people realized that if they were just cutting polygons with smaller and smaller “Facets”, they needed a better way to generate the data of that curve. Originally, things started with an algorithm that looked at a circle and said “Ok, got to this point on the curve” and the servos would do it, and while the servos did that the control would calculate another point on the surface and tell the servos “Ok, go to that” and they did, and so on. What was needed was an algorithm that could generate an incredible number of “Steps” in real time and pass that data through to the servomotors, also in real time. So the servos, instead of waiting for the calculation to moved, kept pace with the calculation as it was being done.

This is where we started. Ignore the code for a minute and just look at the etch-a-sketch looking circle segment.

Now look at this

Did your head explode? isn’t it a good thing that you don’t have to write that code every time you want to draw a circle?

While the code required to program a machine tool is realtively simple, the “Hidden” code required to get the machine to follow the instructions you give it, is much more complex. And that’s just in two axis, the more axis you use, the more complex it becomes, and the code for a six axis robot is very, very complex indeed.