What cad/cam software do I need for pick & place positioning?

I’m looking for a cad/cam software package to control pick & place. The machine is similar design as 3 axis bridge type router but picks up different coloured plastic cubes, with storage tray at one end of machine for the cubes & canvas working area at the other end of machine where the cubes are finally placed to create design. There are 26 different coloured cubes which are named A to Z and 10 mono shades named 0 to 9 (Total number of cubes 1000)
You have the cad/cam software open and you type some alpha/ numeric characters – say your name & date of birth (in my case VEE BLOCK 251166) the characters can be positioned on the screen straight, circular or curved. The software then works out which colour is the letter A – picks it up and places in the position as designed, and so continues until all the coloured/mono cubes are placed in position designed on screen.
Is there a cad/cam package on the market that will automatically work out the relevant xyz movements to pick up the cubes and place in position?

Thanks VEE

cad cam is of no use to you. It will not work with random/variables or vision systems.
You need to go 100% custom control and get a computer programmer.

Hello Darebee,

Thanks for reply. Are we talking about 100% custom cam software that looks at the design you have done on a standard (Off the shelf cad program) & then works out the xyz movements to pick & place the cubes.

Vee

with cad-cam, you can lay out the movement.. the M3 M5 command lets you on-off the gripper..

but... you need a lot more intelligent program.. best if you ask someone... try to call or email techno isel..
as much i know they built system for this purpose

What you are asking for would probably not be CAM software at all. The closest you might get would be software for turret punch. Even then, I doubt you could make the CAM side in any way automated. On the machine side, it might be possible with extensive macro programming, to pick and place blocks. You will need to locate a machine control that is capable of executing macro statements.

OK Guys thanks for this,

I had originally thought a standard off the shelf program would work, like software used on cnc routers with a bit of modification.

I'm going to try & contact techno isel and see what they can do or maybe find out what program language is used to make such software from scratch.

Cheers :)

pick and place is the most common automation motion controller routine.

Motion controllers can be PC software based, or PC cards, or stand alone.
There are motion controllers for stepper, servo or both.

If your system is stepper based, then too many PC based controllers to mention.

If your system is servo based, then you have some heavier computing required to close the loops and tune etc. Delta Tau PMAC, Precise Automation, Galil, all have controllers based on programming the motion combined with I/O.

After setting up the motors with the controller, you can expect 5-10 lines of simple instructions to do a pick and place. point a, point b, speed etc.

It might not have applied to Vee Block's exact situation, but Dynomotion Motion Control Boards for CNC Manufacturing and Robotics Applications is cheap ($250) and controls 8 axes. It comes with motion control software and, with a little C code, you can custom program anything. It also does closed loop control. I use one on a 3 axis CNC mill and its potential far outstrips mine.