Control program generation device, control program generation method, program

By using the basic action storage unit, the action diagram reading unit and the control program generation unit in the control program generation device of the automatic manufacturing machine, the actions are decomposed and allocated, and the control program is automatically generated by using the action description and the numerical table, the problem of error description in the action diagram is solved, and rapid development and low-cost automatic manufacturing machinery are realized.

CN115023670BActive Publication Date: 2025-05-30OPTON CO LTD
View PDF 5 Cites 0 Cited by

Patent Information

Application Number
CN202180011329.6
Authority / Receiving Office
CN · China
Patent Type
Patents(China)
Current Assignee / Owner
Priority Date
2021-01-25
Filing Date
2021-01-26
Publication Date
2025-05-30
Estimated Expiration
2041-01-26

AI Technical Summary

Technical Problem

In the prior art, when generating a control program for automatic manufacturing machinery, errors in the description of the action diagram are prone to occur, resulting in the problem that automatic manufacturing machinery cannot operate as expected.

Method used

Using a control program generation device, the basic action storage unit, the action diagram reading unit and the control program generation unit decompose and allocate the actions of the automatic manufacturing machinery, and automatically generate the control program using the action description and the numerical table to reduce the possibility of description errors.

Benefits of technology

It effectively reduces the errors described in the action diagram, shortens the development cycle of automatic manufacturing machinery, and reduces manufacturing costs, avoiding dependence on professional programmers.

✦ Generated by Eureka AI based on patent content.

Smart Images

  • Figure CN115023670B_ABST
    Figure CN115023670B_ABST
Patent Text Reader

Abstract

The operation period from the start to the end of the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine (1) is divided into a plurality of partial periods, and the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is divided into basic operations (206) of a plurality of actuators, and the basic operations are assigned to any one of the partial periods, whereby the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is described in the operation diagram (200). The basic operations on the operation diagram are recorded using a numerical table (206b) and an operation description (206a) that qualitatively describes the operation, or using a plurality of numerical parameters (206c) and an operation description (206a). Then, the operation diagram describing the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is read, the operation description in the operation diagram is transformed into program components stored in advance corresponding to the operation description, and the values set in the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters are set for the program components, and then the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods in the operation diagram.
Need to check novelty before this filing date? Find Prior Art

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for generating a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine having a plurality of actuators. Background Art

[0002] Currently, labor saving in manufacturing sites such as factories is strongly demanded in all industries. In order to meet this demand, it is necessary to effectively utilize automatic manufacturing machines. Therefore, various types of automatic manufacturing machines (for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2) have been developed according to the object to be processed or manufactured, the content of processing (for example, cutting processing, bending processing), and the like.

[0003] Here, in a manufacturing site, the size, shape, and material of the object to be manufactured, or the content and conditions of processing are usually different. Therefore, it is difficult to use the automatic manufacturing machines used in other manufacturing sites, and dedicated automatic manufacturing machines are developed for each manufacturing site. Moreover, if a dedicated automatic manufacturing machine is developed, it is also necessary to newly develop a control program for controlling the automatic manufacturing machine.

[0004] However, in order to develop a control program, professional technicians (so-called programmers) with expertise related to software are required. Moreover, the development of the control program can only be started after the mechanical design of the automatic manufacturing machine has progressed to a certain extent. Therefore, if the period required for the development of the control program is included, the development of the automatic manufacturing machine will take a long time. This is a huge obstacle when trying to actively introduce automatic manufacturing machines into manufacturing sites.

[0005] Therefore, the inventors of the present application have developed the following technique and have already filed an application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-075017): By describing the operation of an automatic manufacturing machine in a special operation diagram and automatically generating a control program based on the operation diagram, such problems are solved at once. In addition, this special operation diagram is an operation diagram developed by the inventors of the present application and does not exist in the past. Sometimes it is hereinafter referred to as a "YOGO diagram". This operation diagram (YOGO diagram) can be easily created as long as the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is understood, and a control program can be automatically generated based on this operation diagram. Therefore, the period required for the development of the automatic manufacturing machine can be significantly shortened, and since it is not necessary to secure a programmer, the manufacturing cost can also be suppressed.

[0006] Prior Art Documents

[0007] Patent Documents

[0008] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-245602

[0009] Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-192570 Summary of the Invention

[0010] Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0011] However, even in the technology of the above application, if there are mistakes in describing the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine in the action diagram (YOGO diagram), the automatic manufacturing machine cannot operate as expected. Therefore, there is a need to develop a technology that can minimize the situation of description errors when describing the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine in the action diagram (YOGO diagram).

[0012] The present invention is completed to solve the above problems existing in the prior art, and its object is to provide a technology that can reduce the situation of description errors when describing the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine in the action diagram (YOGO diagram).

[0013] Solution to the Problem

[0014] To solve the above problems, the control program generation device of the present invention adopts the following structure. That is,

[0015] A control program generation device (100a, 110) that generates a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine (1) having a plurality of actuators (10 - 20), wherein the control program generation device is characterized by comprising:

[0016] A basic motion storage unit (102) that stores, in correspondence, basic motions (206) representing the motions of each degree of freedom of the actuator and program components for implementing the basic motions;

[0017] An action diagram reading unit (103) that reads an action diagram (200), in which the action period from the start of the action of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of the action is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the action of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of the basic motions, and the basic motions are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected from the plurality of partial periods for each of the basic motions, thereby describing the action of the automatic manufacturing machine; and

[0018] A control program generation unit (105) that generates the control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine by combining the program components of the plurality of basic motions assigned to the plurality of partial periods on the action diagram in the order of the partial periods on the action diagram,

[0019] Among them, on the basis of dividing the content of the basic action into an action description (206a) for qualitatively describing the basic action and a numerical description for quantitatively describing quantitative matters of the basic action by numerical values, the basic action storage unit stores the program components corresponding to the action description of the basic action and a numerical table (206b) corresponding to the numerical description, or stores the program components corresponding to the action description of the basic action and a plurality of numerical parameters (206c) corresponding to the numerical description.

[0020] The action diagram reading unit reads the action diagram that describes the basic action by using the action description and the numerical table, or by using the action description and the plurality of numerical parameters.

[0021] When combining a plurality of the program components, the control program generation unit sets numerical values for the program components according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters described together with the action description of the program components.

[0022] In addition, the control program generation method of the present invention corresponding to the above control program generation device adopts the following structure. That is,

[0023] A control program generation method for generating a control program of an automatic manufacturing machine (1) having a plurality of actuators (10 - 20) by a computer, the control program generation method is characterized by including the following steps:

[0024] An action diagram reading step (step 1) of reading an action diagram (200), in the action diagram, dividing the action period from the start of the action of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of the action into a plurality of partial periods, decomposing the action of the automatic manufacturing machine into a plurality of basic actions (206) representing the actions of each degree of freedom of the actuator, and allocating the basic actions to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic action from the plurality of partial periods, thereby describing the action of the automatic manufacturing machine;

[0025] An action diagram analysis step (step 2) of extracting the plurality of basic actions included in the action diagram and the partial periods to which the plurality of basic actions are allocated by analyzing the action diagram; and

[0026] A control program generation step (step 3) of generating a control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine by combining program components for realizing the basic actions in the order of the partial periods to which the basic actions are allocated in the action diagram.

[0027] Among them, the operation diagram reading process is a process of reading the operation diagram that describes the basic operations in the operation diagram using an operation description (206a) and a numerical table (206b), or using the operation description (206a) and a plurality of numerical parameters (206c). The operation description (206a) is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic operation, and the numerical table (206b) and the plurality of numerical parameters (206c) are used to numerically describe the quantitative matters of the basic operation.

[0028] The control program generation process is as follows: By referring to the correspondence relationship in which the operation description of the basic operation is stored corresponding to the program components for implementing the operation description, the operation description is transformed into the program components, and numerical values are set for the program components according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters described together with the operation description. Then, the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods to generate the control program.

[0029] In the control program generation device and the control program generation method of the present invention involved, the operations of the automatic manufacturing machine are pre-described in the operation diagram. This operation diagram is an operation diagram as follows. First, the operation period from the start of the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of the operation is divided into a plurality of partial periods. In addition, the operations of the automatic manufacturing machine are decomposed into the basic operations of a plurality of actuators. Then, by allocating these basic operations to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic operation from the plurality of partial periods, the operations of the automatic manufacturing machine are described. In addition, regarding the basic operations in the operation diagram, the qualitative content of the basic operations is described by the operation description, and the quantitative matters of the basic operations described numerically are described by the numerical table or a plurality of numerical parameters. And the operation description is pre-stored corresponding to the program components that implement the operations represented by the operation description. Then, when generating the control program of the automatic manufacturing machine, the operation diagram describing the operations of the automatic manufacturing machine is read, the operation descriptions of the basic operations recorded in the operation diagram are transformed into program components, and the numerical values set in the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters described together with the operation description are set for the program components. Then, by combining these program components in the order of the partial periods, the control program is generated.

[0030] The motion description is used to qualitatively describe the basic motions of a simple actuator as an actuator, so that it is possible to prefabricate a program component for causing the actuator to perform the motions described in the motion description. Of course, in order to use the program component to actuate the actuator, it is necessary to specify quantitative matters such as the amount of motion and the speed of motion. Their values are set separately from the motion description in the form of a numerical table or a plurality of numerical parameters in advance. Such a motion diagram can be easily created by a mechanical design engineer who designs an automatic manufacturing machine or a technician who has sufficient knowledge of the structure of the automatic manufacturing machine. Moreover, if the created motion diagram is read, the motion description in the motion diagram is transformed into a program component, and the values are set for the program component according to the numerical table described together with the motion description. Then, these program components are combined according to the motion diagram, and a control program for controlling the motions of the automatic manufacturing machine can be automatically generated. In addition, when recording the basic motions in the motion diagram, the basic motions are recorded by dividing them into a motion description and a numerical table, or a motion description and numerical parameters. Therefore, for the following reasons, the situation of recording incorrect content in the motion diagram (YOGO diagram) can be significantly reduced. That is, the motion description is only used to directly represent the motions that a person wants the actuator to perform. Therefore, the operation of recording the motion description on the motion diagram is only an operation of directly representing the intention of the person. Thus, the possibility of recording incorrect content can be significantly reduced. Of course, if only the motion description is recorded, the actuator cannot be actuated because no specific values are set. However, it can use the values set in the numerical table or numerical parameters. Moreover, when correcting the specific values, it is only necessary to correct the values set in the numerical table or numerical parameters. Therefore, there is no need to correct the motion diagram. As a result, incorrect changes to the motion diagram will not occur during correction. Consequently, the situation of recording incorrect content in the motion diagram (YOGO diagram) can be significantly reduced.

