JPH0811073A - Robot controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To change user interface related to screen layout in accordance with user's request. CONSTITUTION:A robot controller consists of a data storage means 2 which stores data related to screen layout and prepared in accordance with user's request, a call means 3 which calls out the data related to screen layout which corresponds to a display command operation from the data storage means 2, and a data interpretation means 4 which interprets the data related to screen layout and called by the call means and gives it to a display device 1. The screen layout is prepared by the robot controller or an external device and loaded in the robot controller in the form of data. The robot controller interprets the data and constructs the screen layout on the spot.

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 which is applied to an industrial robot device and can change a screen layout of a display device, that is, a user interface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an industrial robot device,
Create a robot program on an external computer,
Read-only memory (R
It is mounted on a robot controller in the form of OM) to move the robot. Here, the user creates an operation program, teaches the robot,
The robot operation status and connection status with external devices may be monitored. In such a case, the display unit of the robot control device or the display unit of the teaching device displays the operation program of the robot, the state of the actually moving operation, or the robot control device. The input / output status of will be displayed.

[0003]

However, in the conventional robot control device, since the display of various data and the screen layout on the menu screen, that is, the user interface are determined at the time of creating the software of the robot, When performing various types of display, the user interface cannot be changed at the user's request, and the display is fixed and can be displayed only in a uniform screen layout. Therefore, if there is a desire to change the user interface, there is a problem that the robot program must be rebuilt.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a robot controller capable of changing a user interface according to a user's request.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, in a robot control device equipped with a display device used for displaying a teaching operation, a screen for displaying data on the display device. Data storage means for storing data relating to the layout, calling means for calling corresponding data relating to the screen layout from the data storage means in response to a certain display command operation, and the screen layout called by the calling means And a data interpreting means for interpreting data and giving it to the display device.

[0006]

According to the above-mentioned means, the data relating to the screen layout created in response to the user's request is stored in the data storing means, and the data relating to the screen layout is read out from the data storing means by the calling means when necessary. The interpreting means interprets this and displays it on the screen.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram of a robot controller according to the present invention. According to this figure, the robot control device of the present invention displays the operation program of the robot, displays the state of the action actually moving, or displays the input / output state of the robot control device. The display device 1 used at the time is provided.

The robot control apparatus also includes a data storage means 2 for storing various menus or data relating to a screen layout when, for example, a robot operation program is displayed on the display device 1, and a display command operation. When it is issued, the calling means 3 that calls the corresponding data concerning the screen layout from the data storing means 2 according to this, and the data concerning the screen layout called by this calling means 3 are interpreted and follow the data. Data interpreting means 4 adapted to be reconstructed into the screen layout and supplied to the display device 1.

According to this robot control device, the data relating to the screen layout is created by the robot control device or using an external personal computer, for example, in a layout according to the user's request, and is stored in the data storage means 2. It Data relating to these screen layouts are read from the data storage unit 2 by the calling unit 3 when necessary, and are interpreted by the data interpretation unit 4 to be displayed on the screen.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a robot controller. In this figure, the robot controller 20 includes a processor board (control unit) 21, which is composed of a processor (CPU) 21a, a read-only memory (ROM) 21b, and a random access memory (RAM) 21c. There is. Processor 21a
Controls the entire robot controller 20 according to the system program stored in the read-only memory 21b.
Various data is stored in the random access memory 21c, and the teaching program of the robot 10, coordinate system data, data indicating the operation state of each axis, data indicating the state of the signal line connected to the robot controller 20, and the user. Stores data related to the screen layout created on the local side. A part of the random access memory 21c is configured as a non-volatile memory in which stored data is backed up by a battery even when the power is turned off, and in particular, data regarding a screen layout is stored in the non-volatile memory part. ing. The read-only memory 21b also stores a program for interpreting data regarding the screen layout. The processor board 21 is connected to the bus 29.

The digital servo control circuit 22 has a bus 29.
The command from the processor board 21 is transmitted to the servo motors 11, 12, 13, 14, 1 for operating each axis in the robot 10 via the servo amplifier 23.
Passed to 5 and 16. Although not shown, each servo motor 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 has a rotary encoder for position detection, and their pulse signals are fed back to the digital servo control circuit 22.

