The work zone of a robot is the space swept by the robot, its tool and its arm along the paths of the selected programs. Areas used by two or more robots are shared areas. The interlocks of the programs (A81–A96 = EIN request, A41–A56 = EIN release, comments Verriegelung n Roboter ...) are compared with the moments when a robot enters a shared area.

Work zones of six robots (transparency 70 %)

Calculation

Check the robots or single programs in the list (the tool on the flange is shown next to each robot) and press Calculate. Parameters: Calculation method: Grid of cubes (axis of the links + radius) – fast: the arm is the axis line of the links widened by the link radius, stored in cubes of the selected grid. Coarse shape, short calculation. Triangles of the 3D models (real shape) – takes longer: in every position of the path the triangles of the 3D models of the robot links, the cable packages and the attached tool are entered in cells of 50 mm. The zone has the real shape of the robot instead of the link radius. The calculation takes considerably longer (minutes for a whole cell) and needs more memory; Grid and Link radius are not used and are disabled. Check interlocks, Insert interlocks and the path in interlock colors use the same method as the last calculation. Calculation time (measured 2026-10-06, 2 robots, 27 programs with called UPs, the 3D model of the tool on one of the robots; laptop Intel Core i7-8750H, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10, DReS 32-bit): grid of cubes 100 mm – about 27 s, triangles of the 3D models – about 220 s, i.e. about 8 times longer (the first version of the triangle method needed about 14 times longer). A whole cell with 6 robots and 112 programs takes about 2.5 min with the grid; with the triangle method count with about 20 min. The progress window shows the estimated time left. The triangle method finds larger shared areas (real shape of the arms and grippers instead of the link radius) – in the measured pair 1.29 m³ instead of 0.56 m³. Use it for single robot pairs where the exact shape matters (close robots, large grippers); the grid is enough for an overview of the cell. Grid – edge of the cubes (100 mm is a good compromise of accuracy and time; grid method only), Link radius – radius around the arm segments (grid method only), Include the tool attached to the flange – the 3D model of the tool is part of the zone, Include subprograms called in the points – UP calls are followed. The paths come from the motion planner (LIN / CIRC along the path, approximation). A whole robot, a group (all Folgen / all UPs) or single programs can be checked. Unchecking hides a zone at once, checking it again shows it without a new calculation; Calculate always recalculates everything. Clear removes the zones. The tool in the zone is the real 3D model attached to the flange (with fixtures) – the TCP of the tool data is not used. Robots without an attached tool are listed before the calculation. Without the Work Zones license the zones of the first 2 checked robots are calculated (a message is shown once). Work Zones

Display

• green – area used by one robot,
• yellow – area shared by two or more robots with interlock requests,
• red – shared area reached without an interlock request.

Show only shared areas (yellow / red) hides the green parts (available when Show work zones is on). The transparency slider sets how much of the cell remains visible through the zones (default 70 %). Overlapping zones are drawn with one uniform color.

Only the shared areas: yellow = protected by interlocks, red = entered without interlock

Entries without interlock

The table lists every point where a robot enters a shared area without an interlock request: robot, program / point, the other robot and the volume of the entered part. A double click on a row moves the robot to that point and selects it in the Programs panel – ready for Touch up or for opening in the editor. The point is the place of the first entry: the interlock has to be requested earlier, in the point before the motion into it. The console contains the same list.

Below the table: Program path in interlock colors (see below), Check interlocks... – evaluation of all interlocks on the paths (see Check interlocks) and Insert interlocks... – automatic proposals of stops or interlocks for these entries (see Insert interlocks).

Collision matrix Work Zones

The matrix summarizes all robot pairs: row robot / column robot. A cell shows the interlocks (A81..A96) that the row robot describes in its program comments for the column robot, the volume of the shared area of both robots and the part entered without interlock.

A double click shows the details of a cell. Export... saves the matrix as CSV. The window is not modal – it can stay open while the robots are moved.

Move robots to the position before the zone

Select a cell with entries without interlock and press Move robots to the position before the zone: both robots are moved to the last point before they enter the shared area (first the column robot, then the row robot, which is selected in the Programs panel). The console names the point, e.g. 'R_6560R01_Z' at folge123/P1 - the last point before the area shared with 'R_6550R01_G'. This is the starting point for checking the interlock or correcting the path.

