JPH01147939A - Robot control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of the entire system by transferring the end of operation or the like automonously to a master station and allowing a master computer to execute other job to other slave computer when the slave station receives an instruction from the master station. CONSTITUTION:In the robot control system utilizing the computer system using a communication protocol between the master computer and plural slave computers, when the master station sends an instruction to a slave station, the address of the master station is revised to the address of the slave station by an address revision means A1 and the result is sent. When the slave station sends a data to the master station, a mode change means B changes the slave station tentatively into the mode of master station. In the data transfer from the slave computer to the master computer, the address of the master station is changed into the address of the relevant slave station and the mode change means B changes the mode to the master station tentatively to transfer the data from the slave station automonously.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] The present invention relates to a robot control method for controlling an intelligent robot equipped with a visual sensor or a tactile sensor using a communication protocol such as an IDLC procedure or an SDLC procedure. , the master station side does not need to poll the slave station side to check the status, and the slave station side can voluntarily transfer data to the master station after receiving a command from the master station side. According to the present invention, a robot control method using a computer system that uses an HDLC procedure or an SDLC procedure as a communication protocol between a parent computer and a plurality of child computers is aimed at improving the processing efficiency of a parent computer. In this case, the master station side includes an address changing means for changing the address of the master station to the address of the slave station when a command is sent from the master station to the slave station, and the slave station side includes an address changing means for changing the address of the master station to the address of the slave station. mode changing means for temporarily changing the slave station to the master station mode in order to send data to the master station whose address has been changed to the same as that of the slave station when transmitting data to the master station; The slave station that has been changed to station mode is configured to spontaneously transfer data to the master station.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a robot control method, and more particularly to a robot control method in which access and data transfer are performed by an I (DLC procedure or SDLC procedure) in an intelligent robot equipped with a visual sensor, a tactile sensor, etc.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In general, a robot control system using a computer system using the HDLC procedure and the 3-bit C procedure has a network configuration as shown in FIG. In the figure, A is a parent computer that controls the entire system, B is a child computer for mechanism drive control, C is a child computer for visual control, and D is a child computer for tactile control. A parent computer A controls a master station 1, and a plurality of slave stations 2, 3, 4 are provided under the master station 1 via communication lines, and each slave station has a control computer B, C, D. is connected. A communication microprocessor (CPU) for controlling transfer according to a predetermined communication protocol is built into the master station and the slave station.

In such a control B system, two things are required: the transfer of commands from the parent computer to one of the child computers, and the transfer of operation completion messages and data from each control child computer to the parent computer. This is done according to the transmission procedure. In this case, the communication protocol between the two is - H
DLC procedures and SDLC procedures are adopted as they are. This makes these transmission procedures highly reliable and
This is also because the number of signal lines can be reduced.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a conventional control method. in this case,
It shows data transfer from child computer to parent computer. First, when the parent computer requests data from the other party, the communication microprocessor in the parent station receives this command and requests a response from the communication processor in the slave station. Send to parent station. For example, when there is no requested data, empty data is sent, and the master station notifies the parent computer that the data is empty. In this case, while the child computer connected to the slave station is operating, the parent computer returns data request commands to the master station, and when the slave computer notifies the slave station that the operation has ended, the slave station sends the parent computer a command to request data. Operation completion data is sent to the station,
Furthermore, the master station notifies the master computer that the operation has ended.
The parent computer terminates its operation.

As is clear from the above transmission procedure, HDLC
In the procedure and SDLC procedure, transfer is possible from a master station to a slave station at any time, but transfer from a slave station to a master station is possible only immediately after the master station requests the slave station for transfer. For example, when a command is sent from a parent computer to a child computer for mechanism drive control, the child computer operates the mechanism for a predetermined period of time according to the received command, and when the operation is completed, transfers the command to the parent computer as described above. When notifying the parent computer that such an operation has ended,
If the transmission procedure described above is followed, the parent computer must constantly poll the slave stations, and while this polling is being performed, the parent computer is unable to execute other jobs for other slave stations. Because I can't
This will reduce the processing efficiency of the parent comviator, which in turn will reduce the efficiency of the entire control system.

The purpose of the present invention is that even in the conventional transmission procedure, the master station side does not need to poll to check whether the operation of the slave station side is completed, and the slave stations can do so automatically after receiving a command from the master station side. The purpose of the present invention is to improve the processing efficiency of a parent computer by making it possible to transfer information such as the completion of an operation to a parent station.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of the present invention. As shown in the figure,
The present invention uses the HDLC procedure or SDL as a communication protocol between a parent computer and a plurality of child combiners.
In a robot control method using a computer system using the C procedure, the master station has an address that changes the address of the master station to the address of the slave station when a command is sent from the master station to the slave station. The changing means (A1) and the slave station side are provided with a temporary setting on the slave station side in order to transmit data to the master station whose address has been changed to the same as that of the slave station when transmitting data from the slave station to the master station. and mode changing means (B) for changing to the master station mode, and the slave station which has been changed to the master station mode voluntarily transfers data to the master station.

[For production]

In the present invention, data transfer from a parent computer to a child computer is performed according to the normal flow, but in data transfer from a child computer to a parent computer, the address of the parent station is changed to the address of the corresponding slave station, When a slave station receives data from a slave computer, it temporarily changes to the master station mode and automatically transfers data from the slave station in order to send the data to the master station whose address has been changed to the same address as the slave station. It is.

