JP2021151696A - Information processing method, information processing device, robot device, information processing program, and computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve user interface through which input, edit and rectification of position/posture data on a robot device are performed.SOLUTION: A display device C includes a virtual environmental screen 10 on which a state of a robot 101 identified by position/posture data is virtually displayed, and a parameter setting screen 20 on which the position/posture data are numerically displayed. When operation input to change some of the position/posture data is performed at an operation input part D, the some of the position/posture data is changed in accordance with contents of the operation input. Further, on the basis of the changed some of the position/posture data, position/posture calculation for identifying a position and a posture of each site of the robot 101 is performed, and on the basis of the result of the position/posture calculation, new position/posture data are calculated. Further, on the basis of the changed some of the position/posture data and the new position/posture data, contents of the virtual display on the virtual environment screen 10 or of the numerical display on the parameter setting screen 20 of the display device C are renewed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention is an information processing method, an information processing device, and a robot device that edits a plurality of position / orientation data for specifying the position or posture of each part of the robot device and displays the state of the robot specified by the position / posture data. It relates to methods of manufacturing articles, information processing programs, and computer-readable recording media.

In recent years, for example, the development of an automatic production system that imitates the movement of a person by an industrial robot device has been progressing, and like the movement of a person, sewing is performed between obstacles arranged in the surrounding environment. It has become necessary to program (teach) to make it work. For programming (teaching) of the robot device, a device called a teaching pendant or the like, which accumulates and records position / posture data for executing the movement while actually causing the robot to perform the movement in the arrangement environment, may be used. ..

Further, for programming (teaching) of a robot device, an information processing device having a hardware configuration substantially similar to that of a PC (personal computer) may be used. An information processing device for programming (teaching) a robot device is composed of hardware such as a display device, a computer, a keyboard, and a pointing device. This type of device is configured to be able to program (teach) robot movements in the form of a programming language for robot control or in the form of numerical values of position / orientation data. The information processing device for programming (teaching) the robot device can also be used in an offline environment in which the robot device is not actually connected.

On the other hand, in order to make the robot device perform the assembly work imitating the movement of a person while considering the interference with the surrounding environment as described above, the teaching work becomes extremely complicated, the man-hours for teaching increase, and the teaching is performed. There is a tendency for mistakes to occur frequently. In particular, using the information processing device for programming (teaching) of the robot device as described above, the teaching work performed in an offline environment where the actual operation of the robot cannot be confirmed is accompanied by difficulty, and the above-mentioned man-hours are increased. It tends to cause problems such as teaching mistakes.

Here, as an example of complicated robot operation, there are a plurality of partitions in a box, and each work (part) housed in each of the different partitions is acquired (or further acquired) by a robot device. Consider the operation of the palletizing process (moving to another place). In such a palletizing operation, actually, a total of two teaching points, that is, the acquisition position and the sky position before acquisition, are required for one work housed in different positions. This teaching point is described in a format such as position / orientation data of a predetermined reference portion of the tip of the robot arm. Then, when processing a plurality of works, it is necessary to teach at least the above two teaching points for each of the works. If all of these teaching points are taught by a manual teaching operation, the larger the number of workpieces, the more man-hours for teaching, and the work becomes extremely complicated.

Therefore, as a means for simplifying the teaching, there is a teaching method in which the relative movement amount from one reference teaching point to the next teaching point is obtained from a design value or the like, and the relative value is set as an offset. According to this method, in the case of the above palletizing operation, after teaching the reference teaching point corresponding to one reference work, the teaching point corresponding to the work is taught only by setting an offset for the other work. become able to.

The following Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose techniques for setting relative values in different coordinate system directions as offsets by using means for setting relative values as offsets of the above-mentioned reference teaching points. Patent Document 1 describes a method of setting an offset of a robot with respect to the base coordinate system direction from a reference teaching point with an offset variable in an operation program and moving the robot to the position and orientation of the offset destination by performing trajectory calculation. There is. The advantage of this offset is that the robot can easily move up and down, back and forth, and left and right. However, in the case of performing an offset that makes heavy use of diagonal direction or translation and rotation, it is necessary to perform matrix calculation according to the direction and angle, and there is a problem that calculation and setting errors are likely to occur.

On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, the offset with respect to the tool coordinate system direction defined at the tip of the tool of the robot is set by the offset variable in the operation program from the reference teaching point, and the position and orientation of the offset destination are calculated by performing the trajectory calculation. Discloses how to move to. This tool coordinate system is, for example, a coordinate system whose origin is TCP (tool center point) that can be arbitrarily set by the operator. According to this method, for example, when moving the reference part in the diagonal direction, TCP is set so that the diagonal direction and one direction of the tool coordinate system are on the same straight line, and a relative value that is the amount of movement is set in one direction. Therefore, the desired diagonal movement can be realized.

By using a coordinate system other than the base coordinate system that is easy for an operator to grasp as in Patent Document 2, for example, the above-mentioned tool coordinate system, the work of setting a teaching point by inputting a numerical value or the like becomes easier, and a setting error can be made. It is thought that it can be reduced. For example, by using the above tool coordinate system, it is possible to input or edit the teaching point by the relative value information in the coordinate system that the operator can easily imagine, such as the hand direction with respect to the current posture of the robot. This facilitates data manipulation such as calculating relative value information from design values, and can reduce teaching man-hours and work mistakes. In the palletizing process, one of the acquisition positions is set as a reference teaching point, and the acquisition position and the pre-acquisition position of the remaining work are set at relatively equal intervals, for example, as offsets of the base coordinate system. You can teach by doing.

Here, there are advantages and disadvantages in the case of teaching while operating an actual robot using a teaching pendant or the like at the installation site and the case of teaching offline using an information processing device as described above. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned palletizing process, if the position and orientation after the set offset is confirmed by the robot of the actual machine, there is a possibility that the position and orientation may interfere with the partition of the box during the confirmation. On the other hand, in the information processing apparatus used offline, abundant input methods of teaching points using the above offset or the like can be prepared. Further, since it is possible to perform programming without actually operating the robot, there is an advantage that the operation can be confirmed without causing interference with the arrangement environment.

Therefore, in recent years, in an information processing device used offline, a configuration has been proposed in which teaching and operation confirmation can be performed offline. For example, instead of operating the actual machine using the created teaching data, trajectory calculation and 3D model rendering based on the teaching data are performed, and the robot by virtual display is operated in the display screen to check the operation. In Patent Document 3 below, teaching points are created in a virtual environment, an operation program is created using the created teaching points, and the motion trajectory of the robot is reproduced in the virtual environment, thereby causing the robot's motion and interference. A display device that can confirm the status and a method for creating teaching points are disclosed.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-328637 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-188485 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-117781

It is considered that if the motion trajectories created by Patent Documents 1 and 2 are reproduced in the virtual environment of Patent Document 3, a complicated position and posture state can be confirmed without using an actual robot.

However, there are some technical problems in the method of teaching (programming) a robot using such a virtual environment.

For example, in the above offset calculation and information processing using a plurality of different robot coordinate systems, the position and orientation after offset are obtained by trajectory calculation. In this case, if the position and posture after offset is within the movable range due to the hardware limitation of the robot arm, there is no problem even if the robot is actually moved. However, due to a mistake in creating an operation program, the robot may be out of the movable range of the robot in the middle of the trajectory. Further, when an orbit calculation error occurs, further confirmation display cannot be performed unless the generated error is resolved. Further, in the palletizing step, if the reference teaching point is modified, the related post-offset position / posture also changes, and the post-offset position / posture may be out of the movable range.

However, in the prior art, there is a problem that error processing cannot be sufficiently performed when the position / orientation data is changed or newly generated by offset input. For example, in information processing related to conventional robot control data (teaching data), for example, position / orientation data is stored in a storage device as a mere flat data list arranged along a time series in which a reference part of the robot is moved one after another. Often done. However, in the actual robot control data (teaching data), the change of the position / orientation data of a specific teaching point may affect the position / orientation data of another one or a plurality of teaching points. .. For example, the relationship between the reference teaching point of palletizing and other teaching points related via offset is one example.

In the prior art, the position / orientation data is often stored as a mere flat data list, so it is possible to identify where to where changes in the position / orientation data at a particular teaching point affect other position / orientation data. Is not easy. Therefore, in the conventional information processing related to robot control data (teaching data), even if the position / orientation data of a specific teaching point is changed, the trajectory calculation and the check process of whether or not the movement is within the movable range are performed. It was not easy to specify the range to do. Therefore, even if the position / orientation data of a specific teaching point is input, edited, or corrected, in the past, the operation confirmation display related to the change could not be performed immediately or sufficiently.

Also, regarding the error check of the trajectory calculation, according to the storage format of the teaching points (position / orientation data) as described above, the calculation cannot be performed unless the user specifies the range of the stored teaching points to be calculated. there is a possibility. Conventionally, it is possible to determine whether or not an orbit calculation error (for example, the position and orientation of a specific part is out of the movable range) occurs only after performing the orbit calculation for this designated range. Therefore, even if a specific teaching point is input, edited, or corrected, it is not possible to immediately check the trajectory calculation error, and the user can perform the trajectory at the timing of the input, editing, or correction. It was not possible to confirm calculation errors.

The subject of the present invention is that, in view of the above problems, when the position / orientation data of the robot device is input, edited, corrected, etc., the range of the position / orientation data having an influence can be immediately specified, and the position within the range can be specified. Make it possible to perform error checks including trajectory calculation of attitude data. Then, in the process of inputting, editing, and correcting the position / orientation data related to the teaching point, for example, by virtual display output or numerical display, the progress of the input, editing, and correction being executed can be confirmed in real time almost according to the operation. To. Further, in the input, editing, and correction of the position / orientation data, the position / orientation data can be specified by a relative value as an offset, and the robot coordinate system that can be easily grasped from a plurality of robot coordinate systems can be arbitrarily used. In addition, the data structure for storing the position / orientation data of the robot device will be improved.

One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device that sets the position or orientation of a predetermined portion of a robot device, and is used for the robot device, and has a plurality of coordinates including an absolute coordinate system and a coordinate system relative to the absolute coordinate system. In the coordinate system designating means for designating one of the coordinate systems from within the system, an input unit for inputting parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined part in any of the coordinate systems in the coordinate system, and the absolute coordinate system. It has a display unit that displays parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion, and a control unit, and the control unit inputs to the input unit when a predetermined coordinate system is designated by the coordinate system designating means. The information processing apparatus is characterized in that the parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system are displayed on the display unit based on the parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion.

Another aspect of the present invention is an information processing method of an information processing device that sets a position or orientation of a predetermined portion of a robot device, wherein the information processing device is an absolute coordinate system used with respect to the robot device and the said. A coordinate system designating means for designating one of a plurality of coordinate systems including a coordinate system relative to an absolute coordinate system, and a parameter relating to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in any of the coordinate systems. Has an input unit for inputting and a display unit for displaying parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system, and the input is made when the predetermined coordinate system is designated by the coordinate system designating means. The information processing method is characterized in that the parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system are displayed on the display unit based on the parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion input to the unit. ..

According to the above configuration, when the position / orientation data of the robot device is input, edited, corrected, etc., the range of the position / attitude data having an influence can be immediately specified, and the trajectory calculation of the position / attitude data in the range can be performed. You will be able to perform error checking including. In addition, in the process of inputting, editing, and correcting the position and orientation data related to the teaching point, the progress of input, editing, and correction being executed can be confirmed in real time almost according to the operation by virtual display output and numerical display. It is possible to reduce the work man-hours. In addition, by storing a plurality of position / orientation data of the robot device as hierarchical structure data, it is possible to appropriately automatically edit the related position / orientation data according to the operation of input, edit, and correction, and the result is virtual. It can be appropriately reflected in the display output and numerical display.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the display device which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram of the offline teaching system which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the creation of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the different parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the management screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the error screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the editing process of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the different parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the node management screen which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the editing process of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the arrangement change process of the work which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 2 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the editing process of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 3 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 3 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 3 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 3 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the editing process of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 4 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 4 of this invention. It is a flowchart which showed the editing process of the offset teaching point which concerns on Example 5 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed the virtual environment screen which concerns on Example 5 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the parameter setting screen which concerns on Example 5 of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the examples shown in the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the examples shown below are merely examples, and for example, those skilled in the art can appropriately change the detailed configuration without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Moreover, the numerical values taken up in this embodiment are merely examples of reference numerical values.

Hereinafter, an example of an information processing device and an information processing method for teaching (programming) a robot device adopting the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10.

1 and 2 show the configuration of the information processing device A according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing device A of this embodiment can be configured by, for example, a personal computer (personal computer) B equipped with a display device C and an operation input unit D as user interfaces. As the operation input unit D, a mouse, a trackpad or other pointing device, and an operation device such as a keyboard can be used.

The display device C is composed of a display device such as an LCD (or a display device according to another display method). The display device C can also be configured by laminating a so-called touch panel on the display surface thereof. In that case, an input operation equivalent to that of a pointing device of the operation input unit D or an operation device such as a keyboard can be performed by the touch panel, and in some cases, the operation input unit D can be omitted.

The information processing device A of this embodiment can be used mainly for inputting, editing, and changing teaching data of the robot device in an offline environment rather than an online environment in which the robot device is actually connected and operated. It is configured so that it can be done. The information processing device A of the present embodiment is configured so that the operation of inputting, editing, and changing the teaching data of the robot device can be performed by the operation input unit D, and the display device C is an offline teaching system as shown in FIG. 1, for example. Display screen E can be displayed.

The display screen E of FIG. 1 has a configuration including at least a virtual environment screen 10, a parameter setting screen 20, and a management screen 40.

The virtual environment screen 10, the parameter setting screen 20, and the management screen 40 can be configured as a graphic user interface (GUI). In that case, the display objects (menus, input fields for numerical values and characters, virtual display of the robot arm, etc.) constituting the display screen E can be operated by a pointing device (or the above touch panel) such as a mouse of the operation input unit D. It is composed. Since the details of the implementation method of such a GUI environment are generally known, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

On the virtual environment screen 10 (virtual environment display unit), a virtual environment that reproduces the same arrangement environment as the actual robot device programmed (taught) by this device is displayed. For example, the virtual environment screen 10 virtually displays the state of the robot 101 device specified by the position / orientation data by a 3D model representation such as a 3D CAD model. In that case, the 3D of the robot 101 in the position and orientation specified by the position and orientation data in the virtual space imitating the operating environment of the robot 101 by the display control function for controlling the display device C of the CPU (33) described later, for example. Render the image for virtual display. Since the (image) display control for virtually displaying the robot 101 from the position / orientation data by 3D CAD model representation or the like is known, detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

In the case of FIG. 1, a robot 101 corresponding to an actual robot device programmed (teaching) by the present device, a tool 102 attached to the tip of the robot 101, and a work 103 are arranged and displayed on the virtual environment screen 10. In this embodiment, when the user (worker) inputs or edits the robot program or teaching data (position / posture data), the display of the virtual environment on the virtual environment screen 10 is updated according to the change. As a result, the user (worker) can easily confirm the contents of input and editing through the display of the virtual environment on the virtual environment screen 10.

