JPH05265535A - Robot controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To expect other robots to make a support when one of the robots fails. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of coating robots 3A-3F are made into block and placed on the coating line where a work 1 is traveled by a conveyor 2. Robot controllers 5A-5C of the first block are managed by a first system controller 6A, and robot controllers 5D, 5F of the second block are managed by a second system controller 6B. Both system controllers 6A, 6B are managed by a host computer 7. When one of the coating robots 3A-3F fails, program setting devices 8A or 8B interrupts a signal line 24A or 24B with the host computer 7. The other robots in the same block are controlled to make a support.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a robot controller, and more particularly to a robot controller for controlling a plurality of robots installed along a work transfer line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a coating line for coating a work such as an automobile body, a plurality of coating robots are arranged on both sides of a conveyor device for conveying the work.
As this type of painting robot, an articulated playback robot with a painting gun attached to the arm tip is often used. Also, the painting robot is installed on the carriage of a moving device that can move in parallel with the conveyor device.
Perform coating work while following the work transfer.

As described above, since a plurality of robots are simultaneously controlled in the coating line, in the robot controller, when the robot controller for individually controlling each coating robot is instructed by the host computer about the work content,
The respective painting robots are controlled so as to perform the painting operation taught in advance.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned coating line in which a plurality of coating robots share the coating points for the work, if one coating robot becomes abnormal and the coating work cannot be performed, the entire coating line will be unable to work. The worker was doing the painting work instead of the abnormal painting robot. Therefore, conventionally, an operator skilled in coating technology must be on standby in preparation for the occurrence of an abnormality as described above, and when an abnormality occurs, manual coating is performed without a break in time with the coating work of another robot. Therefore, there is a problem that it requires considerable labor.

Further, it has been considered that an abnormality occurrence support control program is input in advance to the host computer so that another painting robot can assist instead of the abnormal robot at the time of abnormality occurrence. However, since the host computer manages all the information on the painting line, if the control of the entire operation of the factory is overloaded due to an excessive load on the support operation control processing due to the occurrence of an abnormality However, there is a problem that the functions of the entire factory are stagnant.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a robot controller which solves the above problems.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A plurality of robots installed along the work transfer line, a plurality of robot controllers for individually controlling the plurality of robots, and a system controller for instructing the plurality of robot controllers of the work content of each robot. A host computer that controls the work transfer line and the system controller, and is connected to the system controller, and when one of the robots has an abnormality, the system controller and the host computer are disconnected from each other. In addition, the program setting device is configured to control the plurality of robots so that another robot may perform the work of the abnormal robot instead by way of the system controller.

Further, the program setter of the invention of claim 2 connects the system controller and a host computer and sends a recovery completion signal to the host computer when the abnormal robot is recovered normally. It is characterized by further comprising processing content transfer means for transferring the processing content executed during the period from the occurrence of the abnormality in the robot to the recovery of the robot.

[0009]

[Effect] Even if one of the plurality of robots becomes abnormal, the other robots share the work of the robot having the abnormality, so that it is not necessary to keep the worker on standby in case of the occurrence of the abnormality. Sometimes the program setter does the processing without using the host computer, so that the processing when an abnormality occurs does not burden the host computer and other processing is not delayed.

Further, when the robot returns to the normal state, the processing contents when the abnormality occurs are transferred to the host computer, and the host computer side can grasp the cause, the processing contents, the operation of each robot, etc. when the abnormality occurs.

[0011]

1 to 3 show a robot controller according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In each drawing, a conveyor device (work transfer line) 2 for transferring a work 1 to a coating line and a plurality of coating robots 3 (3A) installed along the conveyor device 2.
Up to 3F). The robot controller 4 controls the robots 5 (5A to 5F) for individually controlling the plurality of painting robots 3 (3A to 3F), and the system controller 6 (for controlling the robot controllers 5 (5A to 5F) in blocks. 6A, 6B), a host computer 7 for managing the system controllers 6A, 6B, and program setters 8A, 8B connected to the system controllers 6A, 6B.

The host computer 7 manages the system controllers 6A and 6B and also conveys the conveyor device 2
It manages the entire painting line.

In this embodiment, six painting robots 3A to
3F is responsible for a series of coating operations on the work 1, the first to third coating robots 3A to 3C constitute a first block, and the fourth to sixth coating robots 3D to 3F.
Constitutes the second block.

Various coating programs which have been taught in advance are input to the robot controllers 5A to 5F, and when the system controllers 6A and 6B instruct the work contents corresponding to the type of the work 1, the robot controllers 5A to 5F. Drives and controls each of the painting robots 3A to 3F in accordance with the painting program of the instructed work content.

Therefore, the work 1 conveyed by the conveyor device 2 has been electrodeposition-coated, and the first stage (intermediate coating process) is applied in the process of passing in front of the coating robots 3A to 3C of the first block. Then, in the process of passing in front of the coating robots 3D to 3F of the second block, the coating of the second stage (top coating process) is applied.

