JP2017177227A - Industrial robot system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a conventional industrial robot system cannot actually reflect collected data in an industrial robot.SOLUTION: An industrial robot system including a control device for controlling a robot and an external information processing device provided with application software performs higher order leveling of information affecting production capacity of robots of remote places with each other by reflecting a state of a robot in another robot through the external information processing device. Thus, the productivity of a production system using industrial robots can be improved.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present disclosure relates to an improvement in productivity of a production system using an industrial robot.

  In recent years, advanced computerization of in-factory production systems has been promoted by improving IoT (Internet of Things) technology. Industrial robots are no exception, and development of various functions using IoT technology is required.

  An example of this is the high leveling of the production capacity of industrial robots used in production systems. If a system that produces the same product using a large number of industrial robots can instantly reflect the know-how and data for improving productivity gained by one robot to other industrial robots in remote locations. As a result, it is possible to greatly improve the production capacity.

  Regarding such a case, in the conventional industrial robot system, collection of data of the industrial robot used in the production system has already been attempted (for example, see Patent Document 1). There is also an example in which facility simulation is performed based on collected data (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 5 shows the above-described conventional industrial robot system, where the robot 101 is a robot used in the production system, the robot control device 102 is a control device for controlling the robot 101, and the welding machine 103 is the robot control device 102 and A welding machine connected to the PC 104, the PC 104 collects data from all robot controllers used in the production system.

  The operation of the industrial robot system configured as described above will be described. The robot control device 102 transmits execution state information of the robot 101 to the PC 104 via the welding machine 103. The PC 104 can centrally manage data of all robots used in the collected production system.

JP 2014-117720 A JP 2003-117863 A

  However, the conventional industrial robot system has not reached the point where the collected data is actually reflected in the industrial robot.

  The purpose of this disclosure is to provide an industrial robot system in which data collected from a certain industrial robot is reflected in different industrial robots so that the productivity of the industrial robots in remote locations is in the same state. To do.

  In order to solve the above problems, an industrial robot system of the present disclosure is a system including a manipulator, an industrial robot having a control device that controls the manipulator, and an external information processing device that communicates with the control device. The industrial robot includes a control unit that controls the industrial robot, a storage unit that stores the state of the industrial robot, and a communication unit that communicates with the external information processing apparatus.

  Further, the external information processing apparatus has application software for communicating with the industrial robot and a second external information processing apparatus different from the external information processing apparatus. The application software has a storage unit for storing the state of the industrial robot. In addition, a communication unit that communicates with the industrial robot and the second external information processing apparatus is included, and a storage unit and a control unit that controls the communication unit are included.

  Furthermore, the control device transmits the information obtained from the industrial robot to the external information processing device, and further reflects the information to the second industrial robot different from the industrial robot via the second external information processing device. Let

  Furthermore, the storage unit included in the application software included in the external information processing apparatus is a memory area (shared memory area) shared by a plurality of application software on the operating system of the external information processing apparatus.

  The shared memory area that is a storage unit of application software included in the external information processing apparatus has the same configuration as the shared memory area that is a storage part of application software included in the second external information processing apparatus different from the external information processing apparatus. is there.

  Furthermore, the information transmitted from the industrial robot is information (for example, acceleration / deceleration, operation speed, teaching program, etc.) that affects the production capacity of the industrial robot.

  Furthermore, information that affects the production capacity of the industrial robot stored in the shared memory area can be used by a plurality of other application software.

  As described above, according to the present disclosure, the state of one industrial robot can be reflected to another industrial robot by the external information processing apparatus and the application software included in the external information processing apparatus.