In many robot devices, coordinate data is used to represent position / orientation data. Coordinate data in several different coordinate systems are used to represent this coordinate data. For example, in the robot 101 handled by this device, the base coordinate system 104 (absolute coordinate system 100) and the tool coordinate system 105 are used. In this embodiment, the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 is arranged at a position that coincides with the absolute coordinate system 100 of the virtual environment. Further, a tool coordinate system 105 exists at the tip of the tool 102. These coordinate systems are three-dimensional coordinate systems, and the coordinate axes of the three axes (X, Y, Z) can be displayed as needed in the virtual environment screen 10.

In the virtual environment screen 10 illustrated in FIG. 1, a reference teaching point 106 is displayed above the work 103. The teaching point 106 is, for example, an already input teaching point. Here, for example, consider an operation in which the tool 102 is lowered from the teaching point 106 to approach the work 103.

In this case, for example, a method of teaching the offset teaching point 107 set by using a relative value offset from the reference teaching point 106 on the upper surface of the work 103 is used. In this case, the relative value of the offset used with respect to the teaching point 106 is expressed by a numerical value such as a movement amount (distance) in the Z-axis direction. In the virtual environment screen 10 of FIG. 1, the position / posture of the robot 101 is the position / posture when the predetermined portion (for example, the gripping center of the tool 102, the center of the tool mounting surface, etc.) coincides with the reference teaching point 106. Is displayed.

Further, the parameter setting screen 20 is displayed in the display screen E of the display device C. In this embodiment, the parameter setting screen 20 also has a function of a parameter display unit that displays numerical values of position / orientation data and a function of a parameter setting unit that sets the value by GUI operation. On the parameter setting screen 20, parameters representing the current position and orientation of the robot 101 are displayed at each display position in the form of numerical representation. The display position of the numerical value corresponding to each parameter of the parameter setting screen 20 is configured as, for example, a so-called input box for inputting a numerical value (character). Numerical values (or characters) in the input boxes of these parameters are configured so that they can be newly input or the already input values can be changed by operating the operation input unit D. The details of the hardware and software for realizing the user interface using such an input box are known, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The teaching data (the substance of the teaching point and the position / orientation data numerical data) that controls the robot device (robot 101) and the model information for modeling or rendering in the virtual environment screen 10 by 3D model representation or the like are in the form of hierarchical data. Store and manage with.

The RAM 35b of the storage device 35 and the external storage device 35c are used as storage means for storing a plurality of position / orientation data. For example, when different parts of the robot 101 have a specific dependency specified by the structure of the robot device, a plurality of position / orientation data corresponding to the different parts are stored in the storage device 35 as hierarchical structure data.

The structure and contents of this hierarchical structure data will be understood, for example, through the explanation of the management screen 40 (management display unit) below.

That is, in this embodiment, the management screen 40 (management display unit) for displaying the data structure of the teaching data (teaching point and position / orientation data) and the model information is displayed on the display screen E of the display device C. .. On the management screen 40, the model information and the teaching point information displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 are collectively node-managed, and the state is displayed in the form of a so-called dendrogram.

In the node management related to the teaching data and model information in this embodiment, the model information of the top root is set to the absolute coordinate system 100 (ROOT), and the relation between a plurality of model information in a branch and a hierarchical structure from the absolute coordinate system (100). Use the data structure that indicates. In the data structure of the position / orientation data of this embodiment, the model close to the root is called the parent model, and the model close to the leaves is called the child model.

It is assumed that the information managed as the association holds the relative value information which is the relationship between the model information of the parent and the child and the position and attitude of the model from the parent to the child. However, the information managed by the node management related to the teaching data and model information of this embodiment is not limited to the relative value information. For example, the absolute value information corresponding to the position and orientation of the model from the root to the child may be stored.

In the (hierarchical) node-type data storage format for managing the teaching data and model information in this embodiment, the data of each node is stored in the memory after being related via, for example, an address pointer. You can use the linked list format and so on. Alternatively, when the teaching data and model information are stored in a file system on an external storage device such as an HDD or SSD, the data storage format in various relational database systems may be used.

Throughout this specification, the display of the management screen 40 is treated as a visual display of a hierarchical tree structure composed of nodes of teaching data (position / posture data) stored on the storage device 35. At the same time, the illustration of the management screen 40 may be considered as a memory map display of the teaching data (position / posture data) of the tree structure stored on the storage device 35.

According to the above node management, when the relative value information that is the position and orientation of the parent model is changed, the child model holds the relative value information corresponding to the position and orientation of the model from the parent to the child. Therefore, it can follow the model of the parent.

In the data structure displayed on the management screen 40 of FIG. 1, the robot 101 (ROBOT) and the work 103 (Work) are located below the model information of the child of the absolute coordinate system 100 (ROOT). Further, the tool 102 (Tool) and the tool coordinate system 105 (TCP) are located in the model information of the child of the robot 101. Further, teaching points are associated with the child model of the robot 101. For example, as one of the models of the children of the robot 101, the reference teaching point 106 (P001) is associated with it. Further, an offset teaching point 107 (P100) is associated with the model of the child of the reference teaching point 106.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the control system configured by the personal computer (personal computer) B of the information processing device A of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer B constituting the information processing device A of FIG. 1 includes a CPU 33, a storage device 35 including a ROM 35a, a RAM 35b, an external storage device 35c, and the like in terms of hardware. Further, the personal computer B includes an interface 32a for connecting to the operation input unit D, an interface 32b for connecting to the display device C, and an interface 36 for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external device in the form of, for example, a file F. These interfaces are composed of, for example, various serial buses, parallel buses, network interfaces, and the like.

Although the calculation unit 34 is shown together with the CPU 33 in FIG. 2, the calculation unit 34 is actually realized by the CPU 33 executing a control program for performing a control calculation described later. On the display device C, a GUI format display screen E composed of the above-mentioned virtual environment screen 10, parameter setting screen 20, management screen 40, and the like is displayed. The operation input unit D constitutes a GUI (graphical user interface) together with the display screen E of the display device C, and receives the user's GUI operation by the pointing device or keyboard of the operation input unit D.

The CPU 33 controls the entire system of the information processing device A. The CPU 33 performs a control calculation of the calculation unit 34 based on the input and editing operations performed by the operation input unit D. The control calculation of the calculation unit 34 generates display control information for updating the display of the display device C, and also updates the teaching data and model information stored in the storage device 35.

The storage device 35 stores the 3D CAD model information, the arrangement environment information, the teaching data, and the like displayed on the virtual environment screen 10. In particular, teaching data and model information are stored in the above (hierarchical) node format. Various data stored in the storage device 35 are output in response to a request from the CPU 33, and are updated in response to a request from the CPU 33.

Further, in response to a request from an external device or a specific operation in the operation input unit D, the CPU 33 can transmit various data stored in the storage device 35 from the interface 36 in the form of a file F. Further, the file F can be read from the outside via the interface 36 as needed. For example, at the time of starting the information processing device A or in the restore process, the file F output in the past from an external device (for example, an external storage device such as an external HDD, SDD, NAS) is read, and the storage device 35 is updated. , The previous state of memory can be reproduced.

In this embodiment, the storage area of the storage device 35 that stores the teaching data and model information of the robot 101 is arbitrary, for example, a predetermined area on the RAM 35b or an external storage device 35c (corresponding to a predetermined file). A storage area can be used.

The above is an example of the overall configuration of the information processing device A. In the above, as an example of a system suitable for offline teaching, a hardware configuration such as a personal computer B has been illustrated. However, the information processing device A is not limited to the offline teaching system, and may have a hardware configuration such as a teaching pendant installed in the field together with the robot device. In that case, if the display device of the teaching pendant is configured to display a virtual environment screen equivalent to the above, the configuration equivalent to that of the present embodiment can be implemented.

Next, as an example of the creation and editing process in this embodiment, the creation and editing process of the offset teaching point 107 in the above configuration will be described. Regarding the creation / editing process of the offset teaching point 107, different processes and displays are performed according to the operations performed by the GUI of the operation input unit D and the display device C.

For example, in this type of information processing apparatus A, with respect to the offset teaching point 107 of FIG. 1, it is necessary to be able to input or edit the position / orientation data using the coordinate values in different coordinate systems. In addition, it is necessary to be able to cope with the case where the user switches the coordinate system used for the parameter display once the position / orientation data is input, or the user edits the position / orientation data of the teaching point 106 which is the original reference. There is.

Therefore, in the following, the following four cases will be described with respect to the process of creating / editing the offset teaching point 107. These are the creation / editing of "when the tool coordinate system 105 is selected", "when the base coordinate system 104 is selected", "when the coordinate system is switched", and "when the reference teaching point 106 is edited". It is a process.

(Creation of offset teaching points using the tool coordinate system)
First, the first case, the tool coordinate system 105 is selected, and the procedure and processing for creating the offset teaching point 107 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5 and 7 to 8. In this example, an offset teaching point 107 that is offset by "30 mm" in the Z-axis direction from the reference teaching point 106 is created.

FIG. 3 shows the flow of the control procedure executed by the CPU 33 when the offset teaching point 107 is newly created. The illustrated procedure is in the form of a program that can be executed by the CPU 33, and can be stored in, for example, the ROM 35a of the storage device 35 or the external storage device 35c. This point is the same in the control procedure shown in other flowcharts described later.

The ROM 35a corresponds to a recording medium that can be read by a computer (CPU 33) for storing an information processing program as described later. The CPU 33 executes robot control including torque control as described later by executing an information processing program stored in the ROM 35a, for example. A part of the ROM 35a can be configured by a rewritable non-volatile area such as an E (E) PROM. In that case, the non-volatile area can be configured by a computer-readable memory device (recording medium) such as a flash memory or an optical disk (not shown). For example, the information processing program can be installed or updated by exchanging the memory device. It is possible. It is also possible to newly install the information processing program acquired via the network or the like in the above-mentioned rewritable non-volatile area. Further, the information processing program stored in the rewritable non-volatile area can be updated by the data acquired via the computer-readable recording medium, the network, or the like.

4 (a) to 4 (d) show the display state on the virtual environment screen 10 of the robot 101 involved in the creation / editing process of the offset teaching point 107. Although the display is similar to a perspective view from the front in FIG. 1, the display from the side is adopted in the display of the virtual environment screens 10 in FIGS. 4 (a) to 4 (d) in order to facilitate understanding. ..

FIG. 4A shows the initial posture of the robot 101, and shows the position and posture at the start of the process of creating the offset teaching point 107 of FIG. The reference teaching point 106 is, for example, a teaching point represented by a relative value from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101, and is assumed to have already been created here.

Further, FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) (the same applies to FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (d) described later) show the GUI during the creation / editing process of the offset teaching point 107, particularly the input and display on the parameter setting screen 20. Indicates the state of.

In the processing procedure of FIG. 3, in step S0, a process of performing a predetermined operation on the operation input unit D and creating a new offset teaching point 107 is specified. In creating the offset teaching point (107), the parameter setting screen 20 as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5D is used.

On the parameter setting screens 20 of FIGS. 5A to 5D, the absolute value setting unit 201, the relative value setting unit 202, the teaching point setting unit 203, and the coordinate system selection unit 204 are displayed. In the initial state of FIG. 5A, the operation of creating a new offset teaching point has not been performed yet, and no parameter has been input yet.

The absolute value setting unit 201 is used, for example, for inputting an absolute coordinate value in an absolute coordinate system (for example, a base coordinate system 104). Further, the relative value setting unit 202 is used for inputting a relative coordinate value in, for example, a relative coordinate system (for example, a tool coordinate system 105). The coordinate system selection unit 204 provides a coordinate system designating means for designating one of the different coordinate systems used for the robot 101 as the coordinate system used when displaying the coordinate values corresponding to the position / orientation data on the parameter setting screen 20. Constitute.

In creating a new offset teaching point, it is necessary to set a reference teaching point (106). When setting the reference teaching point 106 (teaching point setting means, step S1 in FIG. 3), the setting operation of the reference teaching point 106 is performed as shown in FIG. 5 (a).

For example, the user clicks the teaching point setting unit 203 of FIG. 5A with the mouse cursor 205 of the operation input unit D. In response to this, the CPU 33 controls the display device C to display the selectable teaching point list 206 by using the teaching point setting unit 203 of the parameter setting screen 20 as, for example, a pull-down menu. The user (worker) can select the reference teaching point 106 from the teaching point list 206 by clicking the mouse or the like.

When the selection of the reference teaching point 106 is completed in this way, the CPU 33 reads out the parameter of the selected teaching point "P001" recorded in the storage device 35, and displays the display screen E of the display device C based on the read parameter. Update. Specifically, the display of the "reference" in the teaching point list 206 is switched to the display corresponding to the teaching point "P001" as shown in FIG. 5 (b).

At this time, at the same time, the display on the virtual environment screen 10 of the display device C can be updated as shown in FIG. 4B, for example. FIG. 4B shows the position and orientation of the robot 101 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 of the updated display device C from the side. In the virtual environment screen 10 of FIG. 4B, the position / posture in which the reference portion of the arm of the robot 101 coincides with the (reference) teaching point 106 is displayed.

In this embodiment, any coordinate system can be selected to input the new offset teaching point 107 (coordinate system selection means, step S2).

For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, the user clicks the coordinate system selection unit 204 with the mouse cursor 205. In response to this, the CPU 33 controls the display device C to display the selectable coordinate system list 207 by using the coordinate system selection unit 204 of the parameter setting screen 20 as, for example, a pull-down menu. The user (worker) can select the coordinate system in the coordinate system list 207 displayed on the coordinate system selection unit 204. Here, the user selects, for example, the tool coordinate system 105 from the coordinate system list 207.

As shown in FIGS. 5A to 5D, the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202 are displayed on the parameter setting screen 20 (on the left side). The user can numerically input the position / orientation data in the designated coordinate system with respect to the teaching points designated as described above by using the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202. As the position / orientation data, the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202 are designated by, for example, three-dimensional coordinate values and an angle of rotation around the axis as indicated by X, Y, Z, α, β, and γ. Can be done. Of these, the unit of the coordinate value is, for example, mm, and the Euler angle ZYX (αβγ) is used for the rotation angle around the axis.

At this stage, the user can set a relative value that is an offset of the new offset teaching point 107 (parameter setting means, step S3).

The upper part of the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202 is a teaching point name setting unit 212 for inputting and displaying the teaching point name to be created. Here, the user inputs a desired teaching point name (for example, "P100" in the example of FIG. 5) in the teaching point name setting unit 212. Further, at this stage, the teaching point name setting unit 212 may display the teaching point name automatically generated by the CPU 33 in a state of being input.

Further, in the input of the new offset teaching point 107, the initial state of all the fields of the relative value setting unit 202 is 0 (FIG. 5 (b)), and at this time, the absolute value setting unit 201 serves as a reference, for example. The same value (copy) as the position / orientation data of the teaching point 106 can be displayed.

Further, at this stage, as described above, the reference portion of the arm coincides with the (reference) teaching point 106 as shown in FIG. 4B, and the offset with respect to the teaching point 106 (P001) can be specified. Can use, for example, the tool coordinate system 105. Therefore, here, using the tool coordinate system 105 (designated as described above), the offset teaching point 107 offset by the above-mentioned "30 mm" in the Z-axis direction is designated and created.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, the user selects the setting field 208 corresponding to the Z coordinate value field of the relative value setting unit 202 by using the mouse of the operation input unit D, and from the keyboard of the operation input unit D. Enter the value of "30" and press the [Enter] key on the same keyboard.