The first system controller 6A is connected by signal lines 23A-23C so as to control the robot controllers 5A-5C of the first block, and the second system controller 6B connects the robot controllers 5D-5F of the second block. Signal line 23D to manage
It is connected by 23F. The host computer 7 is connected by signal lines 24A and 24B so as to control the system controllers 6A and 6B.

Therefore, the coating robots 3A to 3F, the robot controllers 5A to 5F, and the system controller 6
The A, 6B and the host computer 7 are connected in a tree structure, and each is managed by a host computer. The program setters 8A and 8B are installed for each of the first and second blocks, respectively, and various control programs are input thereto.
When an abnormality occurs in one robot in the block or the second block and the painting work cannot be performed, an assistance control program for performing assistance control of abnormality occurrence is input as described later, and instead of the host computer 7. It manages the system controllers 6A and 6B and shares the work of a robot in which another robot has failed.

Therefore, even if one of the robots fails, the host computer 7 does not need to process the cause of the robot failure, recovery, support control by other robots, etc., and the inconvenience of stagnation of other processing is solved. It

Since each of the coating robots 3A to 3F is a multi-joint type playback robot and has the same configuration, the configuration of the first coating robot 3A will be described here.

In FIG. 2, a turning drive unit 11 is provided on the base 10. On the turning drive unit 11,
A swivel base 12 is provided which rotates around an axis A fixed to the base 10. The bracket 12a on the swivel base 12 is provided with a first rotary member that rotates about the axis B.
An arm 13 is provided. The bracket 12a on the swivel base 12 is provided with a strut drive unit 14.

At the upper end of the first arm 13, a second arm 15 which rotates about the axis C is rotatably provided. The second arm 15 and the first arm 13
An arm drive unit 16 is provided at the connecting portion of. A wrist drive unit 17 is provided at the rear of the arm 15.

Further, a wrist mechanism 18 is provided at the tip of the second arm 15. The wrist mechanism 18 is provided with cases 19 and 20 and a mounting shaft 21. Case 1
9 is adapted to rotate about the axis D.
The case 20 is adapted to rotate about the axis E. The mounting shaft 21 is a mounting portion of the coating gun 22,
It is adapted to rotate about the axis F.

The robot controller 5A stores the teaching data and controls the operation of the coating robot 3A in synchronization with the conveyance of the work 1. Therefore, in the painting robot 3A, each drive unit is driven by a command from the robot controller 5A, and each movable unit such as the swivel base 12, the first arm 13, the second arm 15, and the wrist mechanism 18 operates. Painting gun 2 provided at the tip of the second arm 15
In No. 2, the work 1 is painted by the operation of the movable parts.

The processing executed by the program setting device 8A or 8B, which constitutes the main part of the present invention, will be described below. In this embodiment, the processing shown in FIG. 3 is executed for each block.

For example, in the program setting device 8A, it is checked in step S1 (hereinafter, steps will be omitted) that the coating robots 3A to 3C of the first block are operating normally. Therefore, the program setting device 8A constantly monitors the operating states of the coating robots 3A to 3C, and, for example, when the first coating robot 3A and the robot controller 5A become inoperable due to some failure, move to S2. Check which robot has the abnormality. In this case, since an abnormality has occurred in the first painting robot 3A, the signal line 24A connecting the first system controller 6A and the host computer 7 is cut off (S3).

Subsequently, an emergency process for confirming the abnormality content of the coating robot 3A and the robot controller 5A is executed (S4). For example, in the case of software abnormality such as program abnormality, the abnormality of the coating robot 3A and robot controller 5A is detected. A process for removing the factor is performed (S5).

In S6, if the cause of the robot abnormality can be removed and the robot can be restored by the processing of S5, the restoration processing information is input to the robot controller 5A of the coating robot 3A to restore the operable state (S7).

Then, the signal line 24 between the host computer 7 and the system controller 6A, which is cut off in S3,
A is connected again (S8). After that, the recovery completion signal, the cause of the emergency, and the recovery processing content are transferred to the host computer 7 (processing content transfer means).

However, if the cause of the abnormality of the coating robot 3A or the robot controller 5A cannot be removed due to the abnormality of the hardware such as the motor in S6 and the operation state cannot be restored, the process proceeds to S10 and the system controller 6A and the robot controller. The signal line 23A with the 5A is cut off, and the process of assist control when an abnormality occurs is executed. That is, the other painting robot 3 of the first block
The work contents of the coating robot 3A in which an abnormality has occurred are assigned to the robot controllers 5B and 5C of B and 3C, respectively. Therefore, originally three painting robots 3A to 3C
The painting work of the first stage, which was carried out in 1), is executed with the assistance of the two painting robots 3B and 3C. Therefore, in the coating line, a series of coating processes can be continuously performed without stopping the work transfer.