〔Example〕

FIGS. 2 and 3 are flowcharts of an embodiment of the robot control method according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a case where data is transferred from a parent computer to a child computer for controlling mechanism drive. First, the parent computer sends data having the format shown in FIG. 4 to the parent station (step Sl).
. In this format, the first "1" indicates the address of the slave station, and "MOVE-..." indicates the data to be transferred. The master station that receives the data (step S2) writes the address specified by the partner station address into an address register (not shown) (step S3). Write the address written in the address register to the address within the frame and transfer the frame (step S4
). The slave station that received the frame (step S5) checks that the address of the sent frame matches its own address, captures the data in the frame (step S6), and receives the frame normally. What has been done is transferred to the master station (step S7), and the master station receives notification (step S8). On the other hand, the slave station sends the transfer data to the slave computer for mechanism drive control at the same time as the transfer to the master station (step S9), and the slave computer receives the data (step 510).

In this case, the master station that receives the transfer frame from the master computer writes the address of the partner station in the data into the address register. Since this address register is common to both the address of the master station and the address written in the frame to be transferred, the address of the master station is changed to the address of the slave station at this time. That is, in the present invention, when a master station sends a command to a slave station, the address of the master station is changed to the address of the slave station and is left as is.

FIG. 3 shows a case where data is transferred from a child computer, for example, a child computer for mechanism drive control, to a parent computer. In this case, the address of the master station has already been changed to the address of the slave station by the steps described above. Step S mentioned above
The slave computer which received the data at 10 causes the robot mechanism section to perform a predetermined operation, and then sends data indicating the end of the operation to the slave station (step 5ll). The slave station receives the operation end data (step 512), changes to the master station mode (step 513), and sends a frame containing its own address and operation end data to the master station (step 5).
14), the master station receives this frame (step 5)
15). The master station confirms that the address of the sent frame matches its own address, captures the data in the frame (step 516), and notifies the slave station that it has successfully received the frame (step 517). ), the slave station receives this notification (step 518). The master station simultaneously sends data to the master computer (step 519),
The parent computer receives and receives this data (step S
20).

In this way, when a slave station sends data to a master station, the slave station temporarily changes to the master station mode and transfers the data to the master station having the same address as the slave station.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the software configuration of the master station and slave stations for controlling the present invention. The master station side consists of programs 1 to 4, and the slave station side consists of programs 5 to 8. The communication CPU in this embodiment is SD
It has two modes: auto mode, which automatically performs the functions of a normal slave station in the LC procedure, and flexible mode, which more flexibly realizes the functions of a master station and slave station. Among the software on the slave station side, only No. 5 functions as a normal slave station in the SDLC procedure. 6. No. 7 is not a normal function because the slave station voluntarily transfers information to the master station. Therefore, only number 5 is in auto mode, and the others 1 to 3, 6.
7 is a program that operates in flexible mode.

As shown in the figure, when transferring information from a master station to a slave station, the master station sends data to the slave station using program 1, and when the slave station receives data from the master station using program 5, it returns a response. , the master station receives the response from the slave station according to program 2. On the other hand, when information is voluntarily transferred from a slave station to a master station, the slave station transmits data to the master station using program 6, and when the master station receives data from the slave station using program 3, it returns a response and sends a response to the slave station. The station receives a response from the master station using program 7. Further, when setting parameters, the master station sets the parameters of the master station using program 4, and the slave station sets the parameters of the slave station using program 8.

In particular, the case where information is voluntarily transferred from a slave station to a master station will be explained in more detail. In the initial parameter settings of the master station and slave stations, the master station is set to flexible mode and the slave station is set to auto mode, and has the functions of a normal slave station.

A normal slave station can transmit to the master station when instructed by the master station, but transmission to the master station is voluntary;
This cannot be achieved with normal slave station functionality. Therefore, when a slave station transmits to a master station, a method is adopted in which the slave station switches to a flexible mode so that it can spontaneously transmit to other stations. In this flexible mode, the slave station can send commands to other stations like the master station. The partner station to which a flexible mode slave station transmits is always the master station, and the timing of transmission is after the master station has transmitted a command to this slave station.

Therefore, in reality, when a master station sends a command to a slave station, the address of the slave station is written to the address of the master station, and when a slave station sends a command to the master station, it writes the address of the slave station itself to the address of the frame. By taking the two methods of writing, data can be spontaneously transmitted from the slave station to the master station to which the address of the slave station has been written.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the slave station can spontaneously transmit data after receiving a command from the master station, so the master computer does not need to check whether the slave computer has completed its operation by polling. Therefore, while other computers are operating, the parent computer can execute other jobs for other child computers, thereby improving the processing efficiency of the entire system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing data transfer from a parent computer to a child computer according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing data transfer from a child computer to a parent computer according to the present invention. 4 is a diagram showing the data format, FIG. 5 is a program configuration diagram according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a robot control system configuration diagram, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional child computer to a parent computer. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating data transfer to a computer. (Explanation of symbols) A... Parent computer B, C, D... Child computer, 1... Master station, 2, 3. 4... Slave station. Principle configuration diagram of the present invention Robot control system configuration diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a robot control method using a computer system that uses an HDLC procedure or an SDLC procedure as a communication protocol between a parent computer and a plurality of child computers, the parent An address changing means (A_1) that changes the address of the master station to the address of the slave station when transmitting a command to the station, and an address changing means (A_1) that changes the address of the master station to the address of the slave station, and a means for changing the address of the slave station when transmitting data from the slave station to the master station. , mode changing means (B) for temporarily changing the slave station to the master station mode in order to transmit data to the master station whose address has been changed to be the same as that of the slave station; A robot control method characterized in that the slave stations in the robot autonomously transfer data to the master station.