WO2015005293A1

WO2015005293A1 - Operation device

Info

Publication number: WO2015005293A1
Application number: PCT/JP2014/068089
Authority: WO
Inventors: 健介吉山
Original assignee: 株式会社ダイヘン
Priority date: 2013-07-12
Filing date: 2014-07-07
Publication date: 2015-01-15
Also published as: TWI638259B; CN105555488A; CN105555488B; TW201516642A; JP2015016531A

Abstract

The portable operation device (TP) is connected to a robot control device (RC) by wireless communication. The portable operation device (TP) is operated by electric power supplied from a secondary battery (36). The portable operation device (TP) is provided with a voltage-monitoring circuit (51) and a boot control section (52). The voltage-monitoring circuit (51) monitors the residual charge of the secondary battery (36). When the power source button (7) is pressed and a request to execute the booting process is made, the boot control section (52) checks the residual charge of the secondary battery (36) measured by the voltage-monitoring circuit (51). When the residual charge of the secondary battery (36) is determined to be a specified value or less, the boot control section (52) discontinues the booting process.

Description

Operating device

The present invention relates to an operation device that is connected to an operation target device by wireless communication and is operated when various types of data are transmitted to and received from the operation target device.

Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose an information processing apparatus such as a desktop PC (personal computer) that operates when power is supplied from an external power source. The information processing apparatuses disclosed in these documents are provided with an uninterruptible power supply for power failure countermeasures. For this reason, when the power supply from the external power supply is stopped, by switching to the power supply from the uninterruptible power supply device, the running application or operating system can be normally terminated. This prevents damage to memory data and hardware inside the information processing apparatus.

Patent Document 3 discloses an information processing apparatus such as a mobile phone or a notebook PC that is operated by a secondary battery incorporated in a casing. When the remaining amount of the secondary battery is reduced, the information processing device disclosed in this document normally terminates the system before the power supply from the secondary battery stops (hereinafter referred to as a shutdown process). It is configured to protect memory data.

Patent Documents

4 and 5 disclose a robot system including a robot control device that controls a robot and a portable operation device that can communicate with the robot control device. In the robot systems disclosed in these documents, communication between the robot control device and the portable operation device is made wireless by a network communication technology corresponding to the IEEE 802 standard. For this reason, the operator can remotely operate the robot control device, which is the operation target device, using the portable operation device. Moreover, the portable operating device is configured to operate by supplying power from the secondary battery. For this reason, when the remaining amount of the secondary battery is reduced, the memory data inside the portable operation device is protected by automatically performing the shutdown process as in the information processing device disclosed in Patent Document 3. Can do.

However, according to this configuration, even after the shutdown process, the capacity of the secondary battery remains slightly. For this reason, if a user accidentally turns on the power supply of the portable operating device after the shutdown process is performed, the portable operating device starts to be activated. In this case, there is a possibility that the remaining amount of the secondary battery becomes zero during the activation of the portable operating device, and the power supply from the secondary battery is completely stopped. Even if the start-up of the portable operation device is completed, since a decrease in the remaining amount of the secondary battery is detected immediately, the shutdown process is executed again, and the power supply from the secondary battery is completely stopped during the process. There is also a fear. As described above, when the power supply is stopped during the startup of the portable operating device or during the shutdown process, the memory data inside the portable operating device may be damaged.

JP 2011-39685 A JP 2002-297270 A JP 2004-310665 A International Publication No. 2009/119379 JP 2006-341356 A

It is an object of the present invention to provide an operating device that can prevent memory data corruption caused by stopping power supply from a secondary battery.

In order to solve the above problems, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an operating device that is connected to an operation target device by wireless communication and is operated when data is transmitted to or received from the operation target device. A secondary battery is incorporated inside the device, and an operating device that operates by supplying power from the secondary battery is provided. The operating device includes a monitoring unit that monitors the remaining amount of the secondary battery and a boot control unit that executes a boot process based on a power-on operation of the operating device. The boot control unit executes the boot process. When the request is made, the remaining amount of the secondary battery is confirmed. If it is determined that the remaining amount of the secondary battery is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the execution of the boot process is stopped.

In the above operation device, it is preferable to include a notifying unit that notifies that the remaining amount of the secondary battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
In the operation device, the operation target device is preferably a manipulator or a robot control device that controls the manipulator.

The schematic diagram which shows the robot control system provided with the operating device of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of a robot control system.

Hereinafter, an embodiment in which an operation device according to the present invention is embodied as a portable operation device used in a robot control system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the robot control system 1 includes a robot R, a robot control device RC that controls the operation of the robot R, and a portable operation device TP that can communicate with the robot control device RC. The robot R is an industrial robot that performs arc welding, spot welding, and the like. The robot control system 1 is configured to be capable of wireless communication between the portable operation device TP and the robot control device RC. For this reason, the worker HM can perform the teaching work of the robot R by operating the portable operating device TP. The wireless communication performed between the portable operation device TP and the robot control device RC is one-to-one opposing communication.