The CPU 33 updates the contents of the memory area corresponding to the relative value setting unit 202 arranged in the storage device 35, for example, RAM, in response to the numerical input to the relative value setting unit 202. That is, when an operation input for changing a part of the position / posture data is performed by the operation input unit D, the part of the position / posture data is changed according to the content of the operation input (first calculation step).

When the [Enter] key is pressed on the keyboard of the operation input unit D, the position / orientation calculation of the calculation unit 34 configured by the software of the CPU 33 is started (posture calculation means).

Here, first, it is determined whether the coordinate system selected for the offset teaching point 107 is the tool coordinate system 105 (step S4 in FIG. 3). When the coordinate system selected here is the tool coordinate system 105, the process proceeds to step S5, and the posture calculation process of the tool coordinate system 105 is executed (joint value calculation process, step S5).

Here, the joint value is joint data that is expressed by the bending (rotation) angle of a certain joint of the robot 101 and specifies the position (or posture) of the joint. In this embodiment, such joint data is used in the middle of calculation for checking constraint errors described later, but the joint data is explicitly input and edited as a part of the position / posture data. An example of this will be described in Example 5 described later.

Here, the calculation when the tool coordinate system 105 is selected is performed by the following equation (1) (coordinate transformation). Here, the relative value from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 to the offset teaching point 107 is calculated from the product _{of the attitude matrix T 1} of the relative value of the reference teaching point 106 and the attitude matrix T _{2 of the relative value serving as the offset.} The attitude matrix T ₃ is calculated.

Here, the attitude matrix T is a matrix of 4 rows and 4 columns as shown in the following equation (2), and the parameters from 1 row / 1 column to 3 rows / 3 columns are the rotation matrix R and 4 columns from 1 row to 3 rows. The eyes are the position matrix P, the 4th row / 1st column to the 4th row / 3rd column is the 0 matrix, and the 4th row / 4th column is 1.

Then, the inverse kinematics calculation is performed from the calculation result of the equation (1), and the joint value of each axis of the robot 101 is calculated. That is, in step S5 (or S6 described later), the CPU 33 determines the position or posture of each part of the robot device based on the position / posture data of a part (of the offset teaching point 107) changed in the first calculation step. Perform a position / orientation calculation to specify each. Based on the result of this position / posture calculation, new position / posture data (for example, joint value) is obtained (second calculation step).

Further, the CPU 33 updates the display on the display screen E of the display device C based on the inverse kinematics calculation result (steps S7 to S9 in FIG. 3). That is, the CPU 33 updates the display of the display screen E of the display device C based on a part of the position / orientation data changed in the first calculation process and the new position / orientation data calculated in the second calculation process. (Display update process).

In the display update of the display screen E of the display device C, for example, the contents of the management screen 40 of the display device C, the virtual display of the virtual environment screen 10, or the numerical display of the parameter setting screen 20 are updated. Prior to updating the display screen E of the display device C, whether or not each joint value corresponding to the position / posture data calculated in the second calculation step is within the constraint determined by the hardware specifications of the actual robot 101 or the like. Perform an error check (step S7 below).

In step S7, it is determined whether each joint value of the offset teaching point 107 is within the constraint determined by the hardware specifications (or further operational rules) of the actual robot 101 (constraint determination process). For example, in an actual robot device, the range of rotation angles that a certain joint can take may be restricted to a specific range, and whether or not each joint value of the robot 101 falls within such a constraint range. To judge. It is assumed that the constraint conditions such as the movable range of the robot 101 are stored in advance in the ROM 35a, the RAM 35b, the external storage device 35c, or the like in an appropriate storage format.

If the result of the determination in step S7 is within the constraint, the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C (normal system display process, S9). Here, the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 and the contents of the parameter setting screen 20 are updated. Here, the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 coincides with the absolute coordinate system 100 as described above. Therefore, as for the update content, the relative value from the base coordinate system 104 to the offset teaching point 107 is displayed on the absolute value setting unit 201, and the calculation result of the joint value of each axis of the robot 101 by the inverse kinematics calculation is displayed on the virtual environment screen 10. Reflect and update.

Further, in the update of the display screen E of the display device C, the entire GUI (virtual environment screen 10, parameter setting screen 20 or further management screen 40) including the changed part and the non-changed part is updated. As a result, for example, the parameter setting screen 20 is updated as shown in FIG. 4 (c).

FIG. 4C shows the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 of the display device C after the update. As is clear from FIG. 4 (b), in FIG. 4 (c), the display of the robot 101 is changed to a position / posture in which the reference portion of the arm is located at the offset teaching point 107. In FIG. 4C, what is shown as d30 is the offset amount of 30 mm described above.

Further, FIG. 5D shows the display of the parameter setting screen 20 of the display screen E of the display device C after the update. If no error has occurred in step S7, the parameter of the offset teaching point 107 is updated as shown in the figure.

As described above, when the input is input to the relative value setting unit 202 using the operation input unit D, the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 and the display of the parameter setting screen 20 are immediately updated, and a new offset teaching point is obtained. The position / orientation and parameters in 107 can be confirmed.

Therefore, the user (worker) can simply visually recognize the display screen E of the display device C even if the robot device is not actually connected to the information processing device A or the robot device of the actual machine is not operated. You can check the validity of the input (edit) operation. As a result, it is possible to reduce the man-hours required for confirming the validity of the input (editing) operation that was conventionally required.

On the other hand, in step S7, as a result of the position / orientation calculation, for example, if any of the joint values is out of the hardware constraint, the CPU 33 displays an error that the posture cannot be taken on the display device C (abnormal display processing). , S8). For example, the error screen 50 to be displayed at this time may be as shown in FIG. The error screen 50 of FIG. 8 indicates that the reaching posture is outside the limit constraint and an error has occurred by means of a character string and a graphic symbol.

When displaying this screen, the CPU 33 clears the numerical value of the offset teaching point 107 on the parameter setting screen 20 and returns to the state before the relative value input (for example, FIG. 5A or FIG. 5B). After that, in the case of the control of FIG. 3, since the process returns to the editing (input) operation of the relative value in step S3, it is possible to perform operations such as changing the input value of the offset teaching point 107 in the same manner as described above.

That is, the CPU 33 determines whether or not the position / posture data obtained as a result of the calculation in the second calculation step is within the constraints of the mechanism of the robot 101. If the position / orientation data exceeds the range of the restrictions of the mechanism of the robot device, error information (for example, error screen 50) for notifying an editing error is generated.

Subsequently, the user who visually recognizes the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 and the display of the parameter setting screen 20 performs an operation of confirming whether or not the desired reaching posture is achieved (step S10). In step S10, when the offset teaching point 107 is the target reaching posture, the confirmation operation of selecting and clicking the confirmation button 209 with the mouse cursor is performed. This confirmation operation completes the creation of the offset teaching point 107. As a result, the CPU 33 stores the information of the fixed offset teaching point 107 in the storage device 35.

As described above, the creation of the new offset teaching point 107 is completed (recording means, step S11 in FIG. 3). As the information to be recorded in the storage device 35, for example, three pieces of information, that is, the information of the reference teaching point 106, the information of the selected coordinate system, and the offset information are used as (related) information of the offset teaching point 107, and this information. Is recorded in the storage device 35. Alternatively, the storage device 35 may further include tag information related to a data class or the like indicating that the information of the teaching point is relative "offset" information. According to such a storage format, it can be specified that the offset teaching point 107 is defined with the teaching point 106 as a reference, that is, the teaching point 107 is data subordinate to the teaching point 106.

Regarding the creation of the new offset teaching point 107, the display of the management screen 40 can also be updated under the control of the CPU 33. Here, FIGS. 7A and 7B show the display state of the management screen 40 before the offset teaching point 107 is created and after the offset teaching point 107 is created, respectively. In FIG. 7A, the nodes of the teaching points 106 of P001, P010, and P020, and the nodes of TCP (105) and Tool (102) are hierarchized in the tree of the robot 101.

Then, when the new offset teaching point 107 is normally created as described above, the node of the new offset teaching point 107 is newly created below the teaching point 106 which is the reference of the node management screen 40. In this way, the node of the new offset teaching point 107 is displayed below the reference teaching point 106. As a result, the user can very clearly recognize that the offset teaching point 107 is a (offset) teaching point having a child-dependent relationship with the node of the parent teaching point 106.

Each node of the management screen 40 of FIG. 7 can be used as a button (or icon) on the GUI for selecting the node. For example, when each node of the management screen 40 is clicked with a mouse or the like, the CPU 33 determines that the editing operation of the (position / posture) data of the node is specified. For example, when editing the offset teaching point 107, the user can start (re) editing the offset teaching point 107 by clicking the offset teaching point 107 on the management screen 40 with the mouse cursor.

The position / orientation data stored in the storage device 35 uses the interface 36 in the file F format in units of the entire tree (for example, the entire tree of FIG. 7) or a specific part specified by the operation input unit D. It can be output to an external device via (input / output means).

The file F output in this way can be read by the interface 36 at a later date. As a result, when, for example, the entire tree (for example, the entire tree of FIG. 7) is read from the file F, the state of the system at the time when the position / orientation data of the file F is created can be restored. For example, in response to the reading of the file F, the CPU 33 displays the management screen 40 of FIG. 7 (b), and when the offset teaching point 107 is selected from the management screen 40, the states of FIGS. 4 (c) and 5 (d) are displayed. Can be reproduced.

Further, the file F can be arranged (converted) into a shared format with the controller of the actual robot device and output from the interface 36. As a result, the teaching data created by the information processing device A can be directly input to the robot device of the actual machine.

Here, for example, the interface of the controller of the actual robot device may be composed of an operation program and offset variables. In such a case, the CPU 33 outputs the information of the reference teaching point 106 as the teaching point information and the information of the offset teaching point 107 as the offset editing information of the operation program via the file F. The form is conceivable.

Further, it is also conceivable that the interface of the teaching point information of the controller of the actual robot device uses only the relative value information from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot. In such a case, the CPU 33 calculates the product of the offset teaching point 107 and the reference teaching point 106, converts all the teaching point information into relative values from the robot's base coordinate system 104, and then files F. Can be output via.

As described above, various actual robot devices (or controllers) are subjected to necessary format conversion when inputting / outputting data to / from an external device, particularly an actual robot device, via the interface 36 and the file F. Can be supported.

To stop the creation of the offset teaching point 107, click the cancel button 210 at the upper right of the parameter setting screen 20 in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) with a mouse cursor or the like. When the cancel button 210 is clicked, the CPU 33 deletes the information regarding the offset teaching point 107 and updates the display screen E of the display device C to the state before the offset teaching point 107 is created.

As described above, a new offset teaching point 107 can be created.

(Creation of offset teaching points using the base coordinate system)
Next, in the second case, the procedure and process for creating the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system 104 is selected from the reference teaching point 106 and the offset is "-30 mm" in the Z-axis direction are shown in FIG. 6A. This will be described with reference to (d). 6 (a) to 6 (d) show the transition of the GUI of the parameter setting screen 20 in the same manner as in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d). The control procedure when the base coordinate system 104 is used is described in a part of FIG. 3 described above.

FIG. 6A shows a setting operation of the reference teaching point 106, and the reference teaching point 106 is selected by using the teaching point setting unit 203 as in the above-described FIG. 5A, for example, as in a pull-down menu. (Teaching point setting means, step S1 in FIG. 3).

Next, the base coordinate system 104 is selected (coordinate system selection means, step S2). FIG. 6B shows a coordinate system selection operation, and here, similarly to FIG. 5B described above, the coordinate system selection unit 204 is used to select the base coordinate system 104, for example, as in a pull-down menu. (Coordinate system selection means, step S2).

In this way, the selection of the reference teaching point 106 and the selection of the coordinate system (base coordinate system 104) used for input are completed, and the preparation necessary for setting the relative value to be the offset of the offset teaching point 107 is completed. ..

Next, a relative value to be an offset is set (parameter setting means, S3). FIG. 6C shows a situation in which the relative value setting unit 202 is set in the setting field 208. Here, the Z-axis setting field 208 of the relative value setting unit 202 is clicked with the mouse cursor. Enter the numerical value "-30" in the Z-axis setting field 208 of the relative value setting unit 202 with the keyboard operated by the operation input unit D, and press the [Enter] key.

Note that this offset input value is equivalent to the example of offset input 30 mm below using the tool coordinate system described above. The sign of the offset "30" is different because the coordinate system used for the input is the tool coordinate system in the above example and the base coordinate system in this example. That is, the reason why a positive value of 30 (mm) is input in the above-mentioned example is that in the above-mentioned tool coordinate system, the front of the tool is usually taken in the positive direction of the Z-axis. Also, in this example, -30 (mm) and a negative value are input because in the base coordinate system, the Z axis (upper in FIG. 4) is in the positive direction, so the downward offset is a negative value. This is to become.

The CPU 33 updates the contents of the memory area corresponding to the relative value setting unit 202 arranged in the storage device 35, for example, RAM, in response to the numerical input to the relative value setting unit 202. That is, when an operation input for changing a part of the position / posture data is performed by the operation input unit D, the part of the position / posture data is changed according to the content of the operation input (first calculation step).

Subsequently, when the user presses the [Enter] key on the keyboard of the operation input unit D, the CPU 33 executes the position / orientation calculation by the function of the calculation unit 34 (posture calculation means).

Here, first, it is determined whether the selected coordinate system is the tool coordinate system 105 (step S4 in FIG. 3). In this example, since the base coordinate system 104 is selected, the process proceeds from steps S4 to S6, and the position / orientation calculation of the base coordinate system 104 is performed (step S6).

For example, in the case of the position / orientation calculation of the base coordinate system 104, the attitude matrix is divided into a position matrix and a rotation matrix for calculation, and finally the calculation is performed in the procedure of obtaining the product of the calculation results.

First, the attitude matrix T ₁ of the relative value to the teaching point 106 as a reference from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 calculates the sum of the attitude matrix T ₂ of the position matrix of relative value as the offset of the offset teaching point 107 , The attitude matrix T _mp1 is created (Equation (3) below). The rotation matrix R _tmp1 at this time is set to 0.

Then, from the attitude matrix _{T 2} of the relative values as the offset of the offset teaching point 107, the position matrix P2 to create the posture matrix _{T tmp2} which is 0 (the following equation (4)).

Then, from the attitude matrix _{T 1} of the relative value to the teaching point 106 as a reference from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101, the position matrix P1 creating a posture matrix _{T tmp3} which is 0 (the following equation (5)) ..

Then, equation (3), (4), than the product of (5), calculates the posture matrix _{T 3} relative values from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 to offset the teaching point 107 (the following formula (6) ).

Further, an inverse kinematics calculation is performed from the calculation result of the equation (6), and the joint value of each axis of the robot 101 is calculated. That is, in step S6, the CPU 33 specifies the position or posture of each part of the robot device based on the position / posture data of a part (of the offset teaching point 107) changed in the first calculation step. Perform the calculation. Based on the result of this position / posture calculation, new position / posture data (for example, joint value) is obtained (second calculation step).

