[simon]

Hello RoboDK Team,
It would be very useful to have a feature that keeps the tool vertical by automatically optimizing the part’s position on the positioner under the TCP. This is especially important for welding applications, where the torch must remain vertical during fusion to prevent the metal from flowing. This would simplify programming and improve accuracy for such trajectories.
Thanks for considering this!
Best regards,
simon

[Albert]

It is currently possible to keep the tool vertical when you simulate a robot for welding and you have a turntable synchronized. To do so, you should enable the Smart Optimization option in your curve follow project or robot machining project.

In the Smart Optimization option menu you should prioritize maintaining the current Cartesian target. For example, to maintain the tool vertical you can follow these steps:

1. Move the robot tool to a position that shows the orientation you would like to maintain.
   
2. Check the option Smart Optimization and click on More Options.
   
3. Click on the recommended Preset called Move External Axes.
   
4. Click on the red target icon in the Cartesian Coordinates column. This will take the current position as a reference.
   
5. Increase the priority to 200
   
6. You can also decrease the Priority for relative movements to 10 instead of the default 100.
   

These priorities represent how stiff/static one axis or value should be with respect to another one.

I attached an image and a RoboDK project that shows this better.