots use the format [X, Y, Z, q1, q2, q3, q4], where position uses millimeters as units and orientation is represented by unit quaternions. In quaternions, q1 is the real part, and q2, q3, q4 are imaginary parts in xyz directions respectively. Although ZYX Euler angles can be read on the teach pendant, the internal robtarget data structure actually uses unit quaternions to represent orientation.

ABB’s robtarget data type contains the following components:

FANUC robots use the format [X, Y, Z, W, P, R] to represent position and orientation data, where (X, Y, Z) are position coordinates and (W, P, R) are orientation angles. They use xyz fixed angles to represent orientation, also known as RPY angles.

Position and orientation data in the system are managed through user coordinate systems and tool coordinate systems. User coordinate systems allow users to define reference coordinate systems for work areas, while tool coordinate systems define tool end position and orientation.

YASKAWA robots use [X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz] format, using xyz fixed angles to represent orientation.

KUKA robots use [X, Y, Z, A, B, C] format, using zyx Euler angles to represent orientation. KUKA systems use POSITION, XYZWPR, XYZWPREXT, JOINTPOS, and PATH data types to represent position data.

KUKA’s POSITION data type contains the following components:

ROKAE robots use [X, Y, Z, q1, q2, q3, q4] format, using unit quaternions to represent orientation. Where q1 is the real part of unit quaternion, and q2, q3, q4 are imaginary parts in xyz directions respectively, similar to ABB format.

UR robots use [X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz] format, using rotation vectors to represent orientation. In UR systems, [X, Y, Z] units are meters, and [Rx, Ry, Rz] units are radians.

Although xyz fixed angles can be read from the teach pendant, UR’s internal pose data uses rotation vectors to represent orientation. Therefore, the data format sent to robots should preferably be [X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz].

EFORT and ESTUN robots both use [X, Y, Z, A, B, C] format, using zyx Euler angles to represent orientation.

ELITE robots use [X, Y, Z, Rx, Ry, Rz] format, using xyz fixed angles to represent orientation.

ABB uses the speeddata data type to define robot motion speed parameters. This data type contains four main components: v_tcp (tool center point speed in mm/s), v_ori (TCP reorientation speed in degrees/second), v_leax (linear external axis speed in mm/s), and v_reax (rotational external axis speed in degrees/second).

ABB’s speeddata data type contains the following components:

The system predefines speed data for moving robot arms and external axes as follows:

Movement Speed Control:

FANUC supports multiple movement speed control methods. During movement, movement override can be specified for joint interpolation and linear interpolation motions in running programs. Movement override range is 1-100%. During movement, program speeds can also be reduced to set values.

Movement speeds can be represented in the following ways:

Motion Type Control:

FANUC provides flexible motion control methods, supporting joint interpolation motion and linear interpolation motion:

YASKAWA robots support three main motion types: MOVJ (joint interpolation), MOVL (linear interpolation), MOVC (circular interpolation), each with dedicated parameters and speed units.

KUKA robots support three main motion types: PTP (point-to-point motion), LIN (linear motion), and CIRC (circular motion), each with corresponding speed parameter setting methods.

PTP:

PTP motion uses joint space motion, achieving precise positioning by controlling speed percentages of each axis.

LIN/CIRC:

Trajectory motion uses Cartesian space motion with richer speed parameters, supporting independent control of linear and orientation speeds.

ROKAE robot systems provide unified speed commands to control robot motion speed, defining motion speeds for robots and external axes.

The speed command contains the following core parameters:

The system predefines common speed variables as follows:

UR robots use different speed data formats in teach programming and script programming. In teach programming, speed data format uses degrees and millimeters as units, while in script programming, radians and meters are used.

UR systems support three movement types: moveJ (executes calculated movement in robot arm joint space), moveL (causes tool to move linearly between waypoints), and moveP (causes tool to move linearly through circular blend zones at constant speed).

ABB robots use the zonedata data type to define corner zone parameters. This data type determines robot motion behavior at path points. Corner zone parameters can control whether the robot completely stops at target positions (precise positioning) or smoothly passes through target positions as fly-by points.

ABB’s zonedata data type contains the following components:

The system predefines common corner zone configurations as follows:

Corner zone data structure is as follows:

FANUC systems provide two main positioning types: FINE (precise positioning) and CNT (continuous positioning). FINE positioning type requires robots to completely stop at target positions before moving to next target positions. CNT positioning type allows robots to approach target positions without stopping at those positions while continuing motion to next positions.