By the above position / orientation calculation, the offset teaching point 107 when the base coordinate system 104 is selected can be obtained.

In the control of FIG. 3, the determination as to whether or not it is within the constraint range of the following steps S7 to S11 is executed in the same manner as in the case of inputting the offset teaching point 107 using the tool coordinate system 105 described above. The error processing related to the determination of whether or not it is within the constraint range (for example, the message display in FIG. 8: step S8) can be performed in the same manner as described above.

If no error has occurred after the position / orientation calculation (step S6) in the base coordinate system, in step S9 of FIG. 3, the virtual environment screen 10 of the display device C, the parameter setting screen 20, or the management screen 40 is displayed. Update the display. The state at this time is the same as FIGS. 4 (b) to (c), FIG. 5 (c), or FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b) described when the above-mentioned tool coordinate system is used. Further, the confirmation by the user in step S10 and the confirmation operation in S11 are the same as in the case of using the tool coordinate system described above (FIG. 5 (d)).

That is, the CPU 33 updates the display of the display screen E of the display device C based on a part of the position / orientation data changed in the first calculation process and the new position / orientation data calculated in the second calculation process. (Display update process).

As described above, the base coordinate system 104 can be selected to create the offset teaching point 107. Then, at the same time as the offset teaching point 107 is created, the display of the virtual environment screen 10, the parameter setting screen 20, or the management screen 40 of the display device C is updated, so that the position and orientation and the parameters at the new offset teaching point 107 are confirmed. can.

Therefore, the user (worker) can simply visually recognize the display screen E of the display device C even if the robot device is not actually connected to the information processing device A or the robot device of the actual machine is not operated. You can check the validity of the input (edit) operation. As a result, it is possible to reduce the man-hours required for confirming the validity of the input (editing) operation that was conventionally required.

(Editing the offset teaching point 107 and switching the coordinate system)
Next, the third case, the control when the created offset teaching point 107 is edited and the coordinate system is switched, will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 shows a control procedure when the coordinate system of the input offset teaching point 107 is switched.

In the past, when it became necessary to switch the coordinate system, the worker (user) calculated the matrix and calculated the parameters, but human error such as an input error of the calculated numerical value may occur. rice field. Therefore, as shown in this example, according to the configuration in which the relative value parameter in the direction of the coordinate system automatically switched when the coordinate system is switched is calculated, such an artificial calculation error can be reduced. .. Hereinafter, a case where the base coordinate system 104 and the tool coordinate system 105 are switched will be described. Here, first, the processing when the tool coordinate system 105 is switched to the base coordinate system 104 will be considered.

The start of editing the offset teaching point 107 (step S12 in FIG. 9) is, for example, the offset teaching point 107 (P100) already input as described above with the mouse of the operation input unit D on the management screen 40 (FIG. 7 (b)). ) Is selected.

Next, the tool coordinate system 105 is switched to the base coordinate system 104 (coordinate system selection means, step S13). For example, when the coordinate system selection unit 204 of the parameter setting screen 20 of FIGS. 5 (b) (FIG. 6 (b)) is clicked with the mouse of the operation input unit D, the coordinate system list 207 is displayed. Here, the tool coordinate system 105 is switched to the base coordinate system 104 using the coordinate system list 207.

When the coordinate system selection unit 204 of the parameter setting screen 20 switches to the base coordinate system 104 (step S13 in FIG. 9), the position / orientation calculation accompanied by the coordinate system conversion is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 as follows. (Posture calculation means: S15 in the case of this example).

First, it is determined whether the selected coordinate system is the tool coordinate system 105 (step S4), and if the base coordinate system 104 is selected here, the process proceeds from steps S4 to S15, and the relative value calculation of the base coordinate system 104 is executed. (Relative value calculation process, step S15).

In the relative value calculating in the base coordinate system 104, first, the equation (1), calculates the posture matrix T ₃ relative values from the base coordinate system 104 to offset teaching point 107. Then, the equation (5), calculates the posture matrix _{T tmp3} the position matrix P1 of the posture matrix _{T 1} of the relative values of the base coordinate system 104 to the teaching point 106 as a reference is set to 0.

Subsequently, the product of the inverse matrix of the equation (1) and the equation (5) is calculated, and the attitude matrix T _tmp4 is calculated (the following equation (7)).

Subsequently, the position matrix _{P Tmp4} the posture matrix _{T Tmp4} calculated by Equation (7) calculates the posture matrix _{T TMP5} which is 0 (the following equation (8)).

Subsequently, the posture matrix _{T Tmp4} calculated by Equation (7), calculates the product of the inverse matrix of the attitude matrix _{T TMP5} calculated by Equation (8), calculates the posture matrix _{T Tmp6} (the following formula (9) ).

_{Subsequently, from the rotation matrix R tp4} of the equation (7), the rotation components (α, β, γ) of the relative values that are offset in the base coordinate system 104 direction are calculated. Then, calculate the difference between the translation component _{P Tmp6} from the position matrix of the relative values of the attitude matrix _{T 1} of the the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 to teach point 106 as a reference P1 in equation (9), the base coordinate system 104 direction The translational component (X, Y, Z) of the relative value that is the offset of is calculated.

The CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C based on the relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) that are offset in the base coordinate system 104 direction output from the above calculation result (display means). ). When the coordinate system (only) is changed as in this case, the position and orientation of the robot 101 do not change. Therefore, the display screen E needs to be updated only for the relative value setting unit 202 (normal system display process, step). S9).

Of course, when changing the coordinate system (only), it is not necessary to change the display of the position and orientation of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10.

Here, for example, in the position and orientation of the robot 101 displayed after teaching the offset teaching point 107 in FIG. 4C, the tool coordinate system 105 and the base coordinate system 104 have Z axes in the positive and negative directions exactly on a straight line. It is in a posture that becomes a coordinate system.

Therefore, the display of the relative value setting unit 202 on the parameter setting screen 20 was the display of FIG. 5D before switching the coordinate system from the tool coordinate system to the base coordinate system, but the display of the coordinate system of this example is switched. The display can be switched to the display shown in FIG. 6 (d). That is, the offset amount of the Z axis "30 mm" in the tool coordinate system 105 shown in FIG. 5 (d) is the Z axis in the base coordinate system 104 shown in FIG. 6 (d) as a result of the coordinate system calculation by switching the coordinate system. The offset amount is "-30 mm".

When the user visually confirms the display screen E of the display device C switched as described above, the editing of the offset teaching point 107 is completed in step S16.

As described above, according to this example, the user (worker) can confirm the relative value parameter in the direction of the coordinate system automatically switched at the same time when the coordinate system is switched. Therefore, it is not necessary to manually perform the matrix calculation associated with the coordinate system transformation as in the conventional case, and it is possible to reduce man-hours and human error.

Further, in the control when switching from the base coordinate system 104 to the tool coordinate system 105, a transition from step S4 to S14 occurs in FIG. 9 (other controls are the same as described above).

Also in the switching from the base coordinate system 104 to the tool coordinate system 105, the base coordinate system 104 is switched to the tool coordinate system 105 by using the coordinate system selection unit 204 of the parameter setting screen 20 in the same manner as described above in step S13 of FIG. Coordinate system selection means).

In step S4 of FIG. 9, it is determined whether the selected coordinate system is the tool coordinate system 105, and the position / orientation calculation accompanied by the coordinate system conversion by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (posture calculation means: in the case of this example). S14) is performed.

In the relative value calculating in the tool coordinate system 105, to compute the attitude matrix T ₂ of the relative values as the offset of the offset teaching point 107 (the following formula (10)). _{Here, the attitude matrix T 2 is} the product of the attitude matrix T ₃ which is the calculation result of the equation (6) and _{the inverse matrix of the attitude matrix T 1 which} is the relative value of the teaching point 106 which is the reference in the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101. Ask for.

From the calculation result of the equation (10), Euler angle conversion is performed, and the relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) which are the offsets of the offset teaching points 107 in the tool coordinate system 105 direction are calculated.

Based on the offset relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) output from the above calculation result, the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C (display means, step S9) and offsets. Editing of teaching point 107 is completed (step S16).

As a matter of course, in this display update, the parameter setting screen 20 is switched from the display of FIG. 6 (d) to the display of FIG. 5 (d), which is the opposite of the case of conversion to the base coordinate system. That is, as a result of the coordinate system calculation by switching the coordinate system, the offset amount of the Z axis "-30 mm" in the base coordinate system 104 shown in FIG. 6 (d) is Z in the tool coordinate system 105 shown in FIG. 5 (d). It is the offset amount of the shaft "30 mm". Of course, when changing the coordinate system (only), it is not necessary to change the display of the position and orientation of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10.

As described above, even when switching from the base coordinate system to the tool coordinate system, the user can immediately and automatically confirm the relative value parameter in the coordinate system direction at the same time as switching the coordinate system in the same manner as described above. can. Therefore, it is not necessary for the worker to perform matrix calculation manually, for example, and it is possible to reduce man-hours and human error.

(Editing the reference teaching point 106)
Finally, the processing of the offset teaching point 107 when the reference teaching point 106 is edited will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 shows a control procedure when the teaching point 106 corresponding to the upper node of the input offset teaching point 107 is changed.

It is assumed that the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202 are displayed on the parameter setting screen 20 for editing the reference teaching point 106 (for example, FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) or FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d)). 6 (a) to 6 (d)). As shown in the management screen 40 of FIG. 7B, the offset teaching point 107 holds the relationship of the model of the child of the teaching point 106 which is the reference (parent).

Therefore, in the data having such a hierarchical structure, when the reference teaching point 106 is edited, the CPU 33 must change the offset teaching point 107 while maintaining the relative value relationship.

First, at the start of editing the reference teaching point 106 of the management screen 40 (step S17 in FIG. 10), for example, on the management screen 40 (FIG. 7A), the reference teaching point 106 (P001) is manually input. Specify by clicking with the mouse of Part D.

As a result, the CPU 33 switches the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 on the parameter setting screen 20 to "P001" corresponding to the teaching point 106, reads out the position / orientation data of the teaching point 106, and displays it on the absolute value setting unit 201. do.

At this stage, the user corrects the position of the reference teaching point 106 by changing the numerical value of the absolute value setting unit 201 using the keyboard of the operation input unit D or the like (step S18 in FIG. 10). When the editing operation of the reference teaching point 106 is performed, the position / posture calculation regarding the reference teaching point 106 is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33.

Further, in the present embodiment, as described above, the reference teaching point 106 and the offset teaching point 107 are stored in the storage device 35 by the hierarchical node structure. Therefore, in the CPU 33, the teaching point 106 is a parent node, and the offset teaching point 107 is stored as a node affected below the teaching point 106 through the position / orientation data storage format and the data contents as described above. Recognize that you are.

Therefore, when the reference teaching point 106 is edited, the position / orientation calculation is also performed for the offset teaching point 107 by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (joint value calculation processing: S4 and S5 or S6 in FIG. 10). ).

Here, first, it is determined whether or not the coordinate system used in the description format of the offset teaching point 107, which has a child model relationship with the reference teaching point 106, is the tool coordinate system 105 (step 10). S4). As described above, with respect to the offset teaching point 107, data indicating the coordinate system describing the teaching point is stored in the storage device 35, and the determination in step S4 is made by referring to the coordinate system data. It can be carried out.

In step S4, when the coordinate system describing the offset teaching point 107 is the tool coordinate system 105, the process proceeds to step S5. In step S5, the position / orientation calculation of the offset teaching point 107 in the tool coordinate system 105 is performed based on the result of the modification of the reference teaching point 106 (step S18) (step S5).

On the other hand, in step S4, when the coordinate system describing the offset teaching point 107 is the base coordinate system 104, the process proceeds to step S6. In step S6, the position / orientation calculation of the offset teaching point 107 in the base coordinate system 104 is performed based on the result of the modification of the reference teaching point 106 (step S18) (step S6).

In step S5 or S6, the joint value calculation process for each joint of the robot 101 is also performed. In that case, if a plurality of offset teaching points 107 exist as a child model, the joint values for all the teaching points are also performed. Make a calculation.

Subsequently, the CPU 33 determines whether or not each joint value of the robot 101 for realizing the offset teaching point 107 calculated in step S5 or S6 is within the above-mentioned hardware and specification constraints (constraint determination process, Step S7).

In step S7, when each joint value of the robot 101 is within the above constraint, the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C in step S9 (normal system display processing). At the same time, the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 can be immediately changed to the position and posture corresponding to the teaching point (or when the teaching point is specified on the management screen 40).

On the other hand, in step S7, when each joint value of the robot 101 exceeds the above constraint, in step S19, the CPU 33 displays an error using the display screen E of the display device C. As an example of this error display, for example, as shown in FIG. 7C, the management screen 40 is used to indicate that the teaching point is an immovable teaching point, so that the teaching point 107 is marked with a mark 108 (for example, as shown in the drawing). x mark) is displayed (abnormal display processing).

Here, the teaching point corresponding to the child node with respect to the reference teaching point 106 is only the teaching point 107 (P100), but the CPU 33 performs the same arithmetic processing to the relationship between the other teaching points and the above-mentioned restriction range. Can be inspected. Therefore, if there are other teaching points having a child node relationship and it is determined that any of them is a teaching point outside the movable range, the CPU 33 also refers to that teaching point in FIG. 7 (c). The mark 108 is displayed in the same manner as in the above. With such a display, the user can immediately recognize the validity (or problem) of the change of the reference teaching point 106 that has been executed.

The user who has confirmed the display of the management screen 40 can confirm the edited content of the reference teaching point 106 by clicking the confirmation button 209 (FIGS. 5 and 6) with the mouse (step S20). .. The CPU 33 reflects the changed contents in the teaching data on the storage device 35. Alternatively, the teaching data reflecting the changed contents can be transmitted to an external device in the format of file F. If you want to cancel the editing of the reference teaching point 106, click the cancel button 210 (FIGS. 5 and 6). When this cancel operation is performed, the CPU 33 discards the changed contents and restores the display of the display device C to the state before editing.

For example, when a specific teaching point is selected on the management screen 40 after the editing is completed, the CPU 33 can change the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 to a position and posture corresponding to the teaching point. Further, when the teaching point is selected while the mark 108 indicating immovability is displayed on the management screen 40, the CPU 33 displays an error screen 50 (FIG. 8) on the display device C, for example. Notify the user of the error. In this case, it is not necessary to execute the display control to change the display of the robot 101 on the CPU 33 virtual environment screen 10 to the position and posture corresponding to the teaching point.

As described above, the reference teaching point 106 can be edited and modified.
As described above, in this embodiment, for example, the offset teaching point 107 is stored in the node having a child relationship with respect to the reference teaching point 106 in a hierarchical node format. Therefore, when the teaching point 106 is changed, the CPU 33 can immediately automatically execute the position / orientation calculation regarding the teaching point 107, and reflect the result on the display screen E.