The figure which shows the whole structure in embodiment of the industrial robot system of this indication The figure which shows the processing flow of embodiment of this indication The figure which shows the structure of the application software with which external information processor is equipped The figure which shows the property of the shared memory which application software has Diagram showing the configuration of a conventional industrial robot system

(Embodiment)
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an industrial robot system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a processing flow of the embodiment. 3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating the configuration of application software provided in the external information processing apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, the robot 1 is controlled by a robot control device 2. The robot 1 is also called a manipulator. The robot control device 2 includes a control unit 3 that controls the robot 1, a storage unit 4 that stores the state of the robot 1, and a communication unit 5 that communicates with the external information processing device 6. The external information processing apparatus 6 includes application software 7, which communicates with the storage unit 8 that stores the state of the robot 1 received from the robot control apparatus 2, the robot control apparatus 2, and the external information processing apparatus 11. And a control unit 10 for controlling them.

  The external information processing apparatus 11 includes application software 12, and the application software 12 stores a storage unit 13 that stores the state of the robot 1 received from the external information processing apparatus 6, a robot control apparatus 16, and the external information processing apparatus 6. It has the communication part 14 which performs communication, and the control part 15 which controls them.

  The robot control device 16 includes a control unit 17 that controls the robot 20, a storage unit 18 that stores the state of the robot 20, and a communication unit 19 that communicates with the external information processing apparatus 11. The robot 20 is controlled by the robot control device 16.

  The robot control device 2 is connected to the external information processing device 6, the external information processing device 6 and the external information processing device 11 are connected, and the external information processing device 11 and the robot control device 16 are connected.

  The state of the robot 1 is information that affects the production capacity of the robot 1 and includes, for example, acceleration / deceleration parameters, speed parameters, welding fine adjustment parameters, and teaching programs.

  The external information processing device 6 and the external information processing device 11 are personal computers (also referred to as PCs) provided in a management room or the like in a remote place away from the industrial robot. In addition, the external information processing device 6 and the external information processing device 11 may exist in remote locations that are largely separated from each other.

  The application software 7 and the application software 12 are application software that operates on a personal computer and are the same.

  A processing flow according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. In step S1, the communication unit 5 of the robot control device 2 transmits information on the robot 1 to the external information processing device 6. In step S2, the information on the robot 1 is stored in the storage unit 8 of the external information processing device 6. In step S3, the communication unit 9 of the external information processing device 6 transmits the information of the robot 1 to the external information processing device 11, and in step S4, the storage unit 13 of the external information processing device 11 stores the information of the robot 1. Remember.

  In step S5, the control unit 17 of the robot control device 16 determines whether the robot 20 can receive the information on the robot 1, and the robot 20 can receive the information on the robot 1 (for example, not in production). In step S <b> 6, the communication unit 14 of the external information processing apparatus 11 transmits a stop request to the robot control apparatus 16. If it is not in a receivable state, the communication unit 14 of the external information processing apparatus 11 stops the information transmission processing of the robot 1 and waits until the robot 20 becomes receivable.

  In step S7, the control unit 17 of the robot control device 16 stops the robot 20, and in step S8, the communication unit 19 of the robot control device 16 transmits to the external information processing device 11 that the robot 20 has been stopped. In step S <b> 9, the communication unit 14 of the external information processing apparatus 11 transmits information on the robot 1 to the robot control apparatus 16.

  In step S10, the communication unit 19 of the robot control device 16 transmits that the information of the robot 1 has been received to the external information processing device 11, and in step S11, the robot control device 16 is stored in the storage unit 18. In step S12, the control unit 17 of the robot control device 16 restarts the robot 20. By this series of flows, the robot 1 and the robot 20 are in the same state with respect to the production work ability.

  Note that this series of processing flows can be transmitted to the robot 1 in the reverse order, that is, the state of the robot 20.

  The configuration of the application software provided in the external information processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The application software 7 has a shared memory area 21 in the storage unit 8, and the shared memory area 21 is a part of the memory area of the external information processing apparatus 6. In the shared memory area 21, information that is transmitted from the robot controller 2 and that affects the production capacity in the state of the robot 1 is stored in a certain order. For example, an acceleration / deceleration parameter is stored at address 0001 of the memory area, a speed parameter is stored at address 0002, a welding fine adjustment parameter is stored at address 0003, and a teaching program is stored at address 0004.

