# How do I add robot arm STL into a scene?

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [May 4, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395 "2020-05-04T08:58:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CHRIS\_HUYNH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/chris_huynh/32/6392_2.png) [@CHRIS\_HUYNH](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/CHRIS_HUYNH)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 8:58am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395/1 "2020-05-04T08:58:25Z")

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Hi,

I’ve just created a scene for a phantom spine I’m working with seen below.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/a/7/a71915e22ed174005fa48887ea13b5d435ff1d00.png)

I want to now add an ABB IRB 120 robotic arm into the scene with all its links connected in correct order similar to Junichi Tokuda’s example seen below

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/c/a/caf596d922b4df6b6ace76fdedd44b9e69240776.png)

I have the stl files for the abb irb 120 robotic arm, but when I drag & drop an arm link.stl file into the 3D Slicer space, it doesn’t load or show up in the 3D viewer, but shows up in the Models tab. How do I fix this issue and import each arm link stl file into 3D slicer such that they are joined together in order?

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**Author:** ![joachim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@joachim](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/joachim)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:34am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395/2 "2020-05-04T10:34:30Z")

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Maybe they are placed too far away or use different coordinate systems so you don’t see both? You can try to center the 3D scene using the _Center the 3D view on the scene_-button.

![Center3DScene](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/5/5/551439ba9fdc23736afdcbaf2002743a3eccf321.png)

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395/3 "2020-05-04T18:41:31Z")

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Also make sure the STL uses mm as coordinate system units (or scale it using a transforms module).

Note that you can also animate the robot (simulate rotation around each joint) if you load each section of the robot as a separate model, with the rotation joint in the origin. You just need to create a hierarchy of transforms in Transforms module and add each model at the appropriate level in the transform tree.

I’ve uploaded a short video of ABB IRB 120 robot visualization in Slicer:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yS3SKqNztJU/hqdefault.jpg "Medical robot visualization using 3D Slicer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS3SKqNztJU)

You can download the Slicer scene from [here](https://1drv.ms/u/s!Arm_AFxB9yqHu5J0yW1ck3H1-A_Xxg?e=QfbPPd).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CHRIS\_HUYNH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/chris_huynh/32/6392_2.png) [@CHRIS\_HUYNH](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/CHRIS_HUYNH)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 7:58am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-do-i-add-robot-arm-stl-into-a-scene/11395/4 "2020-05-05T07:58:58Z")

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Hi Mr Lasso,

I’ve done what you recommended and it works. Also thank you for the upload of the irb120.mrml file. I do however want to try it out for myself to develop a better understanding of the transforms, how to set up my robotic arm and how to fix any issues that I encounter.

The model of each link of the IRB 120 robotic arm has imported into 3D slicer, but the joints are not connected. Is there a tutorial or guide that illustrates how to get these joints connected and how to have the transforms set up properly in a hierachy of transforms for each joint?