As a result, the user can confirm the influence of the related offset teaching point 107 on the position and orientation in real time during the editing process by simply editing the reference teaching point 106, and can reduce the work man-hours.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when inputting or editing the position / orientation data of the robot device in the information processing device A, the operator can easily create, edit, and coordinate the offset teaching point 107 and the reference teaching point 106. It is possible to switch the system. In this embodiment, the position / orientation calculation related to the robot device is automatically executed based on the editing result. Then, the result is immediately reflected in the display screen E of the display device C, the numerical display of the parameter setting screen 20, the position / orientation display of the virtual environment screen 10, and the management display of the management screen 40. Therefore, the user can confirm the validity of inputting or editing the position / orientation data of the robot device that has just been executed through the display screen E of the display device C without performing a troublesome calculation by human power. It is possible to reduce man-hours and human error.

In this embodiment, a data structure is adopted in which the nodes of position / orientation data as robot control data (teaching data) are stored in the storage device 35 by a hierarchical tree structure.
For example, instead of storing data that has a parent-child relationship such as an offset teaching point and its reference teaching point as a simple flat data structure as in the past, a storage device has a hierarchical node structure. Store in. As a result, when the position / attitude data is input, edited, or corrected, the range of the position / attitude data that has an influence can be immediately specified, and an error check including the trajectory calculation of the position / attitude data in the range is performed. be able to.

Further, according to this embodiment, a storage format of a tree structure in which nodes of position / orientation data are arranged hierarchically is adopted. Therefore, in the process of inputting, editing, and correcting the position / orientation data related to the teaching point, it is possible to quickly and surely identify the part to be updated, for example, the virtual display output, the numerical display, and the management display. Then, the virtual display output, numerical display, management display, etc. can be updated so that the progress of input, editing, and correction during execution can be confirmed in real time according to the operation.

Further, according to the present embodiment, in inputting, editing, and modifying the position / orientation data, the position / orientation data is specified by a relative value as an offset, and a robot coordinate system that can be easily grasped from a plurality of robot coordinate systems is arbitrarily used. be able to. When the position / orientation data is input and edited by the relative value by offset, the position / orientation calculation according to the input / edit is performed by using the storage format of the above hierarchical node structure, for example, virtual display output or numerical display. , Management display etc. can be updated quickly and surely.

In the above, two types of coordinate systems that can be selected are shown as the base coordinate system 104 and the tool coordinate system 105, but the target robot device is a coordinate system based on another coordinate system, for example, another specific part of the robot. May be used. In that case, the coordinate system options can include coordinate systems other than the base coordinate system 104 and the tool coordinate system 105 described above. For example, when there are two robots 101 and the two robots 101 perform a cooperative operation, the base coordinate system 104 or the tool coordinate system 105 of the other robot 101 can be selected in order to match the operation of the other robot 101. It is conceivable to do. Further, when there is a work coordinate system whose coordinate system is the origin of the work 103, the GUI of the display screen E can be designed so that the work coordinate system can be selected. Modifications relating to these coordinate systems can be similarly carried out in each of the examples described later.

Hereinafter, some different examples will be shown with respect to the information processing apparatus and the information processing method of the present invention. In the following, the same reference numerals will be used for the same constituent members, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the control procedure shown in the flowchart described later, for example, the same step number is used for the step equivalent to FIG. 3 described above. Then, it is assumed that the relationship between the step number in each flowchart described later and, for example, the first calculation step, the second calculation step, and the display update step described above is the same as that of FIG. 3 described above.

Hereinafter, the information processing apparatus and the information processing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 16. In the following, it is assumed that the basic parts of the above-described first embodiment, the hardware configuration, the display screen configuration, and the like are the same, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the following examples, the same reference numerals will be used for the same or corresponding members, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the first embodiment, the reference teaching point 106 is, for example, a teaching point described by a relative value from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101. In this case, for example, when the position / orientation of the work 103 is changed, it is necessary to change the position / orientation of the work 103 in the virtual environment and edit the position / orientation of the teaching point 106 which is a reference related thereto. Therefore, it is convenient if the position / orientation of the teaching point 106 as a reference can be automatically edited according to the change in the position / orientation of the work 103.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a method of managing the teaching points 109 and the offset teaching points 110 (FIGS. 11A and 11B), which are the reference points related to the work 103, is illustrated by the model information management on the management screen 40. .. In this embodiment, for example, when the position and orientation of the work 103 are edited, the related teaching points can be edited collectively and automatically.

Regarding the editing process of the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103, different processing and display are performed depending on the GUI selection procedure of the display screen E of the display device C. For example, the editing of the teaching point information related to the work 103 will be described below in two cases, "when the offset teaching point 110 is edited" and "when the work 103 is edited".

It should be noted that the same processing as in the first embodiment is performed with respect to the processing of "when the coordinate system is switched" and "when the reference teaching point 106 is edited" described in the first embodiment.

(Editing process of offset teaching point 110 related to work 103)
First, the editing procedure and processing of the offset teaching point 110 related to the first case, the work 103, will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG. 11A displayed on the display screen E of the display device C of the information processing device A shows the configuration of the management screen 40. A virtual environment screen 10 and a parameter setting screen 20 can be arranged in other parts of the display screen E, for example, as shown in FIG.

In the teaching data corresponding to the management screen 40 of FIG. 11A, the nodes of the teaching data of the robot 101 (ROBOT) and the work 103 (Work) are stored under the node of the ROOT (100) in a hierarchical node configuration. ing. Each node of the robot 101 is a reference teaching point 106 (P001) and its child nodes, offset teaching points 107, TCP (105), and Tool (102).

As shown in FIG. 11A, in this embodiment, the nodes of the teaching point 109 and the offset teaching point 110, which are reference as the model of the child of the model information of the work 103, are layered and stored in the storage device 35. There is. The CPU 33 (FIG. 2) can manage the position / orientation data of each of these associated (linked) nodes by using such a data structure.

Here, the teaching point 109 that serves as a reference for the work 103 is position / posture data of a specific portion such as a gripping position of the work 103 with the robot 101, for example. Further, the offset teaching point 110 has a position and orientation expressed by a relative value of the offset with respect to the position and orientation of the reference teaching point 109.

The reference teaching point 109 and the offset teaching point 110 are stored in the storage device 35 with a hierarchical node structure as in the case of the reference teaching point 106 and the offset teaching point 107 in the above embodiment. Therefore, the same editing as in the case of the teaching point 106 and the offset teaching point 107, which are the reference of the above embodiment, and the display control related to the editing can be performed.

Editing of the offset teaching point 110 can be performed by a procedure as illustrated below. FIG. 12 is a control procedure executed by the CPU 33 when editing the offset teaching point 110.

In step S12 of FIG. 12, the offset teaching point 110 (P110) of the management screen 40 is selected and editing is started (S12). This teaching point selection can be performed by clicking the offset teaching point 110 (P110) of the management screen 40 with the mouse of the operation input unit D in the same manner as described above.

As shown in FIG. 1, on the display screen E of the display device C, a parameter setting screen 20 is prepared together with the management screen 40. When the offset teaching point 110 (P110) is selected on the management screen 40, the CPU 33 switches the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 to “P110” corresponding to the teaching point 110 in the same manner as described above.

Next, the relative value setting unit 202 of the parameter setting screen 20 can be used to edit the relative value that is the offset of the offset teaching point 110 (parameter setting means, step S3). When the user inputs or edits a relative value that is an offset of the offset teaching point 110 using the relative value setting unit 202, the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 performs a position / orientation calculation accompanied by coordinate system conversion.

First, in step S21, the CPU 33 determines whether the teaching point is related to the work 103 (model determination process, step S21). In this determination, the teaching point data of the hierarchical node structure as shown in FIG. 11 is searched, and the hierarchy (tree) of which node (teaching point 110) to be processed is (for example, the tree of the robot 101 or the work 103). Corresponds to the process of identifying whether it belongs to. As a specific method, for example, the model information of the parent of the teaching point 110 itself is searched up to the absolute coordinate system 100 which is the model information of the root, and when the robot 101 does not exist in the model information of the parent, it is related to the work 103. Judge as a teaching point.

In this example, it is determined in step S21 that the teaching point 110 is a teaching point related to the work 103, and step S22 is executed. In step S22, the relative value from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 to the reference teaching point 109 is calculated (base relative value calculation process).

Here, as shown in the following equation (11), from the product _{of the absolute value attitude matrix T 4 from the absolute coordinate system to the work 103 and the relative value attitude matrix T 5} from the work 103 to the reference teaching point 109, _{From the absolute coordinate system, the attitude matrix T mp7} of the absolute value of the teaching point 109 as a reference is calculated.

Then, as in the following equation (12), from the product of the absolute value of the inverse matrix of the attitude matrix T ₆ from the calculation result and the absolute coordinate system of the formula (11) to the base of the robot 101, the base coordinate system of the robot 101 calculating the attitude matrix _{T 1} of the relative value to the teaching point 109 as a reference of 104.

Following step S22, or when the teaching point to be processed in step S21 is a teaching point related to the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101, the processing of step S4 is executed. In this step S4, the CPU 33 determines whether or not the coordinate system selected by the coordinate system selection unit 204 (for example, FIG. 5B) of the parameter setting screen 20 is the tool coordinate system 105 (step S4).

When the coordinate system selected in step S4 is the tool coordinate system 105, the process proceeds to step S5, and the position / orientation calculation for each joint of the robot 101 in the tool coordinate system 105 is executed as in the case of the first embodiment (joint value). Calculation process: Step S5).

On the other hand, when the coordinate system selected in step S4 is the base coordinate system 104, the process proceeds to step S6, and the position / orientation calculation for each joint of the robot 101 in the base coordinate system 104 is executed as in the case of the first embodiment. Joint value calculation process: step S6).

Next, in step S7 and subsequent steps, the display of the display screen E is updated according to the result of the position / orientation calculation in step S5 or S6 (display means).

First, in step S7, the CPU 33 is within the constraint that each joint value of the robot 101 required for moving the reference portion to the offset teaching point 110 is determined by the hardware, specifications, conventions, etc., as in the first embodiment. Is determined (constraint determination process: step S7).

If each joint value of the robot 101 is within the above constraints in step S7, the process proceeds to step S9, and the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C according to the result of the position / orientation calculation (normal system display processing). At the same time, the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 can be immediately changed to the position and orientation corresponding to the teaching point 110.

On the other hand, if each joint value of the robot 101 exceeds the above constraint in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, and the error screen 50 of FIG. 8 described above is displayed in order to display that the posture of the robot 101 cannot be taken. (Abnormal system table processing) and return to the state before editing.

After that, the user who visually recognizes the display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 and the display of the parameter setting screen 20 clicks the confirmation button 209 (FIGS. 5 and 6) with the mouse to reach the reference teaching point 110. The edited content can be confirmed (step S16). If you want to cancel the editing related to the teaching point 110, click the cancel button 210 (FIGS. 5 and 6). When this cancel operation is performed, the CPU 33 discards the changed contents and restores the display of the display device C to the state before editing.

As described above, when the user edits the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103, the position and orientation of the robot 101 and the parameters of the teaching point can be immediately confirmed. As a result, human error can be reduced and work man-hours can be reduced.

(Replacement of work 103)
Next, the second case, the editing process for changing the arrangement of the work 103, and the related control example by the CPU 33 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 16.

As for the management screen 40, the display shown in FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) above is used. At the same time, it is assumed that the nodes of the reference teaching point 109 and its child offset teaching point 110 have already been defined for the work 103 to be rearranged, as in the examples of FIGS. 11 and 12 above. ..

The nodes of the teaching point 109 as the reference and the offset teaching point 110 of the child store the position / posture data corresponding to the position / posture of the reference portion of the robot 101 when handling such as gripping the work 103, for example. There is. In this example, since the nodes of the teaching points 109 and 110 are stored in the hierarchy of the work 103, if the position of the work 103 is changed, the CPU 33 automatically automates the nodes of the teaching points 109 and 110 affected as follows. Can be edited (changed).

The position / orientation data for controlling the robot device in the present specification is stored in the storage device 35 by a hierarchical node configuration. For example, related teaching points (for example, reference teaching points and offset teaching points) are hierarchically linked and stored as nodes. Therefore, when an edit is made on a particular node, other nodes within the range of the edit can be immediately identified and a new value for that node can be calculated according to the edited node.

Further, an object other than the robot 101, for example, the work 103 (position / orientation data) can be stored as one node in the hierarchical data structure in the storage device 35. As a result, when the node (position / orientation data) of the work 103 handled by the robot 101 is edited, the position / orientation of the robot 101 is calculated in the same manner as described above, and the relationship with the hardware, specifications, and restrictions in the rules is determined. You can check it. Then, if no error occurs, the display of the parameter setting screen 20 or the virtual environment screen 10 in the display screen E can be updated.

FIG. 13 shows a control procedure when editing the position and orientation of the work 103. Hereinafter, control regarding the offset teaching point 110 when the position and orientation of the work 103 is edited will be described.

Further, FIGS. 14A to 14C show a state of updating the display of the virtual environment screen 10 when the position and orientation of the work 103 are edited. FIG. 14A shows the relationship between the position and orientation of the robot 101 at the teaching point 109, which is a reference related to the work 103, and the arrangement of the work 103.

In the hierarchical data storage on the storage device 35 related to the work 103, the reference teaching point 109 and the offset teaching point 110 are related to each other (for example, FIG. 11A).

In step S23 of FIG. 13, first, the work 103 to be edited is selected from the management screen 40, and the start of editing the arrangement of the work 103 is specified. The GUI is configured so that the user can perform this operation by clicking the node of the work 103 with the mouse on the management screen 40 of FIG. 11A.

16 (a) to 16 (c) show the display state of the parameter setting screen 20 used for editing the node of the work 103 of this example. In the examples of FIGS. 16A to 16C, the node of the work 103 has been selected, and the input field (box) is not displayed on the right side of the parameter setting screen 20.

When the node of the work 103 is clicked and selected on the management screen 40 in step S23, the CPU 33 switches the parameter setting screen 20 as shown in FIG. 16A, for example. The parameter setting screen 20 of FIG. 16A shows a state before the arrangement of the work 103 is changed.

If the work 103 has already been arranged at this stage, the X, Y, and Z coordinate values in which the work 103 is arranged are displayed in the absolute value setting unit 201 as shown in FIG. 16A. Further, in this GUI configuration, the same X, Y, and Z coordinate values are displayed on the relative value setting unit 202. As for the work 103, the base coordinate system is used as the coordinate system.

Subsequently, in step S24 of FIG. 13, the user can change the arrangement of the work 103 using the parameter setting screen 20.

In the GUI example of FIG. 16, the arrangement is changed using the relative value setting unit 202. For example, as shown in FIG. 16A, the user clicks the X coordinate setting field 208 of the relative value setting unit 202 with the mouse cursor 205 (pointer) of the operation input unit D, and selects this input field.

Next, enter the value "300" (mm) on the operation input unit D keyboard in the X-axis setting field 208 of the relative value setting unit 202, and press the [Enter] key on the same keyboard (the value before input is "400"). When the [Enter] key on the keyboard is pressed here, in the case of editing the node of the work 103, the CPU 33 copies the input of the relative value setting unit 202 to the absolute value setting unit 201 and displays it as shown in FIG. 16 (b). Let me.

Here, the rearrangement change of the work 103 by the above numerical designation is, for example, an operation of moving the work 103 from the position of FIG. 14 (a) to the position on the right side in the virtual environment screen 10 of FIG. 14 (b). And.