The serial port 24 is connected to a bus 29, and is connected to a teaching operation panel 24a with a display and a floppy disk device (FD) 24b. The teaching operation panel 24a with a display is used for inputting a teaching program or the like. The floppy disk device 24b is used to transfer data relating to a screen layout created by an external personal computer, for example, to the random access memory 21c. Further, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) 24c is connected to the serial port 24, and the working conditions of the robot are displayed on the CRT 24c. An operation panel 25a is connected to the digital I / O 25, and its operation signal is transmitted to the processor 21a via the bus 29. Also, bus 29
I / O 25 and analog I / O connected to
Reference numeral 26 outputs a command signal from the processor 21a to another command device via these. The large-capacity memory 27 stores teaching data, working conditions other than those in use, and the like. Finally, the bus 29 has a memory card I
/ F28 is connected, and the software at the time of failure recovery can be transferred to the large capacity memory 27 via this.

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying a display of the state of the axes of the robot. This example shows the state of the axes of the robot displayed on the display 24aa of the teaching operation panel 24a, for example. Here, the display "J1 to J6" represents six axes, and the angle of each axis is displayed after "=".

When an attempt is made to perform such a screen layout, data relating to this screen layout is described in the following format, for example. J1 2 2 "J1 =% f" Here, "J1" represents the first axis. After that, it means that the information of the 1st axis is displayed in the form of a character string in which the actual value of J1 is embedded in the variable "% f" at the position coordinate (2,2) on the screen. The robot controller interprets the information and displays it on the screen. It should be noted that this is a description for only one axis, but if it is intended to represent up to six axes, a description regarding the screen layout of the second to sixth axes will be listed subsequently.

Data relating to such a screen layout can be transmitted by an external personal computer, for example.
You can also specify the display position using software that allows you to edit the layout directly on the screen. In this case, the data representing the screen layout as described above is automatically generated by visually deciding the layout. This data is saved in, for example, a floppy disk in the form of a screen definition file, and is further loaded into the robot controller via the floppy disk device 24b.

As described above, the screen layout is given in the form of data and is stored in the form of a file on the random access memory 21c. This file is called from the random access memory 21c by operating a subroutine for calling the data by pressing a specific key on the teaching operation panel 24a, and the called data is interpreted by the subroutine for interpreting the data, and the screen is displayed. Is passed to a subroutine for drawing and is displayed on the display 24aa of the teaching operation panel 24a.

If the called data has a screen layout such as a menu, the data is interpreted and displayed, but the variable indicating the axis state as in the above example is set. If the screen layout is such that it will be displayed, a subroutine that reads the data that represents the status of that axis will be executed, and a screen that displays the status of the axis along with the data that represents the status of the axis that was read will be displayed. Become.

[0018]

As described above, in the present invention, instead of coding and supplying the user interface as the screen layout as a program, the user interface is supplied as data, and the robot controller interprets this data and Since the user interface is constructed on the spot, the user interface can be changed according to the user's request without replacing the software of the robot controller.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle configuration diagram of a robot control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a robot control device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram exemplifying a display of a state of axes of a robot.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 display device 2 data storage means 3 calling means 4 data interpretation means

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A robot controller provided with a display device used for displaying a teaching operation and the like, and a data storage means for storing data relating to a screen layout when displaying data on the display device, and a certain display. Calling means for calling from the data storage means data corresponding to the screen layout corresponding to the command operation, and data interpretation means for interpreting the data related to the screen layout called by the calling means and giving the data to the display device, A robot control device comprising: 2. The robot controller according to claim 1, wherein the data storage means stores data relating to a screen layout created and transferred by an external device. 3. The robot controller according to claim 1, wherein the data storage means is a non-volatile memory in which the data is backed up by a battery even when the power is turned off. 4. The data interpreting means has a function of executing a means for reading out the value of a variable when the data related to the screen layout includes the variable. Robot controller.