image: SWORD users can use CAD to create a 3D virtual environment to match a robotics hardware setup. This 3D model simulates how a robot interacts with a metal jigsaw puzzle piece.
Credit: Southwest Research Institute
SAN ANTONIO — May 13, 2025 —Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is simplifying robotics programming with software that models, plans and executes automation in a user-friendly environment. The SwRI Workbench for Offline Robotics Development (SWORD™) accelerates robotics development by reducing the manual coding required for complex applications.
SWORD users work in a computer-aided design (CAD) 3D environment, leveraging novel robotic modeling to configure systems and plan motion on robotic arms, tools and work cells. SWORD connects 3D visualizations to integrated robot operating system (ROS) software modules, rapidly converting digital simulations into executable processes and free-space robotic motions deployed in physical hardware.
“We put a lot of thought into creating a tool that simulates robotic movement then converts it into a set of commands that run on hardware,” said Michael Ripperger, who is leading SWORD development. “It can be used by robotics experts, and it’s intuitive design is particularly useful for manufacturing engineers who don’t have a coding background.”
SwRI will demonstrate SWORD during the Automate show May 12-15 in Detroit. Attendees can visit Booth No. 5607 to see a live demonstration of a robot arm programmed in SWORD to set up process paths for a part shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece in the CAD interface.
“The demo shows how SWORD can unlock complex applications that would otherwise be cost prohibitive and time consuming with manual coding,” Ripperger said.
The traditional ROS-Industrial workflow requires developers to be deeply familiar with programming languages and software code libraries. Even experienced developers within the ROS-I ecosystem and beyond may spend weeks on the initial setup of a ROS application.
SwRI manages the ROS-Industrial Americas Consortium and supports ROS-I software repositories, executing training and developer events. SwRI developed SWORD so manufacturing engineers with CAD knowledge can leverage complex capabilities within the ROS codebase.
SWORD is a plugin to the FreeCAD application with a graphical toolkit that builds motion planning environments and collision geometries and tests advanced robotic motion-planning applications.
“A major goal in developing SWORD is to adapt ROS for manufacturing and industrial audiences in a way that is more approachable in a familiar environment,” said Matt Robinson, an SwRI program manager who oversees the ROS-Industrial Americas Consortium.
Key SWORD features include:
- Environmental Modeling: Create or import a CAD model of your robot, including fixtures and end-of-arm-tooling. Users can evaluate and calculate joint configurations by manipulating and controlling robot models using joint sliders and simulating tool movement with an intuitive dragger.
- Robot Manipulation and Planning: Generate motion plans using commercial path planners, creating custom pipelines for application-specific behavior while predicting and avoiding collisions.
- Custom Planning Pipeline: Define robot motion using either coordinate-based or joint waypoints, specifying different movement segment types and motion groups while inserting supplementary commands.
To inquire about a trial license, visit https://sword.swri.org or listen to Robinson and Ripperger discuss SWORD on the Technology Today Podcast.