The robot R is installed inside the protective fence 2. A work tool T such as an arc welding torch or a spot welding gun is attached to the tip of the wrist of the robot R.
The portable operating device TP includes a microcomputer in which an operating system such as Windows (registered trademark) is incorporated. The portable operation device TP includes a display 5, a keyboard 6, an emergency stop switch 4, a power button 7, and a wireless changeover switch 8. The display 5 functions as a display unit that displays various data. The operator HM operates the keyboard 6 to execute the teaching work of the robot R. Further, the worker HM operates the emergency stop switch 4 to stop the robot R in an emergency.

A secondary battery (not shown) is incorporated in the portable operation device TP. By operating the power button 7, it is possible to supply power from the secondary battery. The secondary battery is charged from a commercial power source by connecting the portable operating device TP to a charging device (not shown). The worker HM operates the wireless changeover switch 8 to establish or block wireless communication between the portable operation device TP and the robot control device RC. When the wireless communication is established, the teaching operation signal output from the portable operation device TP is transmitted to the robot control device RC by wireless communication. The teaching operation signal includes a jog feed signal for moving the robot R by manual operation, a teaching signal for storing the work position of the robot R, an emergency stop signal for emergency stopping the robot R in an emergency, and the like. . When these teaching operation signals are transmitted from the portable operation device TP, the robot controller RC performs various processes such as a jog feed operation of the robot R, creation of teaching data, and emergency stop.

The robot controller RC creates teaching data in accordance with a teaching operation signal from the portable operating device TP. The robot control device RC stores the teaching data in a storage unit (not shown) inside the robot control device RC. When an activation signal is input from the outside, the robot controller RC reproduces the teaching data and executes the automatic operation of the robot R.

As shown in FIG. 2, the robot control system 1 includes a charging device CU for charging the portable operating device TP in addition to the robot control device RC and the portable operating device TP.
In addition to the emergency stop switch 4, the display 5, the keyboard 6, the power button 7 and the wireless changeover switch 8, the portable operation device TP includes a central processing unit CPU 33, a temporary calculation area RAM 34, a transceiver 32, A secondary battery 36, a storage unit 15, a ROM 35, and the like, which are drive sources of the portable operation device TP, are provided. The storage unit 15 includes a hard disk and a semiconductor memory for storing various data. Various software programs are stored in the ROM 35.

The transceiver 32 has a wireless LAN interface. The transceiver 32 performs wireless communication between the robot control device RC and the portable operation device TP. The storage unit 15 includes a connection information storage unit 47. The connection information storage unit 47 stores connection information for communication between the portable operation device TP and the robot control device RC. Examples of the connection information include an IP address, a subnet mask, a default gateway, and a MAC address. The emergency stop switch 4, display 5, keyboard 6, power button 7, wireless switch 8, CPU 33, RAM 34, transceiver 32, secondary battery 36, storage unit 15, ROM 35, etc. It is connected.

The secondary battery 36 can be charged by the charging device CU. Specifically, when the portable operating device TP is mounted at a predetermined position of the charging device CU, a charging circuit (not shown) is electrically connected to the charging device CU, and charging of the secondary battery 36 is started. The power supply of the charging device CU may be supplied from the robot control device RC or may be supplied from a commercial power source.

The portable operating device TP further includes a voltage monitoring circuit 51 as a monitoring unit and an LED 53 as a notification unit. The voltage monitoring circuit 51 measures the remaining battery level of the secondary battery 36 at a predetermined cycle. The LED 53 notifies that the remaining battery level detected by the voltage monitoring circuit 51 is not more than a predetermined value.

The ROM 35 stores a software program for comprehensively controlling the above parts on an operating system (not shown). The ROM 35 includes a display control unit 45, a key input monitoring unit 46, a communication processing unit 41, a power supply control unit 49, and a boot control unit 52.

The display control unit 45 displays the display data on the display 5. The key input monitoring unit 46 monitors key input from the keyboard 6. The communication processing unit 41 performs communication establishment / shut-off processing with the robot control device RC and processing for controlling communication itself. In addition, the communication processing unit 41 performs processing for storing the network connection information such as the identification number and IP address of the robot control device RC connected to the portable operation device TP in the storage unit 15 and the RAM 34. Various data input by the keyboard 6 is transmitted in packet format to the robot controller RC via the communication processing unit 41 and the transceiver 32.

The power supply control unit 49 controls the power supply from the secondary battery 36 and the supply stop based on the pressing of the power button 7 in order to turn on or off the power of the portable operating device TP. When the power button 7 is pressed and execution of boot processing is requested, the boot control unit 52 as boot control means executes various hardware start-up processes and starts up an operating system (not shown). As a result, the portable operating device TP is ready for use.