[0031] In addition, in the control program generation device of the present invention described above, it may also be set that a plurality of values including at least one of the amount of motion, the speed of motion, and the motion load of the basic motion are set in the numerical table or the numerical parameters.

[0032] The amount of motion, the speed of motion, or the motion load of the basic motion, etc. are values required for causing the actuator to perform the basic motion as desired, but cannot be described by the motion description. Therefore, if they are set in the numerical table or the numerical parameters in advance, the actuator can perform the basic motion as desired. As a result, the automatic manufacturing machine can be appropriately actuated.

[0033] In addition, in the control program generation device of the present invention described above, it may also be set that when no value is set in the numerical table, a reference table in which appropriate values are preset is referred to.

[0034] Thus, even if no values are set in the value table in advance, the actuator can be operated using the values set in the reference table. Moreover, if appropriate values are set in the value table as needed, the automatic manufacturing machine can be operated appropriately.

[0035] In addition, in the control program generation device of the present invention described above, it may also be configured such that an operation standby time for waiting for the start of a basic operation can be set in the value table or the value parameter.

[0036] Thus, by setting the operation standby time in the value table or the value parameter in advance, the actuator can perform the basic operation after the operation standby time has elapsed. In addition, in the case of performing basic operations on a plurality of actuators, by adjusting the operation standby times set for each actuator in the value table or the value parameter, it is also possible to simply describe fine operations such as making the timings at which the respective actuators start performing the basic operations slightly different.

[0037] In addition, the control program generation method of the present invention described above can also be understood as a program for implementing the control program generation method using a computer. That is, the program of the present invention is for implementing, using a computer, a method for generating a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine (1) having a plurality of actuators (10 to 20), and the program is characterized in that the following functions are implemented by the computer:

[0038] An operation diagram reading function (step 1) that reads an operation diagram (200), in which the operation period from the start of operation of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of operation is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of basic operations (206) representing the operation of each degree of freedom of the actuator, and the basic operations are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic operation from the plurality of partial periods, thereby describing the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine;

[0039] An operation diagram analysis function (step 2) that extracts the plurality of basic operations included in the operation diagram and the partial periods to which the plurality of basic operations are assigned by analyzing the operation diagram; and

[0040] A control program generation function (step 3) that generates the control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine by combining program components for implementing the basic operations in the order of the partial periods to which the basic operations are assigned in the operation diagram.

[0041] Among them, the action diagram reading function is a function of reading the action diagram that describes the basic actions in the action diagram using an action description (206a) and a numerical table (206b), or using an action description (206a) and a plurality of numerical parameters (206c). The action description (206a) is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic action, and the numerical table (206b) and the plurality of numerical parameters (206c) are used to quantitatively describe the basic action by numerical values.

[0042] The control program generation function is a function as follows: by referring to the correspondence relationship in which the action description of the basic action is stored corresponding to the program components for implementing the action description, the action description is transformed into the program components, and numerical values are set for the program components according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters described together with the action description. Then, the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods, thereby generating the control program.

[0043] If a computer reads and executes such a program, it is possible to automatically generate a control program for controlling the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine according to the action diagram, and it is also possible to prevent the situation where incorrect content is described in the action diagram. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Figure 1 It is an explanatory diagram showing the external shape of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 controlled by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment.

[0045] Figure 2 It is a block diagram conceptually showing the situation where the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 controls the actions of various actuators 10 to 20 mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0046] Figure 3 It is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing the general process for developing a new automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0047] Figure 4 It is an explanatory diagram of the basic principle of the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment automatically generating a control program for the automatic manufacturing machine 1 according to the action diagram (YOGO diagram) of the automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0048] Figure 5 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating a part of the action diagram (YOGO diagram) of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 read by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment.

[0049] Figure 6 It is an explanatory diagram of the action description 206a of the basic action.

[0050] Figure 7 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b used in combination with the motion description 206a of "Ω-AA".

[0051] Figure 8 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b used in combination with the motion description 206a of "Ω-AB".

[0052] Figure 9 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b for the motion description 206a of "Ω-AC".

[0053] Figure 10 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the reference table of the numerical table 206b for the motion description 206a of "Ω-AA".

[0054] Figure 11 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the reference table of the numerical table 206b for the motion description 206a of "Ω-AB".

[0055] Figure 12 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the reference table of the numerical table 206b for the motion description 206a of "Ω-AC".

[0056] Figure 13 It is an explanatory diagram showing the functions of the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment.

[0057] Figure 14 It is an explanatory diagram showing the correspondence of the actuator, the motion description 206a, and the program component number according to the correspondence stored in the basic motion storage unit 102 of this embodiment.

[0058] Figure 15 It is a flowchart of the control program generation process in which the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment generates a control program based on the motion diagram (YOGO diagram).

[0059] Figure 16 It is a flowchart of the YOGO diagram analysis process executed in the control program generation process.

[0060] Figure 17 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the intermediate data generated by the YOGO diagram analysis process.

[0061] Figure 18 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the control program generated by transforming the intermediate data.

[0062] Figure 19 It is a flowchart of the motion control process in which the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment controls the motions of the respective actuators based on the control program data.

[0063] Figure 20 This is an explanatory diagram of a modified example in which the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 is formed by the YOGO diagram processing device 100a and the control execution device 100b.

[0064] Figure 21 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b capable of setting the operation standby time.

[0065] Figure 22 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating a case where a plurality of numerical parameters 206c are used instead of the numerical table 206b to describe the basic operation 206.

[0066] Figure 23 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating a case where the next operation allowable position is set in the numerical table 206b or the numerical parameter 206c. Detailed implementation mode

[0067] A. Device structure:

[0068] Figure 1 This is an explanatory diagram showing the general external shape of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment. The automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment is a machine tool (so-called pipe bender) that automatically performs bending processing on a long-sized pipe to process it into a desired shape. Of course, as long as the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment can mount a plurality of actuators and automatically perform a plurality of operations such as gripping, transporting, processing, and heating on an object, it can also be a manufacturing machine other than a pipe bender. For example, it can also be a manufacturing machine for automatically manufacturing food. Or, it can also be a manufacturing system formed by combining a robotic arm robot with multiple joints and a transport device.

[0069] As Figure 1 shown, the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment is generally in the shape of a horizontally long rectangular parallelepiped. Along the long side direction on the top surface side of the rectangular parallelepiped, two tracks 2 are erected. At one end side on the track 2 ( Figure 1 the left side in the figure) is mounted a transport unit 3 that grips and transports an unillustrated pipe as a processing object. In addition, on the side opposite to the side where the transport unit 3 is mounted, a processing unit 4 that performs bending and other processing on the unillustrated pipe is mounted. In the transport unit 3, a cylindrical gripping shaft 3a protrudes, and a chuck 3b for gripping the unillustrated pipe is installed at the front end of the gripping shaft 3a. Therefore, the pipe can be supplied to the processing unit 4 by moving the transport unit 3 on the track 2 while the pipe is gripped by the chuck 3b, and the processing unit 4 can perform bending processing and the like on the pipe.

[0070] The automatic manufacturing machine 1 of the present embodiment can control the feeding amount of the pipe using the moving amount of the transfer unit 3, and thus can freely control the position where bending processing or the like is performed on the pipe. In addition, the pipe can be bent in a desired direction by rotating the gripping shaft 3a on which the chuck 3b is mounted (so-called twisting operation). To achieve this, inside the transfer unit 3, there are mounted an actuator 10 for opening and closing the chuck 3b, an actuator 11 for rotating the gripping shaft 3a around its axis, an actuator 12 for moving the gripping shaft 3a forward and backward in the axial direction, an actuator 13 for moving the transfer unit 3 forward and backward on the track 2, and so on. In the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of the present embodiment, these actuators 10 to 13 all use servo motors that operate through an AC power supply, but actuators of other drive methods (such as hydraulic cylinders, solenoids, stepping motors, etc.) can be adopted according to the performance required by the actuators. In addition, in the transfer unit 3, there are also mounted sensors such as encoders and limit switches for detecting the rotational position of the gripping shaft 3a or the moving position of the transfer unit 3, but in order to avoid making the drawings complicated, in Figure 1 the drawings are omitted.

[0071] Inside the processing unit 4, there are mounted an actuator 17 for bending the pipe, an actuator 18 for moving the position where a force is applied to the pipe when bending the pipe, an actuator 19 for moving the entire processing unit 4 in the vertical direction, an actuator 20 for forming a flat end face called a flange or a ring-shaped convex portion called a projection on the pipe, and so on. In addition, in the processing unit 4, there are also mounted switches / sensors such as encoders or contact switches, but in order to avoid making the drawings complicated, the illustrations thereof are omitted.

[0072] In addition, inside the processing unit 4, there are mounted a plurality of drive circuits (illustrations omitted) for driving the above various actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20. Here, the drive circuit refers to an electrical component having the following functions. In order to make the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 perform desired operations, it is necessary to supply drive currents of appropriate waveforms to the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20. However, the drive currents to be supplied to the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 are different according to the drive methods of the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20, and even for actuators of the same method, the current values of the drive currents are different according to the actuators. Therefore, dedicated electrical components called drive circuits are prepared for the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20. When the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 designates a drive amount to the drive circuit, the drive circuit outputs appropriate drive currents to the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20, and as a result, the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 are driven.

[0073] And, as Figure 1As shown, various mechanical components are also mounted in the space below the two tracks 2. This space is for routing power cables (not shown) that supply drive current from a plurality of drive circuits (not shown) mounted in the processing unit 4 to various actuators 10 to 13 in the transfer unit 3, signal cables (not shown) that transmit signals from various switches / sensors mounted in the transfer unit 3 to the processing unit 4, and so on. When these power cables and signal cables move within the space as the transfer unit 3 moves forward and backward on the tracks 2, there is a concern that they may become entangled with each other or get caught on something. Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, actuators 14 to 16 are also mounted in the space below the tracks 2. The actuators 14 to 16 are used to eliminate any unnecessary slack in the power cables and signal cables by pulling them back when there is unnecessary slack, and to feed out the pulled-back cables to give the cables an appropriate amount of slack when the power cables or signal cables are strongly tightened. In the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of the present embodiment, cylinders are used as the actuators 14 to 16, and the operation of these cylinders is also controlled by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 through a drive circuit (not shown).