Program path in interlock colors Work Zones

Three paths in interlock colors: yellow – motion in a shared area with an interlock (left robot, Folge12); red – motion in a shared area without interlock (right robot, UP112); gray – motion outside the shared areas (right robot, UP81)

With Program path in interlock colors (group Entries without interlock) the paths drawn with the motion planner (Programs panel, Draw the real path in the Motion tab) are colored by the interlock state of the last work zone calculation instead of the motion type: gray – motion outside the areas shared with other robots, yellow – motion in a shared area with an active interlock for the partner robot, red (wider line) – motion in a shared area without interlock. The console names the points of the red motions and the partner robots, e.g. Path of 'folge124.src' in interlock colors ... - motions to P3, P4 (partner: R_6620R01_G_G). The colors use the parameters of the last calculation (method, grid, link radius, tool, subprograms). Visible paths of the current robot are drawn again when the option is switched on or off and after a new calculation; after a change of the program show the path again. Robots that were not in the last calculation keep the colors of the motion types (message in the console).

Check interlocks Work Zones

Work Zones → Check interlocks... compares the interlocks of the programs with the geometry of the last work zone calculation. The red areas show only the motions without any interlock; the check also finds interlocks that are requested too late, released too early, set only by one robot of a pair, written for another partner or held without need. It joins the logic of the programs (as in Archive Diff - interlocks) with the geometry of the cell.

Check interlocks: findings with the point, the partner and a suggestion

How it works

1. The programs checked in the Work Zones tab are analysed with the parameters of the last calculation (grid, link radius, tool, called UPs, motion planner). The motion of every program is taken from the work zone calculation – the check does not run the motion planner again; only programs changed since the calculation (e.g. by Insert interlocks) are read and planned again. A whole cell with 6 robots and 112 programs is checked in about 20 s (before: about 4 min), a repeated check without changes in about 2 s.
2. For every point (in the order of execution, with the called UPs) the check knows the robots whose shared area the motion to the point (or the stop in it) touches, and the interlocks active in the motion and after the commands of the point: request A81..A96 = EIN, release A41..A56 = EIN.
3. An interlock protects the motion only against the partner named in the comment (Verriegelung n Roboter X ein); without a comment it protects against all robots.
4. The online conditions (FB PSPS with E41..E56) are checked with the rules of RobotLogicCheck for the whole archive; a missing input in a point inside a shared area is an error.

Checks

Window

• The list shows severity, check, robot, point (folge12/UP81/P6), partner, description and suggestion; the tooltip of the check explains it.
• Show filters by severity (errors, errors and warnings) or by check, the second list by robot.
• Double click or Go to the point – the robot goes to the point and the point is selected in the Programs panel (Touch up, Editor).
• Export report... – cell report as HTML (parameters of the calculation, summary of the checks, robot pairs with shared area, area without interlock, interlocks and number of errors / warnings, all findings) or CSV for Excel.
• The console contains the number of programs, errors, warnings and the count of every check.

Example of an exported HTML report – example cell with 6 robots and 112 programs (open in a new window):

Insert interlocks Work Zones

Insert interlocks... below the table Entries without interlock proposes changes in the robot programs for every place where a robot moves in a shared area without interlock. Two modes are available:

How the proposals are found

1. Calculate the work zones (Calculate) – the dialog uses the last calculation, its parameters and the entries without interlock.
2. For every program with an entry without interlock the motions are planned again with the same motion planner – the main program and the subprograms (UP) called in its points, in the order of execution.
3. For every motion the dialog knows which shared areas (with which partner robot) the robot touches while moving to the point or standing in it, and whether an interlock for that partner is active (requests A81–A96, releases A41–A56, partners from the comments Verriegelung n Roboter ...).
4. Consecutive motions in an area shared with one partner form an area run (e.g. folge124/P3 .. folge124/P7). A run with at least one motion without interlock gets a proposal.
5. The robot must stop before the run: the proposal uses the last exact point (VE = 0) before the run, after the previous area of the same partner. In an approximated point the robot does not stop.

Insert interlocks: mode, comment texts and the proposed changes

The dialog

• Mode – Stop before the shared area or Request an interlock; the table is built again when the mode changes.
• Comment (stop) – text of the comment in the stop point, %1 = partner robot (default Kollision mit Roboter %1 - Verriegelung fehlt).
• Comment (request) / Comment (release) – texts of the comments before the request and the release point, %1 = interlock number, %2 = partner robot (default Verriegelung %1 Roboter %2 ein / Verriegelung %1 zu Roboter %2 aus). Keep the words Verriegelung and the robot number – the work zones, the collision matrix and the interlock check of Archive Diff read the partner from these comments.
• The robot name in the comments is the robot number from the cell (R_6620R01_G_G → 6620R01).