As described above, when input is made to one of the input fields of the node and the [Enter] key is pressed, the CPU 33 changes the position / orientation data of the node according to the editing content and performs this editing. Calculate the new position and orientation of the teaching point of the affected node.

When the work 103, the teaching points 109 (P010), and 110 (P110) are stored in the node structure as shown in FIG. 11A, the positions and orientations of the teaching points 109 and 110 are calculated.

First, in step S21 of FIG. 13, it is determined whether or not the editing performed is the editing of the teaching points related to the Work tree (model determination process). If step S21 is affirmed, step S22 is executed before the process proceeds to step S4, and if it is denied, step S4 proceeds as it is.

For example, in the case of the reference teaching point 109 and the offset teaching point 110, since they are stored in the lower nodes of the work 103, step S22 is executed. In this step S22, the relative value from the robot 101 to the reference teaching point 109 in the base coordinate system (104) is calculated (base relative value calculation process, S22).

Subsequent steps S4 to S6 are coordinate system determination processes related to the data representation of the teaching points to be processed, similar to those described in FIGS. 3, 10, 12, and the like.

First, in step S4, it is determined whether or not the coordinate system indicated by the coordinate system data stored together with the position / orientation data of the teaching point is the tool coordinate system 105.

If the determination result in step S4 is the tool coordinate system 105, the process proceeds to step S5, and the posture calculation of the tool coordinate system 105 is executed in the same manner as described in FIG. 3 (or FIG. 12) (joint value calculation process).

If the determination result in step S4 is the base coordinate system 104, the process proceeds to step S6, and the posture calculation of the base coordinate system 104 is executed in the same manner as described in FIG. 3 (or FIG. 12) (joint value calculation process). ).

Subsequently, the display on the display screen E of the display device C is updated based on the result of the position / orientation calculation (display means). In step S7, it is determined whether or not each joint value required to move the reference portion of the robot 101 to the reference teaching point 109 or the offset teaching point 110 is within the constraint determined by the hardware, specifications, and conventions ( Constraint judgment processing).

If the position / orientation (state of each joint value) of the robot 101 is determined within the constraint in step S7, the process proceeds to step S9, and the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C according to the result of the position / orientation calculation (normal). System display processing).

FIG. 14B shows the display state of the work 103, the reference teaching point 109, and the offset teaching point 110 after the arrangement editing of the work 103 is confirmed on the virtual environment screen 10. If the position / orientation (state of each joint value) of the robot 101 is determined within the constraint in step S7, the CPU 33 updates the display of the virtual environment screen 10 from the state of FIG. 14 (b) to the state of FIG. 14 (c). do.

When the user visually confirms the display screen E of the display device C switched as described above, the confirmation button 209 of the parameter setting screen 20 is clicked with the mouse of the operation input unit D. In response to this, the CPU 33 finishes editing the teaching points 109 and 110 in step S25. When the cancel button 210 on the parameter setting screen 20 is clicked with the mouse of the operation input unit D, the CPU 33 discards the edited contents and returns the virtual environment screen 10 to the state shown in FIG. 14A.

Further, after the editing related to the arrangement change of the work 103 is completed, the teaching point 109 as a reference related to the work 103 on the management screen 40 can be selected by clicking the mouse or the like. In response to the selection operation of the teaching point 109, the CPU 33 can display the position and orientation of the robot 101 in a state of being moved to the reference teaching point 109 on the virtual environment screen 10.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the teaching data of the robot is stored in the tree structure in which the nodes are stored hierarchically, the teaching points 109 and 110 are stored under the nodes of the work 103. be able to. Therefore, when the position / orientation of the node of the work 103 is changed, the CPU 33 automatically calculates the position / orientation data of the teaching points 109 and 110 of the related lower nodes, and the position / orientation of the robot 101 (or each of those enabling it). Joint value) can be calculated automatically. Further, the CPU 33 can determine whether or not the position and orientation of the robot 101 (or the joint values that enable it) are within the constraints determined by the hardware, specifications, and conventions.

A case where the position and orientation of the robot 101 cannot be taken at the teaching points 109 to 110 after the arrangement of the work 103 is changed will be described.

For example, FIG. 16C shows another operation related to changing the arrangement of the work 103 with respect to the parameter setting screen 20. In FIG. 16C, the numerical value "500" is input to the X-axis setting field 208 of the relative value setting unit 202 with the keyboard of the operation input unit D, and the [Enter] key is pressed. This operation is processed in step S24 of FIG.

The position change of the work 103 of "500" (mm) in the X-axis direction is a movement of a larger distance than the case of "300" (mm) of FIG. 16 (b) described above. Here, when the position / orientation calculation is performed according to the position change of the work 103 of "500" (mm) in the X-axis direction, any of the joint values is restricted by the hardware, specifications, rules, etc. of the robot 101. It shall exceed the range.

Therefore, when the position of the work 103 of "500" (mm) is changed in the X-axis direction, a transition from step S7 (constraint determination processing) in FIG. 13 to step S19 (abnormal system display processing) occurs. Then, in step S9 (abnormal system display processing), the CPU 33 displays an error using the display screen E of the display device C. As an example of this error display, for example, as shown in FIG. 11B, the management screen 40 is used, and the teaching points 109 and 110 are used to indicate that the teaching points cannot be moved. A mark 108 (for example, an x mark as shown) is displayed on the. Subsequent editing end processing (step S25) is performed in the same manner as described above.

It is conceivable that the virtual environment screen 10 when the arrangement of the work 103 whose position and orientation of the robot 101 cannot be taken is changed is updated as shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B. FIG. 15A is the same as FIG. 14A, and is a virtual environment screen 10 before the editing process related to the arrangement change of the work 103 is performed.

When the editing process related to the arrangement change of the work 103 is performed from the state of FIG. 15A, for example, the CPU 33 works by the amount of movement specified as shown in FIG. 15B while the position / orientation calculation is being executed. The virtual environment screen 10 is updated with the 103 moved. In addition, in FIG. 15B, in order to facilitate understanding, the moving direction of the work 103 is taken in the direction opposite to that in FIGS. 14B and 14C.

Then, when the position / orientation calculation related to the editing operation is completed and the determination regarding the constraint range is started, the transition from step S7 (constraint determination process) in FIG. 13 to step S19 (abnormal system display process) occurs. In this case, the CPU 33 updates the management screen 40 as shown in FIG. 8 (b) as described above, and changes the display state of the virtual environment screen 10 from FIG. 15 (b) to the state of FIG. 15 (a). Return. At that time, a warning expression that blinks (flashes) the entire virtual environment screen 10 or a part thereof may be used together.

As described above, a data structure is adopted in which the nodes of the position / orientation data as the robot control data (teaching data) of the present embodiment are stored in the storage device 35 by a hierarchical tree structure. According to this structure, not only the position / orientation data related to the robot device but also the position / attitude data related to the work 103 can be stored in the same tree structure as described above. Therefore, when editing the work 103 is performed, if there is any other related teaching data (for example, the teaching point 109 of the work 103 and its offset teaching point 110) in the teaching data of the tree structure, those are automatically set. The relevant teaching data can be recalculated. Further, the position / orientation calculation of the robot 101 can be performed according to the editing of the work 103, and the validity check regarding the restrictions determined by the hardware, specifications, conventions, and the like can be automatically executed.

Then, if there is no problem as a result of the teaching data and the recalculation of the position and orientation of the robot 101, the display screen including the virtual environment screen 10 of the display device C, the parameter setting screen 20, the management screen 40, etc. is edited immediately after editing. It can be automatically updated to the content according to. Therefore, the user (worker) can confirm the edited contents related to the work 103 or the result thereof in real time, and can reduce human error and man-hours.

A reference teaching point 106 and an offset teaching point 107 are stored below the node of the robot 101 (ROBOT) in FIG. 11A. Then, the teaching point 106 (P001) corresponds to the above teaching point 109 (P010) corresponding to the specific position of the work 103, and the offset teaching point 107 (P100) corresponds to the offset teaching point 110 (P110). Can be considered. As described above, it is preferable that the set of the reference teaching point and the offset teaching point thereof can be treated as being stored in both the ROBOT tree and the Work tree as the same physical memory. It is considered that this makes it possible for the user to easily grasp the structure of the entire robot control data.

In that case, it is convenient that when one of the corresponding teaching points 106 and 109 and the teaching points 107 and 110 is edited, the contents of the other corresponding teaching points are also automatically edited in the same manner. .. As a method for enabling such handling, for example, the entities of the corresponding teaching points 106 and 109 (or teaching points 107 and 110) are stored in the same memory cell on the storage device 35. Then, the address pointer of this one memory cell is stored in the ROBOT and Work tree as the nodes of the nodes P001 and P100 (or P010 and P110). According to such a structure, the actual data stored in the same memory cell can be edited regardless of which editing is instructed via the pointer of any of the nodes P001 and P100 (or P010 and P110).

By using a structure that accesses the same memory data entity via different pointers (or names) in this way, nodes with aliases (alias) can be placed at different positions in the tree structure that stores teaching data as needed. Can be prepared. As a result, the user can easily grasp the structure of the entire robot control data, reach one and the same data from a plurality of different positions in the tree structure, and reliably edit the contents.

The configuration for accessing the same data entity via a plurality of different names is not limited to the above address pointer. For example, "link" mechanisms such as junctions, symbolic links, and hard links used in various file systems may be used. In that case, the specific node is stored as one file in the file system arranged on the storage device 35, and the link is arranged as another node at another position on the tree of the data structure.

Hereinafter, the information processing apparatus and the information processing method according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 17 to 20. In the following, it is assumed that the basic parts of the above-described first embodiment, the hardware configuration, the display screen configuration, and the like are the same, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Further, in the following examples, the same reference numerals will be used for the same or corresponding members, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the processing when the relative value that is the model information of the parent to the child on the node-managed workspace is edited has been described. However, editing is not always set as a relative value.

For example, when the tool coordinate system is selected and the offset teaching point 107 is created, when teaching a complicated operation, the absolute value of the absolute coordinate system (for example, the base coordinate system) such as on the work space is set depending on the situation. There are cases where you have to.

Therefore, a process of operating the offset teaching point 107 and the offset teaching point 110 with the absolute value using the absolute coordinate system on the work space by the operation of the absolute value setting unit 201 of the parameter setting screen 20 will be described.

Regarding the editing process by the operation of the absolute value setting unit 201, it is necessary to perform different processing and display depending on the type of the target teaching point. Therefore, in the following, three cases will be described: "in the case of the offset teaching point 107 in which the tool coordinate system 105 is selected", "in the case of the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system is selected", and "in the case of the offset teaching point 110". ..

(Editing the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 in which the tool coordinate system 105 is selected)
First, the procedure and control of absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 107 in which the tool coordinate system 105 is selected in the first case will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 17 to 19.

FIG. 17 shows a control procedure when the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 is edited.

In step S12 of FIG. 17, the offset teaching point 107 of the management screen 40 (FIG. 11A) is selected and editing is started. The selection method is the same as described above, and is performed by clicking the node at the teaching point 107 (P100) on the management screen 40 with the mouse of the operation input unit D.

18 (a) and 18 (b) show the position and orientation of the robot 101 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 when the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 is edited in this embodiment. At the start of editing, the offset teaching point 107 is defined with respect to the reference teaching point 106, for example, as shown in FIG. 18A. The offset (relative distance) at this time is set to a distance such that the tool 102 reaches the work 103 as shown in the figure. Therefore, on the virtual environment screen 10, the robot 101 is displayed in a position and posture such that the tool 102 reaches the work 103 as shown in the figure.

Further, in the numerical setting of the parameters, the parameter setting screen 20 as shown in FIGS. 19A to 19C is displayed and used on the display screen E of the display device C.

In step S26 of FIG. 17, the user edits the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 (parameter setting means). FIG. 19A shows an operation of accessing the setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 of the parameter setting screen 20 at this time. That is, as shown in the figure, the X-axis setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 is clicked with the mouse cursor 205 of the operation input unit D.

At the stage of FIG. 19A, the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 is switched to "P100" corresponding to the teaching point 107. Further, the value of the teaching point setting unit 203 is switched to "P001" corresponding to the reference teaching point 106. Further, as displayed by the coordinate system selection unit 204, the tool coordinate system is selected as the coordinate system.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 19B, the user changes the content of the X-axis setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 from "400" to "300". Here, the numerical value "300" is input to the X-axis setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 with the keyboard of the operation input unit D, and the [Enter] key is pressed. The value of "400" that has already been entered is deleted by selecting a range with the mouse or using the delete key on the keyboard before inputting "300". When the [Enter] key on the keyboard is pressed and the input is confirmed, the position / orientation calculation is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (posture calculation means).

First, in step S21 of FIG. 17, it is determined whether the node to be operated is a teaching point related to the work 103 (model determination process). The node operated in this example is the teaching point 107, and since it is the teaching point related to the robot 101, the process proceeds to step S4 by bypassing step S22.

In step S4, it is determined whether or not the coordinate system selected for the teaching point (107) is the tool coordinate system 105 (S4). When the coordinate system selected here is the tool coordinate system 105 as shown in FIG. 19A, the process proceeds to step S14, and the relative value calculation of the tool coordinate system 105 described in the first embodiment is executed (relative value calculation). process). In this relative value calculation result, Euler angle conversion is performed to calculate relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) that are offsets in the tool coordinate system 105.

Subsequently, in step S5, the position / orientation calculation in the tool coordinate system 105 is performed in the same manner as described in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment (joint value calculation process). Then, based on the calculation result, the display on the display screen E of the display device C is updated (display means).

Here, first, in step S7, it is determined whether each joint value of the offset teaching point 107 is within the constraint determined by the hardware, specifications, conventions, and the like (constraint determination process). If the constraint is reached in step S7, the process proceeds to step S9, and the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C based on the posture calculation result (normal system display process).

The updated contents are the relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) that are offset in the tool coordinate system 105 direction to the relative value setting unit 202, and the joints of each axis of the robot 101 by inverse kinematics calculation. The display is updated by reflecting the value calculation result on the virtual environment screen 10.

If the restriction is not met in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, and in order to display that the robot 101 cannot take the posture, the error screen 50 of FIG. 8 described above is displayed (abnormal system table processing) before editing. Return to the state.

FIG. 18B shows how the position and orientation of the robot 101 at the offset teaching point 107 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 by the CPU 33 are updated after the above editing.

Further, FIG. 19C shows the parameters of the offset teaching point 107 after editing.
In the operations of FIGS. 19A to 19B, the absolute value setting unit 201 changes the X coordinate value from "400" to "300". At this time, the display of the relative value setting unit 202, which is an offset in the tool coordinate system 105 direction, is changed from "0" to "100" in the X coordinate value based on the above relative value calculation.

The usage of the confirmation button 209 and the cancel button 210 on the parameter setting screen 20 at the end of editing in step S16 of FIG. 17 is the same as in the above-described embodiment.

As described above, even if the absolute value parameter of the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system is selected is changed, the operator can immediately check the position / orientation and relative value parameters at the same time as the absolute value editing work. , The man-hours required for confirmation can be reduced. That is, when considered together with the first embodiment, in this system, when the offset teaching point 107 is edited, the offset teaching point 107 is edited regardless of whether the relative value or the absolute value is used, and the display screen E based on the editing is performed. The update can be performed properly.