The robot controller RC includes a CPU 13 that is a central processing unit, a RAM 14 that is a temporary calculation area, a ROM 16, a storage unit 19, an operation control unit 17, a drive command unit 18, a transceiver 12, and the like. Various software programs are stored in the ROM 16. The storage unit 19 includes a hard disk and a semiconductor memory for storing various data such as teaching data, constants, and the like. The operation control unit 17 performs a trajectory calculation of the robot R and outputs the calculation result to the drive command unit 18 as a drive signal. The drive command unit 18 outputs a servo control signal for controlling each servo motor of the robot R. The transceiver 12 performs wireless communication between the robot control device RC and the portable operation device TP. The CPU 13, the RAM 14, the ROM 16, the storage unit 19, the operation control unit 17, the drive command unit 18, and the transceiver 12 are connected to each other via the bus 9.

The transceiver 12 has a wireless LAN interface. The transceiver 12 performs wireless communication between the robot control device RC and the portable operation device TP. The storage unit 19 includes a connection information storage unit 27 and a teaching data storage unit 30. The teaching data storage unit 30 stores teaching data created in response to an input from the portable operating device TP. The connection information storage unit 27 stores connection information for communication between the portable operation device TP and the robot control device RC. Examples of the connection information include an IP address, a subnet mask, a default gateway, and a MAC address.

The ROM 16 stores a software program for comprehensively controlling the above parts on an operating system (not shown). The ROM 16 includes a communication processing unit 21, a display processing unit 25, an interpretation execution unit 26, and the like. The communication processing unit 21 performs communication processing with the portable operation device TP. The display processing unit 25 generates display data to be displayed on the display 5 of the portable operating device TP. The interpretation execution unit 26 interprets the teaching data stored in the teaching data storage unit 30 and outputs an operation control signal to the operation control unit 17.

Hereinafter, the operation of the robot control system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
(1. Normal use)
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the worker HM presses the power button 7 of the portable operating device TP whose power supply is stopped. Then, the boot control unit 52 executes various hardware activation processes and activates an operating system (not shown). After that, a predetermined application program is started by the operating system, and finally, the portable operating device TP becomes operable by the worker HM. In this state, the operator HM operates the wireless changeover switch 8 to establish wireless communication with the robot control device RC, and then performs the teaching operation of the robot R. After the teaching work of the robot R is completed, the worker HM operates the wireless changeover switch 8 to end the wireless communication with the robot control device RC.
(2. When the remaining battery level drops below the first predetermined value during use)
The voltage monitoring circuit 51 monitors the remaining amount of the secondary battery 36 (hereinafter referred to as the remaining battery amount) at a predetermined period. When the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than the first predetermined value, the power control unit 49 requests the operating system to perform a shutdown process. The first predetermined value is a remaining battery level necessary for executing the shutdown process. Thus, the shutdown process is automatically performed when the remaining battery level becomes equal to or lower than the first predetermined value.
(3. When boot processing is requested after shutdown processing)
Here, it is assumed that after the shutdown process is performed as described above, the operator HM presses the power button 7 without charging the secondary battery 36. In this case, when the power button 7 is pressed, the boot control unit 52 determines that the execution of the boot process has been requested, and starts the boot process. However, the boot control unit 52 performs the following processing prior to the boot processing. That is, the boot control unit 52 checks the remaining battery level measured by the voltage monitoring circuit 51 and determines whether or not the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a second predetermined value. The second predetermined value is a remaining battery level necessary for executing the boot process. When the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the second predetermined value, the boot control unit 52 stops the boot process. At the same time, the boot control unit 52 lights or blinks the LED 53 in order to notify that the boot process cannot be executed because the remaining battery level is equal to or less than the second predetermined value.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the remaining battery level is equal to or lower than the predetermined value, the portable operating device TP cannot be activated, so that the power supply from the secondary battery 36 can be performed during the activation of the portable operating device TP. A complete stop can be prevented. Thereby, in the portable operating device TP, it is possible to prevent the memory data from being damaged due to the power supply from the secondary battery 36 being stopped.

Further, according to the present invention, the LED 53 can be turned on or blinked to notify that the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Thereby, the worker HM can understand the reason why the portable operating device TP does not start by confirming that the LED 53 is turned on or blinking. As a result, it is possible to prompt the worker HM to charge the portable operating device TP.

In addition, although the operating device of the present invention has been specifically described as a portable operating device incorporated in a robot control system, it should not be limited to this. That is, the operating device of the present invention may be applied to a portable device that operates with a secondary battery, specifically, an operating device that incorporates an operating system or firmware that performs a shutdown process. Examples of such an operation device include a remote operation device for a welding machine and a processing machine device.

Claims

An operation device connected to an operation target device by wireless communication and operated when transmitting / receiving data to / from the operation target device, wherein a secondary battery is incorporated in the operation device, and the secondary battery In the operating device that operates by power supply from
Monitoring means for monitoring the remaining amount of the secondary battery;
Boot control means for executing a boot process based on a power-on operation of the operating device,
The boot control unit checks the remaining amount of the secondary battery when the execution of the boot process is requested, and determines that the remaining amount of the secondary battery is equal to or less than a predetermined value. An operation device characterized by canceling execution.
The operating device according to claim 1, further comprising:
An operating device comprising an informing means for informing that the remaining amount of the secondary battery is equal to or less than the predetermined value.
The operating device according to claim 1 or 2,
The operation device is a manipulator or a robot control device that controls the manipulator.