YASKAWA uses positioning level PL and corner radius CR to control corner zones. The system provides FINE positioning type (robot completely stops at target position before moving toward next target position) and CNT positioning type (robot approaches target position but does not stop at that position while continuing motion to next position).

KUKA robots use multiple trajectory approximation parameters to control corner behavior, with different motion types adopting different approximation strategies. The system supports PTP (point-to-point), LIN (linear), and CIRC (circular) motion methods, each with corresponding trajectory approximation configurations.

Motion types and trajectory approximation parameters:

Detailed trajectory approximation parameters:

Motion combinations and parameter usage:

ROKAE robots provide multiple methods for setting smooth transition distances. Zone variables define motion intervals or transition zone sizes between two motion trajectories. During stop processing, robots move to target points with zero velocity at target points before continuing to next commands. During transition processing, robots do not move to target points but start turning toward next target points when several distance millimeters away from target points.

ROKAE systems predefine common turn zone variables, with direct correspondence between Cartesian space turn zone sizes and turn percentages:

UR robots support Blend Region functionality in path planning by setting corner radius parameter r (unit: m) to achieve smooth trajectory transitions. When corner radius is set for path points, robots will not completely stop at those points but smoothly transition to next path segments with circular trajectories.

After setting corner radius, robot trajectories form circular transitions near path points, avoiding sudden stop-start phenomena. Circle radius size directly affects trajectory smoothness and deviation distance from original paths. Smaller corner radii stay closer to original path points but motion is less smooth; larger corner radii provide smoother motion but deviate more from intended trajectories.

When adjacent path point corner zones overlap, situations become complex. If current path point corner zones overlap with previous or next path point corner radii, the system skips intermediate path points and connects directly to next valid points.

ABB uses the confdata data type to define robot axis configuration. Using Cartesian coordinate systems, all robot arm positions can be defined and stored. When calculating robot arm solutions, usually two or more solutions may exist. These situations represent different possible positions or configurations for the robot arm. To clearly indicate one possible configuration, robot configuration is defined using four axis values.

For rotational axes, the value defines the current quadrant of robot axis. Quadrants are numbered 0, 1, 2, etc., including negative numbers, with quadrant numbers related to current axis relationships. For 6-axis robots, quadrant 0 is the first quarter circle from zero position to 180°, i.e., 0° to 90°; quadrant 1 is the second quarter circle, i.e., 90° to 180°, and so on.

For 7-axis robots, quadrant 0 is a quarter circle centered on zero position, i.e., -45° to 45°; quadrant 1 is the second quarter circle in positive rotation, i.e., 45° to 135°, and so on.

For linear axes, the value indicates the interval meter count for robot axes. For each axis, value 0 means a position between 0 to 1 meter, value 1 means a position between 1 to 2 meters. For negative values, -1 means a position between -1 to 0 meters, and so on.

Configuration Supervision:

For some robot types, if ConfL\On is set, configuration data (confdata) is also used to supervise programmed points related to linear movement. Configuration monitoring is not performed using ConfL\On, such as during Confl-joint movement configuration control.

Before starting specified motion, verification is performed to check if programmed configuration can be achieved. If impossible, the program stops. Upon motion completion (in zone or fine point), verification ensures robot has reached programmed configuration. Configuration supervision with ConfL\On varies among different robots.

Robot Arm Configuration Data:

Components:

FANUC robots use configurations to specify position states of robot joints. Configuration refers to robot main body posture. For given Cartesian coordinate values (X, Y, Z, W, P, R), usually multiple configuration solutions exist. To determine unique robot positions, joint configuration and turn numbers for each axis must be clearly specified.

FANUC systems classify robot joint configurations into the following basic types:

Main Configuration States:

Turn Number Range Definition:

FANUC systems use turn numbers to handle rotational axes exceeding ±180°:

FANUC systems use dedicated system variables to manage and track rotational axis states:

Rotational Axis State Variables:

Configuration Data Structure:

YASKAWA robots use [fig_ctrl] to point to configuration information pointer (output). Syntax:

KUKA robots use POSITION, XYZWPR, XYZWPREXT, JOINTPOS, and PATH data types to represent position data. POSITION data type contains three REAL values representing X, Y, Z position values in millimeters, three REAL values representing W, P, R orientations in degrees, and one CONFIG data type consisting of 4 Boolean values and 3 integers representing joint position and turn number configuration.

KUKA robot configuration data is defined through STATUS and TURN components. TCP position (X, Y, Z) and orientation (A, B, C) values are insufficient to clearly specify robot position. Because when TCP is identical, multiple axis positions may still exist. Status and turn directions determine unique positions from multiple possible axis positions.