November 2022 release

James Schnarr, Senior Product Manager

November 23 2022

Our November 2022 release of our next generation OCTOPUZ software is available now! As with our most recent feature release a few months ago, our primary focus continues to be making robot programming with OCTOPUZ easier and more efficient, and increasing the types of robot systems and applications we support.

Automate your cutting path selection

When choosing OLRP over manual teach pendant programming, a core benefit is significantly reduced programming time - the less time you are spending deploying new robot jobs, the more time you have to work on the critical functions driving your businesses forward.

To help you achieve that goal, we've introduced the first of many automated tools to assist with the most time-consuming operation of creating new robot jobs - the actual robot programming itself. Ideal for cutting applications, you can use our new automatic part detection tools to create multiple cutting (or other edge following) paths in just a few clicks.

Import simple robot motions from a backup

We're excited to be introducing robot backup import support to our next generation of OCTOPUZ. To start, you can now import individual linear and joint motions taken from your robot directly into OCTOPUZ. This is helpful when implementing a new cell to assist with calibration of mechanisms in the virtual world to align with the real world.

Stay tuned to future releases as we plan to continuously improve support for statements and other parameters which can be imported via backup.

Customizable speed and distance units

Depending on your project or robot brand, you may be working with different units of measurement. To keep the conversions out of sight and out of mind, you can now choose your preferred speed or distance units to use throughout OCTOPUZ.

Parametric mechanism support

An improvement to the types of robot systems we support is through the addition of support for mechanisms containing parametric joints. For example, a part positioner with a rotary axis used in coordinated with the robot and also a linear axis used to set a fixed height position based on the size of the part, can now be set up and programmed in OCTOPUZ.

Improved laser camera search support

We're increasingly seeing laser camera vision systems used in robotic cells as a fast and touch-free way to locate parts and correct weld locations. So, we've made some big improvements to how we support laser camera-enabled systems so it's easier to program these search routines. We also support more types of welds with laser-camera searching.

Project and cell template metadata

Make it easy to identify and track the status of your projects and cell templates via our new interface called Project Centre, which allows you to add metadata and other information like description, author, revision, application, and more.

More improvements

• You can now merge path and individual motion statements together into a single path, as well as split paths into individual motions.
• There are new statement modify options in our Attributes panel, including tool orientation and leads, which make it easy to make changes to multiple statements at once.
• You can now transform paths and searches from one part to another part.
• When creating a path, you can now set a unique speed and rounding value for the first point in the path.
• The Robot Code Editor now has a wider view for easier code review.
• If an issue exists when updating simulation, we'll now tell you exactly which statement is causing the problem.
• Your last used File Explorer directory location is now remembered for each unique operation involving file selection.
• You can now use OCTOPUZ in Japanese.
• When OCTOPUZ is opened for the very first time, there is now an initial language selection option.
• Your current activation's expiry date is now shown in User Centre, so you'll know when you need to renew it.
• In User Centre, we'll now warn you if your account's subscription or maintenance is expiring in the next 30 days.
• Plenty of other performance and UI/UX improvements, plus a number of bug fixes.

Looking for something and don't see it just yet? Let our Product Team know how we can make your OLRP experience better by submitting Product Feedback.

This update is now available to download in OCTOPUZ, for users of the next generation of OCTOPUZ that have an active OCTOPUZ software plan.