Tools
A Tool is whatever is attached to the last module of the Robot — a gripper, a screwdriver, a welding gun. The Tools tab holds one entry per Tool the Robot can carry, and marks which one is currently fitted.
For what the values mean and how to measure them, see TCP. This page covers managing the entries.
What a Tool entry contains
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | How the Tool is identified everywhere else in RobFlow |
| TCP | The Tool Center Point: position (x, y, z) and rotation (rz, ry, rx) relative to the last module's frame |
| Mass | The Tool's total weight, in kilograms |
| Center of Mass | The vector (x, y, z) from the last module to the Tool's center of mass |
Managing Tools
Use Add Tool to create an entry, and configure it in place. Tools are reorderable, and
unnamed entries fall back to Tool 1, Tool 2 and so on — worth renaming immediately, since
the name is what you will select in a Flow.
Configure one entry per physical Tool, even if only one is ever fitted at a time. Switching Tools then becomes selecting a different entry rather than re-typing measurements.
The selected Tool
One Tool is the selected Tool: the one the Robot assumes is fitted. Its TCP determines where every Cartesian movement actually goes, and its mass and center of mass feed the controller.
A Flow changes the selected Tool with the Tool Node, which is how a Flow that swaps end effectors mid-run keeps the Robot's model correct.
A wrong selected Tool is one of the easier ways to get a Robot to move somewhere unexpected: every taught Cartesian pose is interpreted through the active TCP. After changing Tools by hand, confirm the selected Tool matches before running a Flow — a Robot configuration check can enforce this from inside the Flow.
Mass and center of mass are not paperwork. The controller uses them to distinguish the Tool's own weight from external force, so wrong values degrade motion quality and make torque overload detection unreliable.
Payload versus Tool mass
The Tool's mass is the end effector itself, and stays constant. The payload is what the Tool is currently holding, and changes as the Flow picks and places — set it with the Payload Node.
Keep them separate: putting a workpiece's weight into the Tool mass makes the Robot behave as if it is always carrying a part.