[0074] As described above, a large number of actuators 10 to 20 are mounted in the automatic manufacturing machine 1. Moreover, in order to automatically process the object to be processed (here, a pipe) into a target shape, it is necessary to make these actuators 10 to 20 operate appropriately at an appropriate timing. The actuators 10 to 20 are driven by the drive circuits of the respective actuators 10 to 20, and the operation of driving the actuators 10 to 20 by the drive circuits is controlled by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 described later according to a pre-read control program.

[0075] Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually showing the situation where the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment controls the operation of the actuators 10 to 20 mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1. In addition, in Figure 2 , the illustration of switches / sensors required for control is also omitted. As shown in the figure, a drive circuit 10d for driving the actuator 10 is provided between the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 and the actuator 10, and the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 directly controls the operation of the drive circuit 10d. The same applies to the actuators 11 to 20. Drive circuits 11d to 20d for driving the actuators 11 to 20 are provided between the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 and the actuators 11 to 20, and the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 indirectly controls the actuators 11 to 20 through the drive circuits 11d to 20d.

[0076] In addition, as used previously Figure 1As described above, in the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of the present embodiment, servo motors are used in the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20, and air cylinders are used in the actuators 14 to 16. Here, a servo motor refers to a motor that performs servo control. Typically, it is a motor that performs feedback control on the current value flowing through the motor to make the position (or angle, speed, etc.) a target value. In addition, an air cylinder is an actuator that linearly moves a movable part using air pressure and operates by opening and closing ports connected to a compressed air supply source. In addition, for opening and closing the ports, sequence control is used.

[0077] As such, in the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment, actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 that perform servo control and actuators 14 to 16 that perform sequence control are connected. In the figure, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 is connected to the actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 by solid lines, indicating that these actuators 10 to 13, 17 to 20 perform servo control. In addition, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 is connected to the actuators 14 to 16 by dashed lines, indicating that these actuators 14 to 16 perform sequence control. Of course, an actuator controlled in a manner other than servo control and sequence control can also be connected to the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100.

[0078] The automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 controls the actuators 10 to 20 through the drive circuits 10d to 20d according to a control program, and this control program needs to be prepared in advance and read by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100. Here, it is not easy to create a control program for causing a large number of actuators 10 to 20 as shown in Figure 2 to operate appropriately at appropriate timings. In particular, when actuators with different control methods such as servo control and sequence control coexist, it takes a long time to create the control program. Therefore, currently, creating the control program consumes more than half of the development period of the new automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0079] B. Method for Creating Control Program:

[0080] B-1. Outline:

[0081] Figure 3 It is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing the general process for developing the new automatic manufacturing machine 1. In Figure 3 (a) shows the development process that has been carried out since the past. In addition, in Figure 3 (b) shows the new development process developed by the inventors of the present application and for which an application has been completed.

[0082] In the past development process, as shown in Figure 3As shown in (a) of , first, after understanding the various functions required of the automatic manufacturing machine 1, a mechanical design engineer creates a design drawing of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 incorporating mechanisms for realizing these functions. When creating the design drawing, the mechanical design engineer individually examines and determines what kind of movable parts are needed, what actions these movable parts must perform, and where and how much torque, amount of movement, and precision of actuators are required to perform such actions. Then, after determining the actuators to be actually mounted and also considering the mountability and maintainability of the actuators, the design drawing is finally completed.

[0083] After thus completing the mechanical design of the automatic manufacturing machine 1, the next step is to create a control program for controlling the automatic manufacturing machine 1. In creating the control program, expertise related to software is required, so it must be created by a technician with such expertise (i.e., a programmer). Therefore, when the mechanical technician finishes the mechanical design, the technician creates a flowchart showing the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 that the technician has thought out, and then discusses and explains the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 with the programmer. This is the work done by the mechanical design technician.

[0084] On the other hand, the programmer who has discussed with the mechanical design technician, after understanding the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 by thoroughly reading the flowchart created by the mechanical design technician, reading the design drawing as needed, or reading other materials, starts creating a control program for controlling the actions of the various actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1. The programmer generally uses a high-level programming language that can be read by humans to create the control program, but the computer cannot directly execute the control program in a high-level programming language. Therefore, after completing the control program, the programmer transforms the control program described in the high-level programming language into a control program in machine language that the computer can execute, and finally completes the control program. In addition, the operation of transforming the control program in the high-level programming language into a program that the computer can execute is called compilation, and this operation is performed using a dedicated program called a compiler to be completed in a short time.

[0085] As Figure 3 illustrated in (a) of , in the development process that has been carried out since the past, the creation of the control program usually takes about 1.5 to 2.5 times the period required for mechanical design. And in the mechanical design and the creation of the control program, it is difficult to perform most of the processes simultaneously, so the development period of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 becomes long. In addition, it is necessary to ensure experts with different technologies such as mechanical design technicians and programmers, which also becomes a huge obstacle when developing a new automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0086] On the other hand, in Figure 3The process of developing the automatic manufacturing machine 1 using the new method proposed by the inventors of the present application is shown in (b). In the case of using the new method, the mechanical design itself is the same as the conventional method. That is, after understanding the various functions required for the automatic manufacturing machine 1, the mechanical design technician creates a design drawing of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 embedded with mechanisms for realizing these functions. At this time, the movable parts required to realize the functions, the action content of the movable parts, the performance of the actuator for starting the movable parts, etc. are explored, the actuator is determined, and then the mountability and maintainability of the actuator are also considered, and finally the design drawing is completed.

[0087] When the design drawing is completed, in the new development process, the mechanical design technician creates an action diagram to replace the flow chart (refer to Figure 3 (b)). This action diagram describes, in the form of a diagram, the actions of the respective actuators considered by the mechanical design technician during mechanical design, which will be described in detail later. This action diagram was uniquely conceived by the inventors of the present application and does not exist in the world, so it is named the "YOGO diagram". Therefore, the new action diagram will be described as the "YOGO diagram" below. Thus, the YOGO diagram of the present embodiment corresponds to the "action diagram" in the present invention.

[0088] As will be described later, the YOGO diagram is merely a diagram that represents the actions of the respective actuators considered by the mechanical design technician during mechanical design as they are thought. Therefore, a mechanical design technician who has performed mechanical design can create it in about half the time of creating a flow chart (refer to Figure 3 (b)). In addition, the YOGO diagram can be read by a dedicated program and thus transformed into a control program that can be executed by the CPU of a computer. The reason why the YOGO diagram can be transformed into a control program will also be described later. If the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are described in the YOGO diagram like this, a control program in machine language can be generated based on the YOGO diagram. Therefore, as Figure 3 shown, the development period of the new automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be shortened to at least less than half (representatively about 1 / 3) compared to the conventional method. In addition, the YOGO diagram can be simply created by the mechanical design technician, so there is no need to ensure a programmer in advance. Therefore, almost all the various situations that are a huge obstacle in developing a new automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be eliminated. In addition, even when changing the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 or adding a new actuator to the automatic manufacturing machine 1, a control program can be immediately generated by rewriting the YOGO diagram and reading it with a dedicated program. The reason why this can be achieved will be described below.

[0089] B-2. Principle of automatically generating a control program based on the YOGO diagram:

[0090] Figure 4 This is an explanatory diagram of the principle for automatically generating the control program of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 based on the action diagram (YOGO diagram). In Figure 4 (a) shows the original YOGO diagram before implementing various improvements. The YOGO diagram of the present embodiment described later is a diagram that develops and improves the original YOGO diagram shown in Figure 4 (a), but the principle of automatically generating the control program is the same as that of the original YOGO diagram. Therefore, for easy understanding, the original YOGO diagram shown in Figure 4 (a) is used to explain the principle of automatically generating the control program based on the YOGO diagram. In addition, to avoid complicating the explanation, it is assumed that the actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are only two motors A, B and two cylinders A, B.

[0091] As shown in Figure 4 (a), in the YOGO diagram, the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are represented by combining the basic actions of these actuators (here, motors A, B and cylinders A, B). Here, the basic action of the actuator refers to the action of the actuator in the direction of the degree of freedom it has (hereinafter referred to as the basic action). For example, if the actuator rotates like a motor, the rotation action is the basic action, and if the actuator moves forward and backward like a cylinder, the forward and backward movement action is the basic action. In addition, in the case of an actuator that rotates a ball screw by a motor to move a member engaged with the ball screw forward and backward, either the rotation action of the motor or the action of the member moving forward and backward is the basic action. In this way, the basic action of the actuator is a simple action in which the actuator moves in the direction of the degree of freedom of the actuator with a specified action amount.

[0092] In addition, in the YOGO diagram, the action period from the start of the action of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 to the end of the action is divided into a plurality of partial periods, and the basic actions of each actuator are assigned to any one of these plurality of partial periods. In Figure 4In the example shown in (a), the operation period of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 is divided into five partial periods 1 to 5. In partial period 1, the cylinder A is assigned to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (a). In addition, in partial period 2, the motor A is assigned to perform a rotation with an operation amount (b). Multiple operations can also be assigned to a partial period. That is, in partial period 3, two operations are assigned, namely, the motor B performs a rotation with an operation amount (c) and the cylinder B performs a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (d). In partial period 4, three operations are assigned, namely, the motor A performs a rotation with an operation amount (-b), the motor B performs a rotation with an operation amount (-c), and the cylinder B performs a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (-d). Moreover, in the last partial period 5, the cylinder A is assigned to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (-a).

[0093] By allocating the basic operations of the actuators to the partial periods in this way, the operations performed by the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be described as follows. First, the cylinder A is made to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (a). After the operation of the cylinder A is completed, the motor A is made to perform a rotation with an operation amount (b). Then, after the operation of the motor A is completed, the motor B is made to perform a rotation with an operation amount (c), and the cylinder B is made to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (d). After the operations of the motor B and the cylinder B are completed, the motor A and the motor B are made to perform rotations with operation amounts (-b) and (-c) respectively, and the cylinder B is made to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (-d). Then, after all the operations of the motor A, the motor B, and the cylinder B are completed, finally, the cylinder A is made to perform a reciprocating movement with an operation amount (-a) to end all the operations. In this way, if the basic operations of the actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are allocated to any partial period, the operations of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be described.

[0094] In addition, as is clear from the above description, the partial period represents the period during which the allocated actuator operates, rather than the length of time. For example, the length of time of partial period 1 is the time required for the cylinder A to operate, the length of time of partial period 2 is the time required for the motor A to operate, and the length of time of partial period 3 is the longer of the time required for the motor B to operate and the time required for the cylinder B to operate. Therefore, generally, the lengths of time of each partial period are different from each other.