  The application software 12 has a shared memory area 22 in the storage unit 13, and the shared memory area 22 is a part of the memory area of the external information processing apparatus 11. In the shared memory area 22, information that is transmitted from the external information processing apparatus 6 and that affects the production capacity in the state of the robot 1 is stored in a certain order. For example, an acceleration / deceleration parameter is stored at address 0001 of the memory area, a speed parameter is stored at address 0002, a welding fine adjustment parameter is stored at address 0003, and a teaching program is stored at address 0004.

  Here, the same information is stored in the same order in the shared memory area 21 and the shared memory area 22.

  The communication unit 9 and the communication unit 14 are used for transmitting and receiving information stored in the shared memory area 21 and the shared memory area 22 between the external information processing apparatus 6 and the external information processing apparatus 11.

  The operations of the storage unit 8 and the storage unit 13, and the communication unit 9 and the communication unit 14 are controlled by the control unit 10 and the control unit 15, respectively.

  The nature of the shared memory included in the application software will be described with reference to FIG.

  The application software 23 is application software that monitors the state of the robot 1, for example, unlike the application software 7 that stores and communicates the state of the robot 1. The application software 23 includes a monitoring unit 24 that monitors various types of information and a storage unit 25 that stores various types of information.

  A part of the storage unit 25 is a shared memory area 21, that is, the shared memory area 21 is a memory area in the external information processing apparatus shared by the application software 7 and the application software 23.

  Using this property, the application software 23 can retrieve the robot 1 information stored in the shared memory area 21 at high speed.

  As described above, according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, information that affects the production capacity of a certain industrial robot can be reflected in another industrial robot.

  The industrial robot system of the present disclosure can realize high leveling of information that affects the production capacity of industrial robots at remote locations, and is useful for improving the productivity of production systems using industrial robots. is there.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Robot 2 Robot control apparatus 3 Control part 4 Storage part 5 Communication part 6 External information processing apparatus 7 Application software 8 Storage part 9 Communication part 10 Control part 11 External information processing apparatus 12 Application software 13 Storage part 14 Communication part 15 Control part 16 Robot control device 17 Control unit 18 Storage unit 19 Communication unit 20 Robot 21 Shared memory region 22 Shared memory region 23 Application software 24 Monitoring unit 25 Storage unit 101 Robot 102 Robot control device 103 Welding machine 104 PC

Claims (4)

A system having a manipulator, an industrial robot having a control device for controlling the manipulator, and an external information processing device for communicating with the control device,
The industrial robot includes a control unit that controls the industrial robot;
A storage unit for storing the state of the industrial robot;
A communication unit that communicates with the external information processing apparatus;
The external information processing apparatus includes application software for communicating with the industrial robot and a second external information processing apparatus different from the external information processing apparatus,
The application software includes a storage unit that stores the state of the industrial robot,
A communication unit that communicates with the industrial robot and the second external information processing apparatus;
A control unit for controlling the storage unit and the communication unit;
The control device transmits information obtained from the industrial robot to the external information processing device,
Furthermore, an industrial robot system that reflects information to a second industrial robot different from the industrial robot via a second external information processing apparatus. The storage unit included in the application software provided in the external information processing apparatus is a memory area (shared memory area) shared by a plurality of application software on the operating system of the external information processing apparatus.
The shared memory area which is a storage unit of application software provided in the external information processing apparatus is a shared memory which is a storage part of application software provided in a second external information processing apparatus different from the external information processing apparatus The industrial robot system according to claim 1, which has the same configuration as that of the area.   2. The industrial robot system according to claim 1, wherein the information transmitted from the industrial robot is information (for example, acceleration / deceleration, operation speed, teaching program, etc.) acting on the production capacity of the industrial robot.   2. The industrial robot system according to claim 1, wherein information that affects the production capacity of the industrial robot stored in the shared memory area can be used by a plurality of application software different from the above.

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