Polyscope X Relative Movements

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Summary

Add a teachable relative movement node to PolyScope X, equivalent to the relative move functionality available in PolyScope 5.

What is it?

The feature request is a native, teachable relative movement node in PolyScope X.

The node should allow the user to:

  • Teach two waypoints inside the node:

    • a reference pose

    • a target pose

  • Internally calculate the relative motion between those poses

  • Execute this relative motion from the current TCP pose at runtime

All configuration and teaching must happen within the node itself, without requiring:

  • External variable assignments

  • Manual pose arithmetic

  • URScript nodes

This is functionally equivalent to the relative move capabilities available in PolyScope 5, where users could teach relative motions directly without having to manage transforms manually.

Why is it needed?

Many real-world applications require executing the same relative motion from different absolute positions.
Without a teachable relative move node, these applications become unnecessarily complex or error‑prone in PolyScope X.

Example use cases

  • Gripping from multiple pickup locations
    A robot picks parts from different positions, but must always perform the same approach, grip, lift and retract motion relative to the part.
    Today, this cannot be expressed cleanly without manually storing poses and transforming them at runtime.

  • (De-)Palettizing collision‑safe paths
    During palletizing or depalletizing, the robot often needs to follow a fixed relative path (e.g. retract upwards first, then move sideways) to avoid collisions.
    The absolute pallet position may vary, but the relative escape path must remain identical.

  • Use with Freedrive and manual positioning
    Operators expect to be able to:

    1. Move the robot freely to a position (e.g. via Freedrive),

    2. Then execute a relative motion (approach, insert, retract).
      This is currently not possible in a clean, GUI‑based way.

  • Processes where offsets are not trivial to calculate
    Not all relative motions are easy or safe to compute numerically (e.g. combined translation and rotation in tool coordinates).
    Teaching two waypoints is far more intuitive and robust than expecting users to derive transformation poses manually.

Current limitation

In PolyScope X, users are effectively forced to:

  • Relative movements are not available (by using UI nodes only, and no script), not teachable but also not with own calculation!

Why a teachable solution is essential

A transformation pose is not equivalent to a teachable relative move:

  • Teaching is more intuitive and less error‑prone.

  • Operators without deep robotics knowledge rely on waypoint teaching.

  • A single relative motion should be a single logical node, not a sequence of implicit steps.

Without a teachable relative move node, PolyScope X lacks a fundamental abstraction that many customers relied on in previous versions.

How could it be implemented?

Basically just the UI node, and little code behind is needed:

  • The node lets set two waypoints.

  • The system computes the relative transformation between them.

  • At runtime, this transformation is applied to the current TCP pose.

This would:

  • Keep the logic self‑contained within the node,

  • Preserve determinism and safety,

  • Restore an essential capability from PolyScope 5,

  • Greatly improve usability and teachability.

  • Bring back relative movements, that are crucial in robot programming.

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