[0095] In addition, the basic operations of the actuators allocated to the partial periods are, for example, simple operations such as making a motor rotate by a certain amount or making a cylinder perform a reciprocating movement by a certain amount. Therefore, a small program (hereinafter referred to as a program component) for making the actuator perform the basic operation can be prepared in advance. Here, the actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are four, namely, cylinders A and B and motors A and B. Therefore, as Figure 4As shown in (b), it is possible to pre-manufacture a program component prog1 for operating motor A, a program component prog2 for operating motor B, a program component prog3 for operating cylinder A, and a program component prog4 for operating cylinder B.

[0096] Therefore, if these program components are connected as described in the original YOGO diagram shown in Figure 4 (a), a control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be automatically generated. That is, as shown in Figure 4 (c), first, the program component prog3 is started. After the program component prog3 ends, the program component prog1 is started. After the program component prog1 ends, the program component prog2 and the program component prog4 are started. The action amounts of the program component prog3, the program component prog1, the program component prog2, and the program component prog4 are respectively used as (a), (b), (c), and (d) according to the specifications on the YOGO diagram. And, after both the program component prog2 and the program component prog4 end, the program component prog1, the program component prog2, and the program component prog4 are started this time. The action amounts at this time are respectively used as (-b), (-c), and (-d) according to the specifications on the YOGO diagram. After all these program components prog1, prog2, and prog4 end, finally, the program component prog3 is started. The action amount at this time is used as (-a) according to the specifications on the YOGO diagram. Then, after the program component prog3 ends, Figure 4 the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 described in the YOGO diagram (a) ends.

[0097] As described above, as long as the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 is described in the form of the YOGO diagram shown in Figure 4 (a) in advance, a control program as shown in Figure 4 (c) can be generated and the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be operated. However, in order to make the automatic manufacturing machine 1 operate as expected, it is necessary to correctly create the YOGO diagram. From this perspective, the YOGO diagram of the present embodiment described below is the result of various improvements to the original YOGO diagram exemplified in Figure 4 (a).

[0098] B-3. YOGO Diagram:

[0099] Figure 5 It is an explanatory diagram for explaining the outline of the YOGO diagram 200 of the present embodiment. In addition, if the size is reduced to display the entire YOGO diagram 200, it will cause damage to the display and make it unrecognizable. Therefore, in Figure 5A part (upper left part) of the YOGO diagram 200 is shown. As Figure 5 shown, the YOGO diagram 200 is in the shape of a large table formed by the intersection of multiple horizontal lines and multiple vertical lines. Hereinafter, the horizontal lines among the intersecting multiple lines are referred to as "separator lines" 201, and the vertical lines are referred to as "trigger lines" 202.

[0100] Consecutive numbers starting from No. 1 are assigned to the trigger lines 202. In Figure 5 the example shown, the consecutive numbers of the trigger lines 202 below are recorded in the upper column of the YOGO diagram 200. In addition, the area between adjacent trigger lines 202 is used Figure 4 During the partial period described above, consecutive numbers starting from No. 1 are also assigned to the partial period (hereinafter referred to as partial period number). In addition, in Figure 5 the exemplified YOGO diagram 200, the trigger lines 202 are drawn longitudinally, and thus the partial periods sandwiched between the trigger lines 202 are arranged side by side horizontally. However, the trigger lines 202 may also be drawn horizontally, and in this case, multiple partial periods are arranged side by side vertically.

[0101] In addition, the YOGO diagram 200 of the present embodiment is divided into multiple horizontally long regions by multiple separator lines 201, and consecutive numbers starting from No. 1 are assigned to these horizontally long regions (hereinafter referred to as actuator numbers). The actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are assigned to any one of the regions. In Figure 5 the example shown, the actuator 10 is assigned to the region with the actuator number 1 (see Figure 1 ), the actuator 11 is assigned to the region with the actuator number 2 (see Figure 1 ), the actuator 12 is assigned to the region with the actuator number 3 (see Figure 1 ), and the actuator 13 is assigned to the region with the actuator number 4 (see Figure 1 ). In the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of the present embodiment, 11 actuators from actuator 10 to actuator 20 are mounted, and thus such horizontally long regions are assigned to all these actuators one by one.

[0102] Then, the basic operations of actuators 10 to 20 are described at appropriate positions in a horizontally long area assigned to these actuators 10 to 20. For example, if actuator 10 performs a basic operation during partial period 4, on the YOGO diagram 200, in the horizontally long area with actuator number 1, the basic operation 206 that actuator 10 is desired to perform is described at the grid-like coordinate position determined by partial period number 4. Additionally, if actuator 10 performs basic operations during partial period 4 and partial period 8, the basic operation 206 that actuator 10 is desired to perform is described at the grid-like coordinate position of partial period number 4 in the horizontally long area with actuator number 1 and at the coordinate position of partial period number 8 in the same horizontally long area. In this way, the basic operations 206 of actuators 10 to 20 are described on the YOGO diagram 200 in the areas assigned to these actuators 10 to 20, such as describing the basic operation 206 of actuator 10 in the horizontally long area with actuator number 1 on the YOGO diagram 200 and describing the basic operation 206 of actuator 11 in the horizontally long area with actuator number 2. The reason for the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment to describe the basic operations in this way is as follows.

[0103] First, the original YOGO diagram exemplified in (a) of Figure 4 will be described. In the original YOGO diagram, the operations of multiple actuators are described mixed together. For example, it is difficult to immediately identify which operation period cylinder A that has performed an operation during partial period 1 will perform an operation next. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine the situation where each actuator performs an operation, and it is also difficult to interpret the number of operations of each actuator. As a result, for example, it may not be noticed that there is an actuator that has not returned to its original position, or it may not be noticed that there is an actuator for which the operation has been forgotten to be described.

[0104] In contrast, the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment separates the areas for describing operations for each actuator as shown in Figure 5 . Therefore, it is possible to visually and easily grasp which actuator performs an operation during which partial period and to easily identify the number of operations of each actuator. Thus, even in the case where there is an actuator that has not returned to its original position or there is an actuator for which the operation has been forgotten to be described, this situation can be easily identified. As a result, it is possible to easily create the YOGO diagram 200 that enables the automatic manufacturing machine 1 to operate as desired.

[0105] In addition, in the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment, the basic operations are described as follows. As an example, Figure 5The basic operation 206 of the actuator 13 that initially performs an operation in the YOGO diagram 200. Since the actuator that performs the operation is the actuator 13, the corresponding actuator number is No. 4, and since it is the first operation, the corresponding partial period number is No. 1. Therefore, the position on the YOGO diagram 200 where the basic operation 206 is recorded is the grid-like coordinate position with the actuator number being No. 4 and the partial period number being No. 1. The grid corresponding to the coordinate position with the partial period number being No. 1 is the grid sandwiched between the trigger line 202 of No. 1 existing on the left and the trigger line 202 of No. 2 existing on the right. Therefore, an operation line 203 indicating the operation of the actuator is drawn from the trigger line 202 of No. 1 towards the trigger line 202 of No. 2. Moreover, a starting point 204 indicating the start of the operation is recorded at the left end of the operation line 203 (therefore, on the trigger line 202 of No. 1), and an end point 205 indicating the end of the operation is recorded at the right end of the operation line 203 (therefore, on the trigger line 202 of No. 2). In Figure 5 In the example shown, the operation line 203 is represented by a thick solid line, the starting point 204 is represented by an open circular mark, and the end point 205 is represented by a black circular mark.

[0106] Also, the basic operation 206 to be performed by the actuator is recorded above the operation line 203. Here, in the YOGO diagram 200 of the present embodiment, the two elements of "operation description" and "numerical table" are used to record the basic operation 206. In Figure 5 In the example shown, two labels, "Ω-AC" and "AC-B11", are recorded above the operation line 203 with the actuator number being No. 4 and the partial period number being No. 1. The label "Ω-AC" is the operation description 206a, and the label "AC-B11" is the numerical table 206b. The detailed content of the operation description 206a and the numerical table 206b will be described later. Generally speaking, the operation description 206a is a label that describes the qualitative content (such as forward, backward, rotation, etc.) of the basic operation 206. In addition, the numerical table 206b is a table in which values representing the quantitative content (such as movement amount, speed, torque, etc.) of the basic operation 206 are set.

[0107] Therefore, in Figure 5 the YOGO diagram 200, the labels "Ω-AC" and "AC-B11" recorded at the coordinate position with the actuator number being No. 4 and the partial period number being No. 1 indicate the following content: that is, the actuator with the actuator number being No. 4 (in Figure 5 the example, it is the actuator 13) performs the basic operation according to the operation description 206a of "Ω-AC" at the timing with the partial period number being No. 1, and the specific values used when performing the basic operation use the values set in the numerical table 206b of "AC-B11".

[0108] In addition, asFigure 5 As shown in YOGO diagram 200, for actuator 10, the motion description 206a of "Ω-AA" is recorded, and for actuator 11, the motion description 206a of "Ω-AB" is recorded, which is different from the numerical table 206a. The reason is that, as described previously using Figure 1 As described, actuator 10 is an actuator for opening and closing the chuck 3b, and actuator 11 is an actuator for rotating the gripping shaft 3a around the axis (i.e., a twisting motion). That is, the motion description 206a of the basic motion of actuator 10 is "opening and closing motion", and the motion description 206a of the basic motion of actuator 11 is "rotating motion". Therefore, different motion descriptions 206a are used for actuator 10 and actuator 11. For the same reason, different motion descriptions 206a are also used for actuator 11 and actuator 12.

[0109] In contrast, actuators 12 and 13 use the same motion description 206a of "Ω-AC". As described previously using Figure 1 As described, actuator 12 is an actuator for moving the gripping shaft 3a forward and backward in the axial direction, and actuator 13 is an actuator for moving the entire transfer unit 3 forward and backward. Although the size, weight, moving amount, etc. of the object to be moved are different, they are the same in terms of moving the object forward and backward. Therefore, actuators 12 and 13 can use the same motion description 206a. In addition, actuator 17 is an actuator for moving the entire processing unit 4 up and down, but the up and down movement can be considered a type of forward and backward movement. Therefore, actuator 17 can also use the motion description 206a of "Ω-AC" in the same way as actuators 12 and 13. And actuators 14 to 16 are all actuators for moving the cylinder forward and backward, so they all use the motion description 206a of "Ω-CA".

[0110] In this way, in the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment, (in principle), the basic motion 206 of the actuator is described using the motion description 206a and the numerical table 206b. In this way, the motion description 206a can be made common for multiple actuators. As Figure 1 shown, there are 11 actuators 10 to 20 mounted in the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment, but only 4 types of motion descriptions 206a are used in the YOGO diagram 200.

[0111] B-4. Motion description:

[0112] Figure 6This is an explanatory diagram showing the details of the operation description 206a used in the YOGO diagram 200 of the present embodiment. The operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" represents an operation description 206a for causing an actuator to perform an opening / closing operation. In this operation description 206a, it is assumed that an actuator is composed of an AC servo motor and a chuck mechanism. Conversely, in the case of an actuator that is not composed of an AC servo motor and a chuck mechanism, even if the operation of the actuator is an opening / closing operation, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" cannot be used.

[0113] In addition, since the operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" is used to describe a simple operation content of causing an actuator composed of an AC servo motor and a chuck mechanism to perform an opening / closing operation, a small program (i.e., a program component) for implementing this operation content can be prepared in advance. According to this situation, a consecutive number (hereinafter referred to as a program component number) for determining the program component for implementing this operation content is stored corresponding to the operation description 206a. In addition, in the case of an actuator that performs an opening / closing operation but is not composed of an AC servo motor and a chuck mechanism, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" cannot be used. The reason is that a program component number is stored corresponding to the operation description 206a. That is, this is because it is considered that if the structure of the actuator is different, the program component for causing the actuator to operate will be different. Therefore, since the corresponding program components are different, it is necessary to make the operation description 206a different in advance.

[0114] In addition, as Figure 6 shown, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AB" is an operation description 206a that assumes an actuator composed of an AC servo motor and a reduction mechanism and represents causing the actuator to perform a rotational operation, and the program component number 7 is stored correspondingly. Similarly, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AC" is an operation description 206a that assumes an actuator composed of an AC servo motor and a ball screw mechanism and represents causing the actuator to perform a forward / backward movement, and the program component number 4 is stored correspondingly. And the operation description 206a of "Ω-CA" is an operation description 206a that assumes an actuator using a cylinder and represents causing the actuator to perform a forward / backward movement, and the program component number 2 is stored correspondingly.

[0115] B-5. Numerical Table:

[0116] In addition, the operation description 206a only qualitatively describes the content of the operation such as an opening / closing operation, a rotational operation, a forward / backward movement, etc. Therefore, the operation description 206a is basically used in combination with the numerical table 206b. For example, in the previous use Figure 5In the described YOGO diagram 200, the operation description 206a used for the actuator 10 with actuator number 1 is "Ω-AA". Regarding the numerical table 206b, during a partial period, the numerical table 206b "AA-B01" is used at the timing numbered 4, the numerical table 206b "AA-B02" is used at the timing numbered 6 during a partial period, and the numerical table 206b "AA-B01" is used at the timing numbered 10 during a partial period. Here, the name "AA-B01" represents the numerical table 206b "B01" used in combination with the operation description 206a "Ω-AA". Similarly, the name "AA-B02" represents the numerical table 206b "B02" used in combination with the operation description 206a "Ω-AA".

[0117] Figure 7 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b used in combination with the operation description 206a "Ω-AA". In Figure 7 (a) thereof, the numerical table 206b "AA-B01" is shown, and in Figure 7 (b) thereof, the numerical table 206b "AA-B02" is shown. In addition, in Figure 7 , two numerical tables 206b are illustrated, but more numerical tables 206b can be set as needed. In the numerical table 206b illustrated in Figure 7 , four items of "numerical table number", "opening / closing speed", "opening / closing load", and "reference table" are set. The "numerical table number" among them is the consecutive number of the numerical table 206b. For example, when the numerical table number is specified as number 5, the numerical table 206b "AA-B01" in Figure 7 (a) is determined, and when the numerical table number is specified as number 6, the numerical table 206b "AA-B02" in Figure 7 (b) is determined. The "reference table" will be described later.

[0118] In addition, in Figure 7In the illustrated numerical table 206b, four items are set. The items used to describe the basic action 206 in combination with the action description 206a are the two items of "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load". Here, the reason for setting the two items of "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load" is that this numerical table 206b is to be used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AA" representing the opening / closing action. That is, if there is only the action description 206a of "Ω-AA", only the qualitative content of performing the opening / closing action is known, and the quantitative content such as the speed of performing the opening / closing action and the load during opening / closing is not known. Therefore, the items of "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load" are set in the numerical table 206b, and their values are set in advance. In addition, in the "opening / closing speed" of the numerical table 206b, setting a positive value indicates performing the closing action (refer to Figure 7 (a)), and setting a negative value indicates performing the opening action (refer to Figure 7 (b)).

[0119] In addition, in Figure 5 the YOGO diagram 200, for the actuator 11 with actuator number 2, the action description 206a of "Ω-AB" is used, but during some periods, the numerical table 206b of "AB-B01" is used in combination with the timing of actuator number 2, and during some periods, the numerical table 206b of "AB-B02" is used in combination with the timing of actuator number 8. Names such as "AB-B01" and "AB-B02" respectively represent the numerical tables 206b of "B01" and "B02" used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AB".

[0120] Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the numerical table 206b used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AB". In Figure 8 (a), the numerical table 206b of "AB-B01" is shown, and in Figure 8 (b), the numerical table 206b of "AB-B02" is shown. In addition, in Figure 8 , two numerical tables 206b are illustrated, but more numerical tables 206b can be set as needed. In Figure 8 the illustrated numerical table 206b, in addition to the items of "numerical table number" and "reference table", the items of "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" are also set, a total of five items. Among them, the items of "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" are the items used to describe the basic action 206 in combination with the action description 206a. In addition, in Figure 8The reason for setting items such as "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" in the value table 206b is that the value table 206b is to be used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AB" which represents the rotation action. That is, if there is only the action description 206a of "Ω-AB", only the rotation action is known. Therefore, regarding the angle to be rotated, the speed to be rotated, and the torque to be rotated, values are set in the value table 206b in advance through the items of "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque". In addition, in the "rotation angle" of the value table 206b, there are cases where positive values are set and cases where negative values are set, indicating that the rotation directions are opposite.

[0121] And, in Figure 5 In the YOGO diagram 200, for the actuator 12 with actuator number 3, the actuator 13 with actuator number 4, and the actuator 17 with actuator number 8, the action description 206a of "Ω-AC" is used. On the other hand, regarding the value table 206b, different value tables 206b are used for the actuator 12 with actuator number 3, the actuator 13 with actuator number 4, and the actuator 17 with actuator number 8. That is, for the actuator 12 with actuator number 3, the value table 206b such as "AC-B01" or "AC-B02" is used in combination; for the actuator 13 with actuator number 4, the value table 206b such as "AC-B11" or "AC-B12" is used in combination; for the actuator 17 with actuator number 8, the value table 206b such as "AC-B21" or "AC-B22" is used in combination. Here, names such as "AC-B01", "AC-B02", "AC-B11", "AC-B12", "AC-B21", and "AC-B22" respectively represent these value tables 206b of "B01", "B02", "B11", "B12", "B21", and "B22" used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AC".

[0122] Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the value table 206b used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AC". In addition, in Figure 9 Six value tables 206b are illustrated, but more value tables 206b can be set as needed. In Figure 9 In the value table 206b illustrated, in addition to the items of "value table number" and "reference table", items of "movement amount", "movement speed", and "movement load" are also set, for a total of five items. Among them, the items of "movement amount", "movement speed", and "movement load" are items used to describe the basic action 206 in combination with the action description 206a. In addition, in Figure 9The reason why items such as "amount of movement", "moving speed", and "moving load" are set in the numerical table 206b is that the numerical table 206b is to be used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω-AC" which represents the forward and backward movement. In addition, in the "amount of movement" of the numerical table 206b, there are cases where positive values are set and cases where negative values are set, indicating that the moving directions are opposite.

[0123] And, in Figure 5 In the YOGO diagram 200 of, for the actuator 14 with actuator number 5, the actuator 15 with actuator number 6, and the actuator 16 with actuator number 7, the action description 206a of "Ω-CA" is used. This corresponds to the case where the actuators 14 to 16 are all cylinders and the content of the basic action 206 is "forward and backward movement". In addition, for the action description 206a of "Ω-CA", the numerical table 206b is not combined. The reason is that the actuators 14 to 16 are cylinders that operate by switching the action port to which air pressure is to be applied between two action ports, so there is no need to use quantitative values to describe the content of the action.

[0124] As described in detail above, in the YOGO diagram 200 of the present embodiment, by entering the basic action 206 at the coordinate position specified by the combination of the partial period number and the actuator number, the actuator performing the basic action and the timing of performing the basic action are determined. And it is set that the basic action 206 is basically represented by the combination of the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b. By doing so, it is possible to avoid the situation of recording incorrect content in the YOGO diagram 200. This is for the following reasons.

[0125] For example, when describing the basic action 206 of a certain actuator, compared with descriptions such as only "forward" or "rotation", the difficulty of describing as "only move forward 55 mm" or "only rotate 35 degrees in the positive direction" increases significantly. The reason is that qualitative descriptions such as "move the actuator forward" or "rotate the actuator" only directly represent what people think. In contrast, when quantitative content such as "only 55 mm" or "only 35 degrees" is added, it can no longer be said to directly represent what is thought. As Figure 5 As exemplified, a large number of basic actions 206 are entered in the YOGO diagram 200. Therefore, when the difficulty of entering each basic action 206 becomes high, the possibility of recording incorrect content in the YOGO diagram 200 as a whole becomes high.

[0126] In contrast, in the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment, the basic action 206 is described by the combination of the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b. Therefore, when creating the YOGO diagram 200, one can focus on entering the action description 206a, while the numerical table 206b can be entered in advance. Thus, the task of creating the YOGO diagram 200 is essentially the same as the task of directly expressing what a person thinks, so the possibility of entering incorrect content in the YOGO diagram 200 can be significantly reduced. Additionally, even when correcting the movement amount of the actuator, etc., only the numerical table 206b needs to be corrected, and there is no need to correct the YOGO diagram 200. Therefore, the YOGO diagram 200 itself does not need to be corrected, and the situation of erroneously correcting the YOGO diagram 200 can also be prevented.

[0127] In addition, when considering the basic action 206 of the actuator as being divided into the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b, the action descriptions 206a that each actuator can take are naturally limited. For example, in Figure 5 the example shown, the action description 206a that the actuator 10 can take is only "Ω-AA", because the actuator 10 is an actuator for opening and closing the chuck 3b, and as the qualitative description content of the basic action 206 (i.e., the action description 206a), just one type of opening and closing action is sufficient. Of course, it is also possible to set it so that the chuck 3b can be opened and closed in multiple ways, and prepare action descriptions 206a for each way, but in such a case, the types of action descriptions 206a that each actuator can take are at most only several.

[0128] As a result, in the YOGO diagram 200, the same action description 206a is repeatedly entered at the coordinate positions with the same actuator number (even in different cases, at most only several action descriptions 206a). Therefore, if an incorrect action description 206a is entered, only that action description 206a becomes a different action description 206a, so it is easy to notice the error and make corrections.

[0129] B-6. Reference Table:

[0130] As Figures 7 - 9 illustrated, in the numerical table 206b of this embodiment, there is also a project of "Reference Table". This reference table is also used to facilitate the creation of the YOGO diagram 200.

[0131] Figure 10 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying the reference table set in the Figure 7 shown numerical table 206b. Figure 10 (a) of Figure 7The reference table (AA-A01) set in the numerical table 206b (AA-B01) of (a). Additionally, Figure 10 (b) shows Figure 7 The reference table (AA-A02) set in the numerical table 206b (AA-B02) of (b). In Figure 10 These reference tables shown in set six items: "maximum speed", "maximum load", "standard value of opening / closing speed", "standard value of opening / closing load", "reduction ratio of chuck mechanism", and "corresponding diameter range of chuck mechanism".

[0132] Among them, the items of "maximum speed", "maximum load", "standard value of opening / closing speed", and "standard value of opening / closing load" correspond to these reference tables (AA-A01, AA-A02) and are Figure 7 Referenced by the numerical tables 206b (AA-B01, AA-B02) shown in. That is, the values of "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load" are set in the numerical tables 206b (AA-B01, AA-B02) (refer to Figure 7 ), but the maximum values of the opening / closing speed and opening / closing load that can be set are set as "maximum speed" and "maximum load" respectively in the reference table. Additionally, the "standard value of opening / closing speed" and "standard value of opening / closing load" are standard values used when no values are set for "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load" in the numerical table 206b.

[0133] Moreover, when making Figure 7 The numerical table 206b (AA-B01) of (a), "AA-A01" is preset in the item of "reference table". Additionally, when making Figure 7 The numerical table 206b (AA-B02) of (b), "AA-A02" is preset in the item of "reference table". In this way, when setting the values of items such as "opening / closing speed" or "opening / closing load" in the numerical tables 206b (AA-B01, AA-B02), it is possible to reference Figure 10 The item of "maximum speed" or "maximum load" in the reference table of (a) or Figure 10 The reference table of (b), so that inappropriate values exceeding the maximum speed and maximum load are not set. Therefore, an appropriate numerical table 206b can be simply made.

[0134] In addition, even when no values are set in the items of the numerical tables 206b (AA-B01, AA-B02), since the standard values set in the corresponding items in the reference table are adopted, the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be pre-activated, and the values of the numerical table 206b can be corrected as needed, thereby finally completing the appropriate YOGO drawing 200.

[0135] Additionally, inFigure 10 (a) and Figure 10 The reference table (b) also includes items such as "chuck mechanism reduction ratio" and "chuck mechanism corresponding diameter range". These items describe the mechanical characteristics of the actuator. That is, the reference table is referenced by the numerical table 206b, and the numerical table 206b is set assuming a specific actuator. Therefore, the reference table is also set assuming a specific actuator. For example, Figure 10 (a) Figure 10 The reference table of (b) is given by Figure 7 (a) Figure 7 The numerical table 206b of (b) is used for reference. Since these numerical tables 206b are used for the actuator 10, Figure 10 (a) Figure 10 The reference table of (b) is also used for the actuator 10.

[0136] In this way, the reference table is applied to each actuator unique to the actuator. Therefore, the mechanical characteristics of the actuator are set in the reference table in advance. Figure 10 The reference table shown as an example is applied to the actuator 11 that opens and closes the chuck 3b by combining an AC servo motor with a chuck mechanism. Corresponding to this situation, mechanical characteristics such as the reduction ratio of the chuck mechanism and the diameter range of the member that can be gripped by the chuck mechanism are set in the reference table. If the characteristic values ​​are set in advance in the reference table in this way, when these mechanical characteristics are required when controlling the AC servo motor, the characteristic values ​​can be read by referring to the reference table, thereby avoiding the situation where the actuator is incorrectly controlled due to the use of incorrect characteristic values ​​in the control of the motor.

[0137] Figure 11 is an example of Figure 8 FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the reference tables set in the two numerical value tables 206 b shown. Figure 11 (a) shows that Figure 8 The reference table (AB-A01) set in the numerical table 206b (AB-B01) of (a), Figure 11 (b) shows that Figure 8 The reference table (AB-A02) set in the numerical table 206b (AB-B02) of (b). In these reference tables, seven items are set: "angle range", "maximum rotation speed", "maximum rotation torque", "rotation angle standard value", "rotation speed standard value", "rotation torque standard value", and "reduction ratio".

[0138] The items of "angle range", "maximum rotation speed", "maximum rotation torque", "rotation angle standard value", "rotation speed standard value", and "rotation torque standard value" correspond to these reference tables (AB-A01, AB-A02) by Figure 8The case of referring to the shown numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02). That is, corresponding to the values of "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" set in the numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02) (refer to Figure 8 ), the maximum angle range, maximum rotation speed, and maximum rotation torque that can actually be taken are respectively set in the reference table. In addition, the "standard rotation angle value", "standard rotation speed value", and "standard rotation torque value" are standard values used when no values are set for "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" in the numerical table 206b.

[0139] When making Figure 8 of (a) and Figure 8 of (b) for the numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02), "AB - A01" or "AB - A02" is set in advance in the item of "reference table". In this way, when setting the value of "rotation angle" in the numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02), the item of "angle range" in the reference table can be referred to, so that a value with a rotation angle exceeding ±180 degrees cannot be set. In addition, when setting the values of "rotation speed" and "rotation torque" in the numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02), the items of "maximum rotation speed" and "maximum rotation torque" in the reference table can also be referred to, so that inappropriate values exceeding the maximum rotation speed and maximum rotation torque will not be set.

[0140] In addition, when no value is set in the items of the numerical table 206b (AB - B01, AB - B02), the standard values set in the corresponding items in the reference table can also be used. And in Figure 11 the exemplified reference table, the "reduction ratio" of the reduction mechanism is also set as the mechanical characteristic value of the actuator using the reference table (here it is actuator 11).

[0141] Figure 12 is an explanatory diagram exemplifying the reference table set in the six numerical tables 206b shown in Figure 9 . Figure 12 of (a) shows the reference table (AC - A01) set in the numerical table 206b (AC - B01) of (a) in Figure 9 , Figure 12 of (b) shows the reference table (AC - A02) set in the numerical table 206b (AC - B02) of (b) in Figure 9 . And Figure 12 of (c) shows in summary Figure 9 of (c) to Figure 9The reference tables (AC-A11, AC-A12, AC-A21, AC-A22) set in the four value tables 206b (AC-B11, AC-B12, AC-B21, AC-B22) shown in (f). In these reference tables, eight items are set: "moving range", "maximum moving speed", "maximum moving load", "standard value of moving amount", "standard value of moving speed", "standard value of moving load", "reduction ratio", and "pitch".

[0142] Among them, the items of "moving range", "maximum moving speed", "maximum moving load", "standard value of moving amount", "standard value of moving speed", and "standard value of moving load" correspond to these reference tables when Figure 9 referenced by the value table 206b shown. That is, corresponding to the values of "moving amount", "moving speed", and "moving load" set in Figure 9 the value table 206b (refer to Figure 9 ), the actually achievable moving range, maximum moving speed, and maximum moving load are respectively set in the reference table. In addition, the "standard value of moving amount", "standard value of moving speed", and "standard value of moving load" are standard values used when no values are set for "moving amount", "moving speed", and "moving load" in the value table 206b.

[0143] When making Figure 9 the value table 206b exemplified, as long as an appropriate reference table is set in the item of "reference table" in each value table 206b in advance, it is possible to prevent inappropriate values from being set in the value table 206b. In addition, when no values are set in the items of the value table 206b, the standard values set in the corresponding items of the reference table can also be used. And in Figure 12 the reference tables exemplified, mechanical characteristic values of the actuator using the reference table, such as the "reduction ratio" of the reduction mechanism and the "pitch" of the ball screw mechanism, are also set.

[0144] In addition, in Figure 12 the reference tables such as "AC-A01" and "AC-A02", "AC-A11" and "AC-A12", and "AC-A21" and "AC-A22", the values set in the "reduction ratio" and "pitch" representing the mechanical characteristic values of the actuator are different. The reason is that the actuators applying the reference tables are different. That is, Figure 12The reference tables such as "AC-A01" and "AC-A02" in [ ] are applied to the actuator 12, the reference tables such as "AC-A11" and "AC-A12" are applied to the actuator 13, and the reference tables such as "AC-A21" and "AC-A22" are applied to the actuator 17. Like this, if the applied actuator is different, the mechanical characteristic values of the actuator also change, and thus the values set in the reference table also differ.

[0145] As described in detail above, in the YOGO diagram of this embodiment, at the grid-like coordinate positions determined by the actuator number and the partial period number, the basic actions of the actuators are recorded using the action description 206a and the value table 206b. Then, by recording the basic actions of all the actuators 10 to 20 mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 on the YOGO diagram like this, the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are described. Then, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 generates a control program based on such a YOGO diagram to control the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0146] C. The automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment:

[0147] Figure 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the functions of the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment. As Figure 13 shown, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment includes a YOGO diagram creation unit 101, a basic action storage unit 102, a YOGO diagram reading unit 103, a YOGO diagram analysis unit 104, a control program generation unit 105, a control execution unit 106, and the like. In addition, these "units" are abstract concepts indicating that the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 should previously have multiple functions to create the YOGO diagram 200 and generate a control program based on the YOGO diagram 200 to control the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1. Therefore, it does not mean that the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 is formed by combining components corresponding to these "units". In fact, these "units" can also be implemented in the form of a program executed by a CPU, can also be implemented in the form of an electronic circuit obtained by combining an IC chip, an LSI, etc., and can also be implemented in various forms such as a mixed form of these methods.

[0148] The YOGO diagram creation unit 101 is connected to the monitor screen 100m, the operation input buttons 100s, etc. A mechanical technician who has sufficient knowledge of the automatic manufacturing machine 1, etc., operates the operation input buttons 100s while watching the monitor screen 100m to create a [ ] as Figure 5The exemplified YOGO diagram 200. As described above, the YOGO diagram 200 is a diagram that describes the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 during the period when the basic operations of multiple actuators mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are assigned to any part. During machine design, machine design technicians fully explored how to combine the basic operations of multiple actuators in order to achieve the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1. Therefore, machine design technicians who have carried out machine design can easily create the YOGO diagram 200 that describes the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1. Of course, machine technicians who have sufficient knowledge of the structure and operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can also easily create the YOGO diagram 200 even if they are not the technicians who designed the automatic manufacturing machine 1.

[0149] In addition, in the present embodiment, when entering the basic operation 206 in the YOGO diagram, in principle, the operation description 206a and the numerical table 206b are used to enter the basic operation, and the available operation description 206a is determined according to the actuator (refer to Figure 6 ). Therefore, in the basic operation storage unit 102, the name of the actuator is stored in advance corresponding to the available operation description 206a of the actuator.

[0150] Figure 14 It is an explanatory diagram showing the correspondence between the name of the actuator and the available operation description 206a. Such a correspondence is stored in the basic operation storage unit 102. As shown in the figure, in the basic operation storage unit 102, the available operation description 206a of the actuator is stored in a state corresponding to the actuator, and the program component number is stored corresponding to each operation description 206a. As described above, the program component number refers to the number of the program component that determines the operation for using the actuator to achieve the operation description 206a. For example, two operation descriptions 206a with different operation modes can be selected in the actuator 18 and the actuator 19, and the program component number is stored for each operation description 206a. In addition, the structure of the actuator and the content of the basic operation of the actuator are also stored simultaneously in a state corresponding to each actuator. And, Figures 7 - 9 the exemplified numerical table 206b, Figures 10 - 12 the exemplified reference table are also stored in the basic operation storage unit 102.

[0151] The above-described basic motion storage unit 102 is connected to the YOGO diagram creation unit 101. Therefore, a mechanical technician can refer to the basic motion storage unit 102 when creating the YOGO diagram 200. Moreover, for a mechanical technician who has sufficient knowledge of the automatic manufacturing machine 1, they fully understand how to operate which actuator, so they can select an appropriate action description 206a from the available action descriptions 206a according to the actuator. In addition, as described above, the action description 206a is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic action 206. Therefore, the task of entering the action description 206a in the YOGO diagram 200 is only a task of directly describing the actions to be performed by the automatic manufacturing machine 1, and thus incorrect content will not be entered. Additionally, regarding the numerical table 206b, a temporary numerical table 206b can be set in advance. That is, as described previously using Figures 7 - 9 The name of the numerical table 206b is formed by combining a specified part of the names of the action descriptions 206a used in combination with a consecutive number. Therefore, the name of the numerical table 206b is determined in advance and entered into the YOGO diagram 200, and later, the values of the numerical table 206b can be corrected or the numerical table 206b can be changed. Additionally, when creating a numerical table 206b with a new name, a new numerical table number is automatically assigned to this numerical table 206b (refer to Figures 7 - 9 ).

[0152] The YOGO diagram reading unit 103 reads the YOGO diagram 200 created by the YOGO diagram creation unit 101 and outputs it to the YOGO diagram analysis unit 104. In addition, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the YOGO diagram 200 is created by the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100. Correspondingly, the YOGO diagram reading unit 103 reads the YOGO diagram 200 from the YOGO diagram creation unit 101. In contrast, the YOGO diagram 200 can also be created in advance by a computer 50 separately provided from the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100, and the YOGO diagram reading unit 103 reads this YOGO diagram.

[0153] The YOGO diagram analysis unit 104 generates intermediate data by analyzing the YOGO diagram 200 received from the YOGO diagram reading unit 103, and then outputs the intermediate data to the control program generation unit 105. The process of generating intermediate data based on the YOGO diagram will be described in detail later.

[0154] When the control program generation unit 105 receives the intermediate data, it generates a control program based on the intermediate data by referring to the correspondence stored in the basic motion storage unit 102. The method of generating a control program based on the intermediate data will be described in detail later. Then, the obtained control program is output to the control execution unit 106.

[0155] When the control execution unit 106 receives the control program from the control program generation unit 105, it obtains the program component stored corresponding to the program component number in the control program from the basic action storage unit 102. In addition, by referring to the basic action storage unit 102, the numerical table 206b stored corresponding to the numerical table number in the control program is retrieved, and the numerical value set in the numerical table 206b is obtained as the independent variable of the program component. By reading and executing the program component with the independent variable set in this way, the actuators 10 to 20 are controlled. As a result, the actuators 10 to 20 mounted on the automatic manufacturing machine 1 operate as described in the YOGO diagram 200.

[0156] In addition, the YOGO chart reading unit 103 of this embodiment corresponds to the "action chart reading unit" of the present invention. Figure 13 The YOGO chart reading unit 103, the YOGO chart parsing unit 104 and the control program generating unit 105 are integrated to realize the function of generating a control program according to the YOGO chart 200. Therefore, in the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment, the YOGO chart reading unit 103, the YOGO chart parsing unit 104 and the control program generating unit 105 correspond to the "control program generating device 110" of the present invention.

[0157] D. Control program generation processing:

[0158] Figure 15 1 is a flowchart showing an overview of the control program generation process performed by the portion corresponding to the control program generation device 110 in the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, in the control program generation process, first, the YOGO diagram is read (step 1). In the present embodiment, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 creates a YOGO diagram, so the data of the created YOGO diagram is read. Of course, the data of the YOGO diagram created by another computer 50 can also be read.

[0159] Next, the read YOGO graph is analyzed and intermediate data is output (step 2). Figure 16 1 is a flowchart of the process (YOGO chart analysis process) in which the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment analyzes the YOGO chart and outputs intermediate data. Figure 13 The processing performed by the YOGO graph analysis unit 104 shown in FIG.

[0160] like Figure 16As shown, when starting the YOGO diagram analysis process, first, the partial period number N and the actuator number M are initialized to "1" (step 10). Next, it is determined whether a basic action is recorded at the position of the coordinates (N, M) on the YOGO diagram 200 (step 11). Here, the coordinates (N, M) on the YOGO diagram 200 represent the grid-like coordinate position determined by the combination of the partial period number N and the actuator number M on the YOGO diagram 200. Immediately after initializing the partial period number N and the actuator number M in step 10, both N and M are "1", so it is determined whether a basic action is recorded at the position of the coordinates (1, 1) on the YOGO diagram 200.

[0161] In Figure 5 In the case of the exemplified YOGO diagram 200, no basic action is recorded at the coordinates (1, 1), so it is determined as "no" in step 11, and it is determined whether the actuator number M has reached the final value (step 14). In the automatic manufacturing machine 1 of this embodiment, 11 actuators 10 to 20 are mounted, so the final value of the actuator number M is 11. Therefore, in the determination of step 14 after confirming the presence or absence of the basic action at the coordinates (1, 1), since it is determined as "no", the actuator number M is incremented by 1 (step 15). Then, using the incremented actuator number M, it is again determined whether a basic action 206 is recorded at the coordinate position (N, M) (step 11).

[0162] In this way, while the partial period number N is maintained at "1", while incrementing the actuator number M by 1 each time, it is determined whether a basic action is recorded at the coordinates (1, M). Then, when reaching the coordinates (1, M) where a basic action is recorded, it is determined as "yes" in step 11.

[0163] Then, when it is determined as "yes" in step 11, the action description 206a of the basic action recorded at this coordinate is read, and, when a numerical table 206b of the basic action is also recorded, the numerical table 206b is read (step 12). In Figure 5 In the exemplified YOGO diagram 200, when reaching the coordinates (1, 4), it is determined as "yes" in step 11, and the action description 206a of "Ω - AC" and the numerical table 206b of "AC - B11" are read as the basic action 206.

[0164] Next, the data including the coordinates (N, M) where the basic action is read, and the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b of the read basic action (hereinafter referred to as intermediate data (N, M, action description, numerical table)) is stored in the memory (step 13). If it is Figure 5In the case of the coordinates (1, 4) of the illustrated YOGO diagram 200, the intermediate data (1, 4, Ω-AC, AC-B11) is stored in the memory. Thus, this intermediate data indicates that on the YOGO diagram 200, at the position where the partial period number N is 1 and the actuator number M is 4, the basic action 206 defined by the action description 206a "Ω-AC" and the value table 206b "AC-B11" is recorded.

[0165] By doing so, after storing the intermediate data read from the YOGO diagram 200 in the memory (step 13), it is determined whether the actuator number M has reached the final value (here, 11) (step 14). As a result, if it has not reached the final value (step 14: no), the actuator number M is incremented by 1 (step 15), and then it returns to step 11 to again determine whether a basic action is recorded at the coordinates (N, M) on the YOGO diagram 200.

[0166] In contrast, if the actuator number M has reached the final value (step 14: yes), it is then determined whether the partial period number N has reached the final value (step 16). For example, on the YOGO diagram 200, if 100 partial periods are used to describe the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1, the final value of the partial period number N is 100.

[0167] As a result, if the partial period number N has not reached the final value (step 16: no), the partial period number N is incremented by 1 (step 17), and the actuator number M is initialized to "1" (step 18), and then it returns to step 11 to again determine whether a basic action is recorded at the coordinates (N, M) on the YOGO diagram 200. That is, on the YOGO diagram 200 (refer to Figure 5 ), for the partial period with the partial period number N being 1, it is confirmed sequentially from top to bottom. After reaching the bottom, for the partial period with the partial period number N being 2, it is confirmed sequentially from top to bottom. After the confirmation of the partial period with the partial period number N being 2 is completed, it is the partial period with the partial period number N being 3. In this way, the basic actions recorded in the YOGO diagram 200 are read sequentially from the partial period with a smaller partial period number N to the partial period with a larger partial period number N, and the intermediate data is stored in the memory.

[0168] Then, such an operation is repeated. When it is finally determined that the partial period number N has reached the final value (step 16: yes), all the basic actions recorded in the YOGO diagram 200 are read. Therefore, the intermediate data stored in the memory is read out and output to the control program generation unit 105 (step 19). In Figure 17 an example of the intermediate data obtained in the case of analyzing Figure 5 the illustrated YOGO diagram 200 is shown. After outputting such intermediate data, the process ends.Figure 16 YOGO diagram analysis processing, and return to Figure 15 control program generation processing.