At the next S11 and S12, the above-mentioned S8 and S are performed.
The same process as in 9 is performed, the signal line 24A between the host computer 7 and the system controller 6A is connected, and the recovery completion signal, the emergency factor of the painting robot 3A, and the processing content are transferred to the host computer ( Processing content transfer means).

When the coating robot 3A is in a recoverable state, the processes of S6 to S9 are performed, and the process returns to S1 and the normal coating process is performed by the three coating robots 3A to 3C.

In this way, even if one robot in the block breaks down, the other robots share the work of the broken robot, so it is not necessary to stop the painting line.
In the meantime, repair the broken robot. When an abnormality occurs, the host computer 7 and system controller 6
Since the signal setting 24A to the A is cut off and the program setter 8A manages the system controller 6A, the host computer 7 does not perform emergency processing, and executes other processing without delay as in the normal case. it can.

When the broken robot is restored,
The system controller 6A and the host computer 7 are connected again by the signal line 24A, and the host computer 7 manages the system controller 6A. Then, the painting robot 3A and the robot controller 6
Information on the emergency processing executed until A is restored can be automatically transferred to the host computer 7 for management after restoration.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS.

The robot controller shown in FIG. 4 is not divided into blocks and one system controller 6 manages a plurality of robot controllers 5A to 5N, and the host computer 7 manages the system controller 6. Each of the coating robots 3A to 3N performs the coating work of the first to Nth steps on the work 1 step by step according to a command from the system controller 6, respectively. The program setting device 8 is connected to the system controller 6 and instructs the system controller 6 about the work content of each robot.

The processing executed by the program setting unit 8 via the system controller 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

The normal program setting device 8 manages the line during normal operation in S21, and checks in S22 that the robot operation is normal. Here, it is assumed that the first painting robot 3A becomes inoperable due to a failure. In that case, the process proceeds from S22 to S23, and the signal line 24 between the host computer 7 and the system controller 6 is cut off.

Subsequently, in S24, after shutting off the signal line 23A of the robot controller 5A of the coating robot 3A which has failed, the work data supplied to each of the coating robots 3A to 3N is changed so that the coating robot 3A which has failed can be changed. The work is divided among the other painting robots 3B to 3N.

Next, in S26, line control is performed in an abnormal state in which the other coating robots 3B to 3N support the coating work in place of the defective coating robot 3A. The process of S26 is executed until the failed coating robot 3A is restored,
In S27, it is checked whether the robot has recovered.
When the painting robot 3A is restored in S27, the process proceeds to S28, where the signal line 24 between the host computer 7 and the system controller 6 is connected, and further the signal line 23A of the restored painting robot 3A is connected (S2).
9).

At the next step S30, each of the coating robots 3A-3
After changing the work data to N to the contents of the normal state, S
At 31, the recovery completion signal is transferred to the host computer 7, the cause of the emergency and the processing contents of S25 and S26 are transferred, and the process returns to S1.

As described above, the plurality of painting robots 3A to 3A
Even if N is not blocked, if one robot is abnormal, other robots can share and support the work of the disabled robot, so it is not necessary to stop the painting line and the robot is in between. The abnormal contents of can be investigated and recovered.

In the above embodiment, a coating line having a plurality of coating robots is given as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is needless to say that it can be applied to a line having other welding robots and sealing robots.

[0044]

As described above, in the robot controller according to the present invention, even if one of the plurality of robots becomes abnormal, the other robot can share the work of the robot having the abnormality and support the robot. There is no need to wait for a worker who works in place of a robot in case of an abnormality,
You can continue working on the line without stopping it. Moreover, since the program setter performs processing via the system controller without using the host computer when an abnormality occurs, the host computer is not burdened and other processing by the host computer can be prevented from being delayed. Also, when the failed robot returns to normal, the recovery completion signal and the process when an abnormality occurs are transferred to the host computer. Therefore, the host computer must also understand the cause when the abnormality occurs, its processing content, and the operation of each robot. It has features such as being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a robot controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a painting robot.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of processing executed by a program setting device.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the processing executed in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Work 2 Conveyor device 3 (3A to 3N) Painting robot 4 Robot control device 5 (5A to 5N) Robot controller 6 (6A, 6B) System controller 7 Host computer 8 (8A, 8B) Program setting device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of robots installed along a work transfer line, a plurality of robot controllers for individually controlling each of the plurality of robots, and a work content of each robot for the plurality of robot controllers. A system controller for instructing, a host computer for controlling the work transfer line and the system controller, and a system controller and a host computer connected to the system controller and when an abnormality occurs in one of the plurality of robots. And a program setting device for controlling the plurality of robots so that other robots work instead of the abnormal robots via the system controller. .. 2. The program setter connects the system controller and a host computer when the abnormal robot is normally restored, transfers a restoration completion signal to the host computer, and transmits the restoration completion signal to the robot. 2. The robot controller according to claim 1, further comprising processing content transfer means for transferring processing content executed between the occurrence of an abnormality and the robot recovery.