(Editing the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system 104 is selected)
Next, the second case, the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system 104 is selected, will be described with reference to FIGS. 11, 17, 18, and 20. In the following, the same FIG. 17 as above will be referred to for the control procedure. As the parameter setting screen 20, the display screens of FIGS. 20A to 20C are used.

First, the offset teaching point 107 on the management screen 40 (FIG. 11A) is selected and editing is started (S12). As described above, this selection method is performed by clicking the node at the teaching point 107 (P100) on the management screen 40 with the mouse of the operation input unit D.

The absolute value editing operation performed in this example is equivalent to the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 107 in which the tool coordinate system is selected. Therefore, with respect to the virtual environment screen 10, the displays of FIGS. 18A and 18B are valid in this example as well.

In this example, in the numerical setting of the parameters, the parameter setting screen 20 as shown in FIGS. 20A to 20C is displayed and used on the display screen E of the display device C.

In step S26 of FIG. 17, the user edits the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 (parameter setting means). FIG. 20A shows an operation of accessing the setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 of the parameter setting screen 20 at this time. That is, as shown in the figure, the X-axis setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 is clicked with the mouse cursor 205 of the operation input unit D.

At the stage of FIG. 20A, the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 is switched to "P100" corresponding to the teaching point 107. Further, the value of the teaching point setting unit 203 is switched to "P001" corresponding to the reference teaching point 106. Further, as displayed by the coordinate system selection unit 204, the base coordinate system is selected as the coordinate system.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 20B, the user changes the content of the X coordinate value setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 from "400" to "300". Here, the numerical value "300" is input to the X-axis setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 with the keyboard of the operation input unit D, and the [Enter] key is pressed. The value of "400" that has already been entered is deleted by selecting a range with the mouse or using the delete key on the keyboard before inputting "300". When the [Enter] key on the keyboard is pressed and the input is confirmed, the position / orientation calculation is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (posture calculation means).

First, in step S21 of FIG. 17, it is determined whether the node to be operated is a teaching point related to the work 103 (model determination process). The node operated in this example is the teaching point 107, and since it is the teaching point related to the robot 101, the process proceeds to step S4 by bypassing step S22.

In step S4, it is determined whether or not the coordinate system selected for the teaching point (107) is the tool coordinate system 105 (S4). When the coordinate system selected here is the base coordinate system 104 as shown in FIG. 20A, the process proceeds to step S15, and the relative value calculation of the base coordinate system 104 described in the first embodiment is executed (relative value calculation). process). In this relative value calculation result, Euler angle conversion is performed to calculate relative values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) that are offsets in the base coordinate system 104.

Subsequently, in step S6, the position / orientation calculation in the base coordinate system 104 is performed in the same manner as described in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment (joint value calculation process). Then, based on the calculation result, the display on the display screen E of the display device C is updated (display means). When the tool coordinate system is selected in step S4, the relative value calculation of the tool coordinate system is performed in step S14 in the same manner as described above, and the attitude calculation of the tool coordinate system is performed in step S5 based on the relative value calculation.

Subsequently, in step S7, it is determined whether each joint value of the offset teaching point 107 is within the constraint determined by the hardware, specifications, conventions, and the like (constraint determination process). If the constraint is reached in step S7, the process proceeds to step S9, and the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C based on the posture calculation result (normal system display process).

The updated content is the offset in the base coordinate system 104 direction (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) to the relative value setting unit 202, and the joint value of each axis of the robot 101 by inverse kinematics calculation. The display is updated by reflecting the calculation result on the virtual environment screen 10.

If the restriction is not met in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, and in order to display that the robot 101 cannot take the posture, the error screen 50 of FIG. 8 described above is displayed (abnormal system table processing) before editing. Return to the state.

FIG. 18B shows how the position and orientation of the robot 101 at the offset teaching point 107 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 by the CPU 33 are updated after the above editing.

Further, FIG. 20 (c) shows the parameters of the offset teaching point 107 after editing.
In the operations of FIGS. 20A to 20B, the absolute value setting unit 201 changes the X coordinate value from "400" to "300". At this time, the display of the relative value setting unit 202, which is an offset in the direction of the base coordinate system 104, is changed from "0" to "-100" in the X coordinate value based on the above relative value calculation. Here, unlike the case of editing the absolute value of the offset teaching point 107 in which the tool coordinate system is selected, the X coordinate value of the relative value setting unit 202 is a negative value. This is because, for example, in the posture of the robot 101 as shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B, the base coordinate system 104 and the tool coordinate system 105 are in a posture in which the positive direction of the Z axis faces each other.

The usage of the confirmation button 209 and the cancel button 210 on the parameter setting screen 20 at the end of editing in step S16 of FIG. 17 is the same as in the above-described embodiment.

As described above, even if the absolute value parameter of the offset teaching point 107 in which the base coordinate system is selected is changed, the operator can immediately check the position / orientation and relative value parameters at the same time as the absolute value editing work. , The man-hours required for confirmation can be reduced. Considering this together with the previous example, in this system, when editing the offset teaching point 107, the teaching data can be edited extremely easily by the same operation of the offset teaching point 107 regardless of whether the expression is the tool coordinate system or the base coordinate system. .. Then, based on the editing operation, the display screen E can be appropriately updated immediately based on the edited content.

(Editing the absolute value of the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103)
Next, the final case relating to the absolute value editing, the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103, will be described. Since the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 110 is basically the same as the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 107, the description will be focused on the parts different from the above two absolute value editing.

The control procedure of FIG. 17 can be used for controlling the absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103. For the management screen 40, for example, the display shown in FIG. 11A is applicable. Further, usually, the value of the base coordinate system is used for the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103. Therefore, for the numerical input of the parameters, the display of the setting screen 20 equivalent to that shown in FIGS. 20 (a) to 20 (c) referred to in the absolute value editing of the base coordinate system can be used.

First, the offset teaching point 110 on the management screen 40 (FIG. 11A) is selected and editing is started (step S12 in FIG. 17), which is the same as the above example. As a result, the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 on the parameter setting screen 20 (for example, FIG. 20A) is switched to “P110” corresponding to the teaching point 110. Further, the value of the teaching point setting unit 203 is switched to "P010" corresponding to the teaching point 109 as a reference. Further, in the node of the work 103 or less, it is assumed that the base coordinate system is selected as the coordinate system.

Here, for example, it is assumed that the reference teaching point 109 and the offset teaching point 110 are equivalent to the teaching point 106 and the offset teaching point 107 of the node on the robot side which are the reference of the above-described embodiment. In that case, the arrangement of the numerical values in the absolute value setting unit 201 is the same as that shown in FIGS. 20 (a) (to (c)).

In step S26 of FIG. 17, the user edits the absolute value of the offset teaching point 110 on the parameter setting screen 20 by the same operation as described in the above-described absolute value editing of the offset teaching point 107 (parameter setting means). Here, it is assumed that the user's operation is also the content of changing the content of the X coordinate value setting field 208 of the absolute value setting unit 201 from "400" to "300" as in the above example. When the X coordinate value of the absolute value setting unit 201 is changed with the keyboard of the operation input unit D and the [Enter] key of the keyboard is pressed, the position / orientation calculation is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (posture calculation means). ).

Subsequently, in step S21 of FIG. 17, it is determined whether the offset teaching point 110 is a teaching point related to the work 103 (model determination process). In this example, since the teaching point 109, which is the upper reference of the offset teaching point 110, is a teaching point related to the work 103, the process proceeds to step S22. In step S22, the relative value of the robot 101 from the base coordinate system 104 is calculated (calculation of the relative value of the base coordinate system).

The control of the relative value calculation transition of the base coordinate system in step S22 proceeds in the same manner as in the above-mentioned example of absolute value editing regarding the offset teaching point 107.

As described above, according to this system, the parameter of the absolute value of the offset teaching point 110 related to the work 103 can be changed in the same manner as in the case of the offset teaching point 107 in the node tree of the robot 101. In this case as well, the operator can immediately confirm the parameters of the position / orientation and the relative value at the same time as the absolute value editing work, and the man-hours required for the confirmation can be reduced.

Considering this together with the previous example, in this system, it is extremely easy to perform the same operation regardless of whether the offset teaching point 110 in the node tree of the work 103 or the offset teaching point 107 in the node tree of the robot 101. Teaching data can be edited. Then, based on the editing operation, the display screen E can be appropriately updated immediately based on the edited content.

Hereinafter, the information processing apparatus and the information processing method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 21 and 22.

In the first to third embodiments, the operation method of editing the position / posture data of the teaching point as the robot control data (teaching data) by inputting the relative value or the absolute value on the parameter setting screen 20 is shown.

As another operation method related to inputting or editing position / orientation data, a GUI that changes the position / orientation of the robot 101 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 in relation to the operation input unit D (or the virtual environment screen 10). A configuration in which an operating means is provided is conceivable. In that case, the virtual display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 is updated according to the change in the position and orientation of the robot device performed by the operation means of the operation input unit D, and the contents of the numerical display on the parameter setting screen 20. Can be updated.

As such an operation means, as shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B, an operation handle 111 that can be operated by the cursor 205 of the pointing device (for example, a mouse) of the operation input unit D is provided on the virtual environment screen 10. A GUI configuration to be displayed can be considered.

Hereinafter, in the information processing device A, the configuration and control for inputting or editing the position / orientation data using the operation handle 111 as described above are described in FIGS. 21, 22 (a), 22 (b), 25, and the like. This will be described with reference to FIG. 11 of Example 2. In the following, the case where the offset teaching point 107 is edited by operating the virtual display of the robot 101 with the operation handle 111 will be described, but the same processing is performed for other teaching points, for example, the offset teaching point 110. It can be carried out.

FIG. 21 shows a control procedure when inputting or editing a teaching point using the operation handle 111 by the operation handle 111.

In this embodiment, the offset teaching point 107 is edited by operating the virtual display of the robot 101 with the operation handle 111. Therefore, the user first selects the offset teaching point 107 on the management screen 40 (FIG. 11 (a)) in step S12 of FIG. 21 and specifies the start of editing. As the operation method at this time, the method of clicking the offset teaching point 107 on the management screen 40 (FIG. 11A) with the mouse cursor (pointer) of the operation input unit D can be used as described above.

Subsequently, in step S27, the user operates the operation handle 111 with the mouse cursor (pointer) of the operation input unit D to change the position and orientation of the robot 101. The operation handle 111 is superimposed and displayed on the tip portion of the robot 101, for example, as shown in FIG. 22 (a). The operation handle 111 can be, for example, a display object displayed in a wire frame on the tool 102 at the tip of the robot 101 as shown in the drawing.

The display object of the operation handle 111 can be, for example, a ring-shaped object graphically configured to display the coordinate system direction of the currently set offset teaching point 107.

Further, the operation handle 111 can be configured so that it can be clicked and dragged on the screen substantially linearly with the mouse cursor (pointer) of the operation input unit D, for example. In the case of this click / drag operation, for example, the reference portion set at the center of the flange surface on which the tool 102 at the tip of the robot 101 is arranged is moved to an arbitrary position in the 3D space in the virtual environment screen 10.

Further, when the offset teaching point 107 is operated by the moving operation by the operation handle 111 as in this embodiment, for example, the reference portion of the robot 101 is related to the offset teaching point 107. In this case, when the offset teaching point 107 is operated, the reference portion of the robot 101 associated with the offset teaching point 107 moves, and the CPU 33 controls the position and orientation of the robot 101 so as to change in synchronization with this. conduct.

When the offset teaching point (107) is operated by the operation handle 111 as in this embodiment, the movement (amount) specified by the operation handle 111 is associated with either an absolute value or a relative value. And convenient. Here, the "relative value" is a coordinate value (position / orientation data) in a relative coordinate system such as the tool coordinate system 105. Further, the "absolute value" is a coordinate value (position / orientation data) in an absolute coordinate system such as the base coordinate system 104.

For example, if a relative value (or absolute value) is already assigned to the teaching point selected when the procedure of FIG. 21 is started, the movement amount specified by the operation handle 111 is handled by the relative value (or absolute value). Further, it may be possible to specify whether the movement amount input by the operation of the operation handle 111 is a relative value (or an absolute value) by the specific operation of the operation input unit D.

In the following, for convenience, the operation handle 111 controlled in the state of inputting the relative value as described above is referred to as the "relative value handle", and the operation handle 111 controlled in the state of inputting the absolute value is referred to as the "absolute value handle". ".

Then, when the movement operation by the operation handle 111 is performed, the CPU 33 performs a position / posture calculation for changing the angle of each joint of the robot 101 according to the position of the movement destination of the offset teaching point 107 (reference portion). The CPU 33 changes the position and orientation of the robot 101 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 according to the result of this position and orientation calculation. Since the details of the GUI using the operation handle 111 as described above are well-known techniques, the above-mentioned detailed description will be omitted here.

In FIGS. 22A to 22B, the operation handle 111 is clicked and dragged to the right. Then, the position and orientation of the robot 101 are changed from the position and orientation shown by the solid line in FIG. 22 (a) and the broken line in FIG. 22 (b) to the position and orientation shown by the solid line in FIG. 22 (b). .. During the mouse drag operation period, continuous movement is specified, and the end of movement is specified by releasing the mouse button.

The operation handle 111 may be constantly displayed on the virtual environment screen 10, or may be set according to the setting operation of the operation input unit D (for example, specifying an operation mode such as a virtual environment operation mode or a 3D operation mode). It may be displayed only at the necessary timing.

In step S27, the user can change the position and orientation of the robot 101 displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 by using the operation handle 111 as described above. At this time, the CPU 33 performs a position / posture calculation according to the movement operation in response to the movement operation using the operation handle 111, and changes the position / posture of the robot 101 according to the calculation result.

In order to change the position and orientation of the robot 101 according to the position and orientation calculation result, it is conceivable to update the screen for each minute operation of the operation handle 111, for example. Alternatively, during the movement operation, only the mouse cursor (pointer) and the part that can be displayed in a small screen range such as the operation handle 111 are moved, and the position and orientation of the entire robot 101 is drawn according to the release operation of the mouse. The method may be used.

In step S27, the CPU 33 updates the movement operation, the position / orientation calculation (posture calculation means), and the drawing of the virtual environment screen 10 at least for the portion corresponding to the minute operation of the operation handle 111.

The control procedure of FIG. 21 is described in the same manner as that of FIG. 17 described above for easy understanding. Therefore, FIG. 21 has a step arrangement corresponding to a method of drawing the position and posture of the entire robot 101 in response to the release operation of the mouse. However, for example, when the control system around the CPU 33 has sufficient processing capacity, the processes from step S28 to S9 at the end of the figure are repeatedly executed for each minute operation of the operation handle 111 in step S27. Software can be configured in.

In step S28, the CPU 33 determines whether the current operation handle 111 is a relative value handle (absolute value handle). In step S28, if the operation handle 111 displays the vector in the tool coordinate system 105 direction, that is, if it is a relative value handle, the process proceeds to step S29. In step S29, the CPU 33 adds the movement amount in the vector direction selected by the mouse to the relative value from the reference teaching point 106 to the offset teaching point 107, and calculates the relative value after the movement.

