SG Coding Language (SGCL)

Parallel to the SG-Lib toolbox, since 2018 a coding language has been developed that constructs mechanical assemblies — geometric bodies, kinematic chains, their drives and controls — “automatically” from character strings. The idea is to enable the development of intelligent robots by intelligent robots.

In the SG-Lib the command SGofCPLcommand turns a string in SGCL notation directly into a construction. A short command already describes a complete part:

SGofCPLcommand('c 4,h 5')        % a cylinder, radius 4, height 5
SGofCPLcommand('g 5 21, h 3')    % a gear (module 5, 21 teeth) with a bore

The language should also help 3D-printing technology break through — as Tim Lueth puts it, the 3D printers exist, but the “word” for the “3D printer” is still missing. A compact, formal description of what to build is the missing link between a printer and an idea.

The same philosophy drives the natural-language interface: a plain-text design task (“a 40 mm spur gear”, “a coffee mug”) is translated into checked SG-Lib code and then into printable geometry — tested in English and German.

Learn the language with the SGCL tutorials A–E (A–D need SG-Lib Rel. 4.5, E needs Rel. 4.6). The following examples were generated by Yilun Sun: