Continuous-Path Programs

Continuous-path programs are not used as often as they were during the 1980s because the newer robot programs can duplicate the robot motion during a continuous operation and use less memory. The main feature of the continuous-path program is that it recorded the robot position continually by recording the position frequently enough to cause the robot motion to look exactly like it was recorded. When one looks at this type of program, note a large number of positional statements. Since the program records every robot position approximately 100 times a second, the program could contain thousands of positional statements. For this reason it's not necessary for humans to look at individual robot positions. If a move was not where it should be, the technician would erase the move for a section, and record that path again by moving the robot along the new path. Since the robot stored thousands of points for each program, these types of robots needed very large memory storage capability, which made them more expensive than the other types of robots. It should be noted that in the 1990s the point-to-point robot became more precise so that it can be programmed to execute many applications that previously had to be performed by a continuous-path robot. For this reason, continuous-path robots are seldom used in new applications.