Mode 1: Stop before the shared area

The dialog inserts a comment with the partner robot before the stop point (main fold, like in mode 2) and WARTE BIS AUS in the point after its first FB PSPS line (as the first command if the point has no FB PSPS). The fold of the point stays expanded, so the inserted lines are visible. AUS never becomes true – the robot waits in this point until the programmer replaces the wait by the interlock. When the point already contains WARTE BIS AUS (second partner in the same point) only a further comment line is added before the point.

PTP VB=100% VE=0% ... P2
  FB PSPS = EIN
  A23 = AUS
  WARTE BIS E23
  A23 = EIN
  FB PSPS = M2 & M21 & M30

-- Kollision mit Roboter 6620R01 - Verriegelung fehlt --
PTP VB=100% VE=0% ... P2
  FB PSPS = EIN
  WARTE BIS AUS
  A23 = AUS
  WARTE BIS E23
  A23 = EIN
  FB PSPS = M2 & M21 & M30

Before the insertion: program UP112 with five points; the motion P1 → P3 enters the area shared with robot 6560R02 without interlock, the area is left at P5 (point P1 expanded)

After the insertion, mode Stop before the shared area: comment Kollision mit Roboter 6560R02 - Verriegelung fehlt before point P1 and WARTE BIS AUS in P1 (fold expanded) – the robot stops before the area until the interlock is programmed

Mode 2: Request an interlock (VW standard)

The interlock number n (1–16) is the number already used for the partner robot in the comments of the programs; otherwise the lowest number not used by the robot (requests, releases, comments in all Folgen and UPs). The same number is used for all runs of the same robot pair. The dialog inserts:

1. Comment -- Verriegelung n Roboter X ein -- before the request point (main fold, like in the VW programs).
2. In the request point (last exact point before the area): A(80+n) = EIN and SPSMAKRO20 = EIN before WARTE BIS E23 (or before the last FB PSPS of the point, otherwise at the end before UP calls). When the point already calls SPSMAKRO20, only the request is added before it.
3. E(40+n) in the last FB PSPS of the request point (a new line FB PSPS = ... with the active condition is added when the point has no FB PSPS after SPSMAKRO20) and of every point up to the last motion in the area – the last FB PSPS of a point is the online condition of the motion to the next point. Operands are added with AND, an OR condition is put in brackets, an operand already in the condition is not added twice.
4. Comment -- Verriegelung n zu Roboter X aus -- before the first point after the area and A(40+n) = EIN in this point (after its first FB PSPS) – the area is released for the partner.

-- Verriegelung 3 Roboter 6620R01 ein --
PTP VB=100% VE=0% ... P2
  FB PSPS = EIN
  A23 = AUS
  A83 = EIN
  SPSMAKRO20 = EIN
  WARTE BIS E23
  A23 = EIN
  FB PSPS = M2 & M21 & M30 & E43

LIN VB=1.5m/s VE=100% ... P3
  FB PSPS = M2 & M21 & M30 & E43
...
-- Verriegelung 3 zu Roboter 6620R01 aus --
PTP VB=100% VE=100% ... P8
  FB PSPS = EIN
  A43 = EIN
  FB PSPS = M2 & M21 & M30

After the insertion, mode Request an interlock (same program as in the „before” picture above): comment and A83 = EIN, SPSMAKRO20 = EIN in P1, E43 added to the FB PSPS of the points in the area, comment Verriegelung 3 zu Roboter 6560R02 aus and A43 = EIN in P5 (release)

Insert into the editor

Insert into the editor applies the selected rows:

• every program file is opened in the DReS editor (a program already open is used – also with unsaved changes),
• the program must be opened in the VKRC view as Folge or UP and must be editable – otherwise the file is skipped with a warning in the console,
• the same change for the same point is inserted once (e.g. a subprogram reached from two Folgen),
• collapsed points are expanded for the change and collapsed again, the syntax is checked, the undo history is cleared,
• the console lists every inserted line (Insert interlocks: up112.src P2: A83 = EIN, SPSMAKRO20 = EIN, FB PSPS = ...) and a summary.

Then: check the programs, save them (the KRL code of the folds is generated when saving) and press Calculate again – the red areas of the changed motions become yellow.

Notes and limitations

• Changes in a subprogram (UP) are active for every call of the UP (note in the table).
• No exact point before the area (only approximated points, or the area starts with the first point of the program) – the row is not selected; insert the stop or interlock manually.
• Robot still in the shared area at the end of the program – the release is not inserted (row not selected).
• A release A(40+n) = EIN already inside the area (released too early) is reported – remove it.
• The areas come from the work zones (grid, link radius, tool model) – a coarse grid gives larger areas and earlier stop points.
• Only VKRC programs (VW standard).

Console messages

The calculation writes its results to the console of the plugin (Message Window). Values in the examples are from a test cell.