On the other hand, if the operation handle 111 displays the absolute value handle in the absolute coordinate system (for example, the base coordinate system 104) direction in step S28, the process proceeds to step S30. In step S30, the CPU 33 adds the movement amount in the vector direction selected by the mouse to the absolute value from the absolute coordinate system to the offset teaching point 107, and calculates the absolute value after the movement.

As described above, the value (relative value or absolute value) of the offset teaching point 107 after movement is input. Following step S29 or S30, in step S21, it is determined whether or not the teaching point is a teaching point associated with the work. Then, if step S21 is affirmed, the calculation for converting the relative value of the robot to the base coordinate system is executed in step S22. In FIG. 21, the subsequent processing after step S4 is the same as the processing after step S4 in FIG. 17 described above. In step S4 and subsequent steps, the position and orientation calculation of the robot 101 is performed according to whether the expression of the teaching point is the tool coordinate system (base coordinate system) (steps S14, S5, steps S15, S6). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not it is within the constraints determined by the hardware, specifications, rules, etc., and error processing is performed as necessary (steps S7 and S8).

Then, if there is no constraint error, the display screen E of the (final) display device C is updated according to the calculation result. That is, the virtual display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 is (finally) updated in response to the change in the position and orientation of the robot 101 made by the operation handle 111, and the content of the numerical display on the parameter setting screen 20. To update. The position / orientation of the robot 101 shown by the solid line in FIG. 22B corresponds to the position / orientation of the edited robot 101 in which the offset teaching point 107 is moved by the operation handle 111 displayed at the tip of the robot 101. Further, of course, the content of the numerical display on the parameter setting screen 20 is updated according to the editing operation (using the operation handle 111) of the offset teaching point 107 as described above (for example, FIGS. 5 and 6) (step S9). .. As described above, the editing process of the offset teaching point in FIG. 21 is completed (step S16).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, as another operation method related to the input or editing of the position / orientation data, the robot 101 virtually displayed in relation to the operation input unit D (or the virtual environment screen 10). A GUI operation means for changing the position and orientation of the robot is provided. Then, the user performs an input / edit operation for changing the position (posture) of the robot 101 (or a teaching point associated with the robot 101) by an extremely intuitive operation on the virtual environment screen 10 using the operation handle 111. Can be done. Then, the result of the input / editing operation on the virtual environment screen 10 is synchronously reflected in the virtual display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10, and is also reflected in the content of the numerical display on the parameter setting screen 20. Therefore, the user (operator) can immediately confirm the position / orientation and the parameters at the same time as operating the operation handle 111, for example, and can reduce the man-hours required for the confirmation.

In the above-described first to fourth embodiments, when the position / orientation data is represented by, for example, three-dimensional coordinates (or an angle around an axis) in a specific coordinate system corresponding to a work space, the relative value or the absolute value thereof. The input and editing processes for changing the contents expressed in are explained.

However, the editing of the position / orientation data directly changes the joint value in the joint space of the robot 101, not via the relative value and the absolute value of the position / orientation data (three-dimensional coordinates or the angle around the axis) as described above. You may want to do it through an interface like this.

For example, for the user (worker), the operation of rotating a specific one (or a plurality of) joints from the state in which the robot 101 is in a specific posture, for example, for the purpose of avoiding obstacles, is intuitive. It may be easy to understand.

In this case, as shown below, for example, as shown in FIGS. 25 (a) to 25 (c), the joint value is set as a numerical value setting unit that can change the joint value (for example, the rotation angle) in the parameter setting screen 20. The portion 211 is arranged so that the joint value of the desired joint can be changed. Even when the numerical value of the joint value is set by using the joint value setting unit 211, the position / posture calculation of the robot 101 can be performed according to the editing result of the joint value in the same manner as described above. On the other hand, the presence or absence of the above-mentioned constraint error can be determined. Further, the display on the other parameter setting screen 20 can be updated according to the editing result of the joint value, and the virtual display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 can be updated.

Hereinafter, control when inputting and editing the offset teaching point 107 using the joint value setting unit 211 prepared in the parameter setting screen 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 23 to 25. In the following, the case of editing the offset teaching point 107 will be described, but the same processing can be performed for other teaching points, for example, the offset teaching point 110.

FIG. 23 shows a control procedure when inputting and editing teaching points via joint value editing.

First, in step S12 of FIG. 23, the user selects the offset teaching point 107 of the management screen 40 (FIG. 11 (a)) and specifies the start of editing. As the operation method at this time, the method of clicking the offset teaching point 107 on the management screen 40 (FIG. 11A) with the mouse cursor (pointer) of the operation input unit D can be used as described above.

FIG. 24A shows the position and orientation of the robot 101 in which the offset teaching point 107 being edited, which is virtually displayed on the virtual environment screen 10 at this time, is defined. Further, FIGS. 25 (a) to 25 (c) show a parameter setting screen 20 having the joint value setting unit 211, and FIG. 25 (a) corresponds to a state immediately after the offset teaching point 107 is selected in step S12. ..

The parameter setting screens 20 of FIGS. 25 (a) to 25 (c) are, for example, the parameter setting screens 20 of FIGS. 5 (a) to (d) (or FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (d)), and the joint value setting unit 211 is displayed. Is added, and the configuration other than the joint value setting unit 211 is the same as that of FIG. 5 (FIG. 6).

In FIG. 25A, the display of the teaching point name setting unit 212 on the parameter setting screen 20 is switched to “P100” corresponding to the teaching point 107. The value of the teaching point setting unit 203 is switched to "P001" corresponding to the reference teaching point 106. Further, as displayed by the coordinate system selection unit 204, the tool coordinate system is selected as the coordinate system.

The joint value setting unit 211 of the parameter setting screen 20 is, for example, a numerical input field for inputting or displaying joint values (rotation angles) for 6 joints. These joint values are angles corresponding to the position and orientation of the offset teaching point 107 according to the above-mentioned joint value calculation.

In step S31 of FIG. 23, the user can edit an arbitrary joint value related to the offset teaching point 107 by using the joint value setting unit 211 (parameter setting means). For example, as shown in FIG. 25A, the joint value setting unit 211 setting field 208 of the parameter setting screen 20 is specified by clicking with the mouse cursor 205 of the operation input unit D. In the figure, the setting field 208 of the third joint (joint 101a in FIGS. 24 (a) and 24 (b)) is selected. Then, as shown in FIG. 25B, for example, using the keyboard of the operation input unit D, a numerical value is input to the setting field 208 of the joint value setting unit 211. Here, the value that was "24.85" (FIG. 25 (a)) is changed to "50". After this numerical input, for example, when the [Enter] key is pressed on the keyboard of the operation input unit D, the numerical input to the setting field 208 is confirmed.

Subsequently, in step S7, the CPU 33 determines whether the set joint value is within the constraint determined by the hardware, specifications, conventions, and the like (constraint determination process). Here, in the case of determination outside the restrictions, the process proceeds to step S8, and in order to display that the robot 101 cannot take the posture, the error screen 50 of FIG. 8 described above is displayed (abnormal system table processing), and the state before editing. Return to.

If it is within the constraint in step S7, the process proceeds to step S32, and the position / orientation calculation is performed by the function of the calculation unit 34 of the CPU 33 (posture calculation means). Here, from the joint values of each axis of the robot 101, the relative values from the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 to the offset teaching point 107 are calculated by forward kinematics calculation.

Subsequently, in step S33, the absolute value from the absolute coordinate system (for example, the base coordinate system) to the offset teaching point 107 is calculated (absolute value calculation process). _{For example, from the product of the absolute value attitude matrix T 6} from the absolute coordinate system to the base coordinate system 104 of the robot 101 _{and the attitude matrix T 3 which} is the calculation result of S31, as shown in the following equation (13), from the absolute coordinate system. _{The absolute value attitude matrix T 7} up to the offset teaching point 107 is obtained. Then, Euler angles are transformed from the equation (13) to calculate the absolute values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) of the offset teaching points 107.

Next, in step S4, it is determined whether the selected coordinate system is the tool coordinate system 105.
If the selected coordinate system is the tool coordinate system 105, the process proceeds to step S14, and the relative value calculation of the tool coordinate system 105 is executed (relative value calculation process). If the selected coordinate system is the base coordinate system 104, the process proceeds to step S15, and the relative value calculation of the base coordinate system 104 is executed (relative value calculation process).

Then, after the relative value calculation in step S14 or S15, the CPU 33 updates the display screen E of the display device C according to the calculation result (normal system display process). In updating the display screen E, the calculated absolute values (X, Y, Z, α, β, γ) are displayed on the absolute value setting unit 201 of the parameter setting screen 20. Further, the content of the relative value setting unit 202 of the parameter setting screen 20 is updated so that the relative value from the reference teaching point 106 to the offset teaching point 107 is displayed. Further, the virtual display of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 is updated so that the position and posture are determined by each joint value in the setting field 208 of the joint value setting unit 211.

FIG. 24B shows the display state of the virtual environment screen 10 after editing the joint value after the above processing, and FIG. 25C shows the display state of the parameter setting screen 20 after editing the joint value. There is.

In this example, since only the joint value of the third joint (joint 101a) is changed by the joint value setting unit 211, the posture of the robot 101 on the virtual environment screen 10 is changed only by the angle of the joint 101a, and the offset teaching point 107. The position and posture have also been changed. Further, on the parameter setting screen 20, the absolute value setting unit 201 and the relative value setting unit 202 are changed to the values corresponding to the change of the joint value.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the position / posture data of the robot 101 or its joint can be input and edited by expressing the joint value. Then, even when the joint value is operated, the user (worker) can immediately confirm the parameters of the position / posture and the relative value at the same time as the editing work, and the man-hours required for the confirmation can be reduced.

The absolute value setting unit 201, the relative value setting unit 202, and the joint value setting unit 211 of the parameter setting screen 20 can, of course, be converted to each other via the position / orientation calculation by the CPU 33 described above. Therefore, although the example of inputting to the joint value setting unit 211 is shown above, when any of the absolute value setting unit 201, the relative value setting unit 202, and the joint value setting unit 211 is edited, the position / orientation calculation is performed. It goes without saying that the other two can be updated to the corresponding values via. For example, when the absolute value setting unit 201 is edited, each joint value can be displayed on the joint value setting unit 211 from the posture calculation result. Further, when the relative value setting unit 202 is edited or when the operation handle 111 is used for editing, each joint value can be displayed on the joint value setting unit 211 from the posture calculation result.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can supply a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or an apparatus via a network or a storage medium. It can also be realized by the process of reading and executing a program by one or more processors in the computer of the system or device. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

A ... Information processing device, B ... PC, C ... Display device, D ... Operation input unit, E ... Display screen, 10 ... Virtual environment screen, 20 ... Parameter setting screen, 33 ... CPU, 34 ... Calculation unit, 40 ... Management Screen, 50 ... Error screen, 35 ... External storage device, 100 ... Absolute coordinate system (ROOT), 101 ... Robot (ROBOT), 102 ... Tool (Tool), 103 ... Work (Work), 104 ... Base coordinate system (ROBOT) ), 105 ... Tool coordinate system (TCP), 106 ... Teaching point (P001), 107 ... Offset teaching point (P100), 110 ... Offset teaching point (P110), 111 ... Operation handle, 201 ... Absolute value setting unit, 202 ... Relative value setting unit, 203 ... Teaching point setting unit, 204 ... Coordinate system selection unit, 205 ... Mouse cursor, 206 ... Teaching point list, 207 ... Coordinate system list, 208 ... Setting field, 209 ... Confirm button, 210 ... Cancel button, 211 ... Joint value setting unit.

One aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus for setting the position or orientation of the predetermined portion of the robot apparatus, used with respect to the robot apparatus, a coordinate system for specifying a first coordinate system from among the multiple coordinate system It is characterized by having a designating means and a display unit for displaying information on the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in a second coordinate system other than the first coordinate system designated by the coordinate system designating means. It is an information processing device.

Another aspect of the present invention is directed to a position or information processing method to set the orientation of the predetermined portion of the robot apparatus, pre-Symbol coordinate designating means from among multiple coordinate system that is used with respect to the robot device The first coordinate system is designated by the above, and information regarding the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the second coordinate system other than the first coordinate system designated by the coordinate system designating means is displayed. The method.

Claims (13)

An information processing device that sets the position or orientation of a predetermined part of a robot device.
A coordinate system specifying means for designating one of a plurality of coordinate systems including an absolute coordinate system and a coordinate system relative to the absolute coordinate system used for the robot device.
An input unit for inputting parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in any of the coordinate systems.
A display unit that displays parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system, and
Has a control unit,
Based on the parameters related to the position or posture of the predetermined portion input to the input unit when the predetermined coordinate system is designated by the coordinate system designating means, the control unit of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system. An information processing device characterized in that parameters related to a position or a posture are displayed on the display unit. The information processing device according to claim 1, further comprising a virtual display unit that virtually displays the state of the robot device specified by a parameter input to the input unit. In the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, a parameter relating to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion input to the input unit when the control unit specifies a predetermined coordinate system by the coordinate system designating means. When displaying a parameter relating to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system on the display unit, coordinate conversion is performed from the predetermined coordinate system to the absolute coordinate system, and the predetermined coordinate system in the absolute coordinate system is used. An information processing device characterized in that parameters related to the position or orientation of a part are calculated and displayed on the display unit. In the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, when there is a part having a storage means and having a dependency relationship with the predetermined part, a parameter relating to the position or posture of the predetermined part and the said An information processing apparatus characterized in that parameters relating to the position or orientation of a portion having a dependency relationship are stored in the storage means as hierarchical structure data. The information processing device according to claim 4, further comprising a management display unit that displays a hierarchical structure composed of the hierarchical structure data. In the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the control unit of the predetermined portion input to the input unit when a predetermined coordinate system is designated by the coordinate system designating means. An information processing device for outputting a parameter related to the position or posture of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system to another device based on a parameter related to the position or the posture. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the predetermined portion is the tip of the robot device, and the parameter includes joint data that specifies a joint position or posture of the robot device. An information processing device characterized by this. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, the virtual display unit displays a 3D image of the robot device in a virtual space that imitates the operating environment of the robot device. An information processing device characterized in that it is virtually displayed by a 3D model representation formed by rendering. In the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, the state of the robot device obtained by the control unit based on the parameters input to the input unit is a limitation of the mechanism of the robot device. An information processing device for determining whether or not the robot device is within the range of the above, and notifying an error when the state of the robot device based on the parameter exceeds the range of the constraint of the mechanism. A robot device in which the position or posture of the predetermined portion is set by the information processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 9. An information processing method for an information processing device that sets the position or orientation of a predetermined part of a robot device.
The information processing device
A coordinate system specifying means for designating one of a plurality of coordinate systems including an absolute coordinate system and a coordinate system relative to the absolute coordinate system used for the robot device.
An input unit for inputting parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in any of the coordinate systems.
It has a display unit that displays parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system, and has.
Parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion in the absolute coordinate system based on the parameters related to the position or orientation of the predetermined portion input to the input unit when the predetermined coordinate system is designated by the coordinate system designating means. Is displayed on the display unit,
An information processing method characterized by the fact that. An information processing program for executing the information processing method according to claim 11. A computer-readable recording medium comprising storing the information processing program according to claim 12.

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