SLEW motion type represents a motion in which all the axes of a device start at the same time but stop at their own individual time. All other motion types viz. Joint, Linear and Circular are based on the idea that all the motion axes start and stop at the same time.

Assuming that the mechanism simulated has two motion axes and all the motion parameters such as speed, acceleration and travel distance are known, a velocity profile can be created based on the above parameters over a distance between the start point and end point as in figure 2.1.

As it can be seen on figure 2.1, there are three distinctive stages of motion:

-          Acceleration stage from point A to point A1,

-          Constant velocity stage from point A1 to point A2,

-          Deceleration stage from point A2 to point A3.

Each motion axis has its corresponding motion profile. As travel distances and travel times may not be the same for any two axes, corresponding motion profiles will have different shapes as it can be seen on Figure 2.2.

The default motion type is the ‘standard’ motion type in which all motion axes start and stop at the same time. That kind of behaviour is achieved either by scaling the speed parameter or by scaling the acceleration parameter. As an example, assuming that the value of speed was scaled in order to provide for the same start-stop motion time, the shape of corresponding velocity profiles will be similar to the one given on figure 2.3.

In case of SLEW motion type, there is no concern about time synchronization when it comes to motion stop. The move will continue to be executed until the last motion axis completes its move (figure 2.4).

The main difference between the two types of motion is in the fact that axes will be completing their motion at different times. That, in turn, will reflect the shape of motion/tcp trajectory.

Please see the attached video for a sample demo.