[0169] In Figure 15 control program generation processing, a control program is generated based on the intermediate data obtained in this way (step 3). In Figure 18 is shown a control program generated according to the Figure 17 exemplified intermediate data. If the Figure 17 intermediate data and the Figure 18 control program are compared, it can be clearly seen that in the control program, the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b of the intermediate data are replaced with numerical values. That is, the control program is generated by replacing the action description 206a of the intermediate data with the program component number that implements the action description 206a (refer to Figure 14 ) and replacing the numerical table 206b of the intermediate data with the numerical table number of the numerical table 206b.

[0170] The operation of replacing the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b in the intermediate data with the program component number and the numerical table number respectively is performed by the Figure 13 control program generation unit 105 in Figure 14 by referring to the basic action storage unit 102. That is, in the basic action storage unit 102, the action description 206a is stored corresponding to the program component number (refer to Figure 14 ). And, in the basic action storage unit 102, there is stored the Figures 7 - 9 exemplified numerical table 206b, and a numerical table number is set in each numerical table 206b. Therefore, the control program generation unit 105 replaces the action description 206a and the numerical table 206b in the intermediate data with the program component number and the numerical table number by referring to the Figure 14 corresponding relationship in Figures 7 - 9 and the Figures 7 - 9 numerical table 206b in

[0171] By generating a control program according to the intermediate data as described above ( Figure 15 step 3), and then outputting the generated control program to the control execution unit 106 (step 4), the Figure 15 control program generation processing ends.

[0172] In addition, as Figure 18As shown, the control program of this embodiment is a control program that aggregates a set of data (hereinafter referred to as "data group") obtained by arranging the partial period number N, actuator number M, program component number, and numerical table number in this order. Therefore, in the data group, the first data representing the partial period number N is called the "first element", the second data representing the actuator number M is called the "second element", the third data representing the program component number is called the "third element", and the fourth data representing the numerical table number is called the "fourth element". In addition, the control program of this embodiment is just a series of multiple data groups. However, the control execution unit 106 of the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 controls the operations of the actuators 10 to 20 of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 based on such a control program as follows.

[0173] E. Action control process:

[0174] Figure 19 It is a flowchart of the action control process in which the control execution unit 106 of the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 controls the actions of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 according to the control program. As Figure 19 shown, when starting the action control process, first, the partial period number N is initialized to "1" (step 50). Then, a data group whose first element is N is obtained from the control program (step 51). If it is immediately after starting the action control process, since the partial period number N is set to "1", the data group (1, 4, 4, 19) is read from the Figure 18 illustrated control program.

[0175] Next, based on the value of the second element of the read data group, the actuator to be controlled is determined (step 52). If the data group read in step 51 is (1, 4, 4, 19), since the value of the second element is "4", the actuator with actuator number M of "4" becomes the actuator to be controlled. In addition, when multiple data groups are read in step 51, each actuator to be controlled is determined based on the value of the second element of each data group.

[0176] And, based on the value of the third element of the read data group, the program component number stored in the basic action storage unit 102 is retrieved, thereby obtaining the program component for causing the actuator to perform the basic action (step 53). If the data group read in step 51 is (1, 4, 4, 19), since the value of the third element is "4", the program component for performing the basic action is the program component with program component number "4".

[0177] Finally, when there is a fourth element in the data group, its value represents the numerical table number of the parameter specified in the program component. Therefore, by retrieving the numerical table 206b stored in the basic operation storage unit 102, the numerical table 206b with the numerical table number is determined, and then the value set in the numerical table 206b is set as the independent variable in the program component (step 54).

[0178] By performing the operations of step 51 to step 54 above, preparations are made to cause each actuator to perform the basic operations recorded during a certain part on the YOGO diagram 200 (the part period with the part period number N being "1" immediately after the start of the motion control process). That is, the actuator to be controlled is determined (step 52), the program component used in the control is obtained (step 53), and the independent variable is set for the program component (step 54), and thus the program component is executed (step 55). For example, when the actuator is a servo motor and the content of the basic operation is to rotate the motor forward by 180 degrees, the following program component is executed: while detecting the rotation angle of the motor, the operation of driving the motor is repeated at a specified control cycle until the rotation angle becomes 180 degrees. In addition, when there are multiple program components, these program components are executed in parallel.

[0179] Next, it is determined whether the execution of all the program components has ended (step 56). That is, when multiple program components are executed in step 55, the execution of these program components does not necessarily end at the same time, so it is determined whether the execution of all the program components has ended. Of course, when only one program component is executed in step 55, it is determined whether the execution of this program component has ended.

[0180] As a result, when there are still program components being executed, it is determined as "no" in step 56, and the same determination is repeated again (step 56). Thus, it is in a standby state until the execution of all the program components ends. Then, after the execution of all the program components ends (step 56: yes), it is determined whether the part period number N has reached the final value (step 57). For example, when 100 part periods are used to describe the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 on the YOGO diagram 200, it is determined whether the part period number N has reached "100".

[0181] As a result, when the partial period number N has not reached the final value during a part of the period (step 57: No), the partial period number N is incremented by 1 (step 58). Then, the process returns to step 51. After reading the data set in which the first element matches the new partial period number N from the control program, the operations of steps 52 to 55 described above are performed on the read data set. Thus, the process advances by one partial period from the partial period in which the basic operation was previously executed, and executes all the basic operations recorded in the new partial period. Then, after all the basic operations in the new partial period are completed and it is determined to be "Yes" in step 56, it is determined whether the partial period number N of this partial period has reached the final value (step 57). As a result, when the partial period number N has not reached the final value (step 57: No), the partial period number N is incremented by 1 (step 58), and then the process returns to step 51, and the operations of steps 51 to 57 described above are repeated for the new partial period number N.

[0182] In this way, in Figure 19 the motion control process, the following operations are repeated: from the first partial period of the YOGO diagram 200 (i.e., the partial period with the partial period number N being No. 1) to the last partial period (the partial period with the partial period number N being the final value), the partial periods are selected one by one, and the basic operations recorded in that partial period are executed. Then, after the basic operations in the last partial period are completed, it is determined to be "Yes" in step 57, and the motion control process ends.

[0183] As described in detail above, in the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the present embodiment, by describing the motion of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 in the YOGO diagram 200, a control program can be automatically generated according to the YOGO diagram 200 to cause the automatic manufacturing machine 1 to operate. In addition, if the structure and motion of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 are known, the YOGO diagram 200 can be easily created even without knowledge related to programs. Therefore, there is no need for a programmer to create a control program. As a result, the time required to develop a new automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be significantly shortened (at least reduced to less than half), and in addition, there is no need to secure a programmer in advance. As a result, it becomes easy to introduce a new automatic manufacturing machine to the manufacturing site, and the requirements for labor saving in the industry can be fully met.

[0184] In addition, in the YOGO diagram 200 of this embodiment, it is assumed that the basic operation 206 of the actuator is divided into an operation description 206a and a numerical table 206b for entry. Since the operation description 206a only qualitatively represents the content of the basic operation 206, if only the operation description 206a is entered in the YOGO diagram 200, it is substantially no different from the operation of directly entering what a person thinks. Therefore, the possibility of entering incorrect content in the YOGO diagram 200 can be greatly reduced. Moreover, if the operation description 206a is correctly entered in the YOGO diagram 200 in advance, then afterwards, it is only necessary to correct the numerical values set in the numerical table 206b, and there is no need to change the YOGO diagram 200 itself. As a result, it is possible to easily obtain a YOGO diagram 200 that correctly records the basic operation of the actuator.

[0185] The automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of this embodiment has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be implemented in various ways without departing from its gist.

[0186] For example, in the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 of the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that in addition to having a function of creating a YOGO diagram 200 and generating a control program based on the YOGO diagram 200 (corresponding to the YOGO diagram creation unit 101, basic operation storage unit 102, YOGO diagram reading unit 103, YOGO diagram analysis unit 104, and control program generation unit 105), it also has a function of performing control based on the control program (corresponding to the control execution unit 106). Figure 13 The above has been described in a manner corresponding to the control execution unit 106). However, it is also possible to form an automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 as a whole by combining a plurality of devices each having a part of these multiple functions. Figure 13 For example, as illustrated, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 can be divided into a YOGO diagram processing device 100a and a control execution device 100b. Moreover, a series of functions from the creation of the YOGO diagram 200 to the generation of the control program (that is, the YOGO diagram creation unit 101, basic operation storage unit 102, YOGO diagram reading unit 103, YOGO diagram analysis unit 104, and control program generation unit 105) are mounted in the YOGO diagram processing device 100a. In addition, a function of executing program components according to the control program (that is, the control execution unit 106 and the program component storage unit 107) can be mounted in the control execution device 100b.

[0187] For example, as Figure 20 illustrated, the automatic manufacturing machine control device 100 can be divided into a YOGO diagram processing device 100a and a control execution device 100b. Moreover, a series of functions from the creation of the YOGO diagram 200 to the generation of the control program (that is, the YOGO diagram creation unit 101, basic operation storage unit 102, YOGO diagram reading unit 103, YOGO diagram analysis unit 104, and control program generation unit 105) are mounted in the YOGO diagram processing device 100a. In addition, a function of executing program components according to the control program (that is, the control execution unit 106 and the program component storage unit 107) can be mounted in the control execution device 100b.

[0188] Thus, it is possible to perform the operations of creating the YOGO diagram 200 and generating the control program by the YOGO diagram processing device 100a pre - installed in the office, and enable the control execution device 100b pre - installed near the automatic manufacturing machine 1 to read the generated control program, so as to operate the automatic manufacturing machine 1. In addition, in Figure 20 the example shown, the YOGO diagram processing device 100a corresponds to the "control program generation device" in the present invention.

[0189] In addition, in Figures 7 - 9 the exemplified numerical table 206b, various items can also be set as needed. For example, in addition to Figures 7 - 9 the exemplified items, an item of "action standby time" can also be set. The time is set as follows for the "action standby time". First, as described above, the numerical table 206b and the action description 206a are combined to define the basic action, and this basic action is recorded in the YOGO diagram 200, thereby defining the actuator that performs the action and the timing of performing the action. That is, the basic action recorded at the coordinate position (N, M) on the YOGO diagram 200 indicates that the actuator with actuator number M performs the basic action at the timing of partial period number N. However, when the item of "action standby time" is included in the numerical table 206b, even when it becomes the timing of partial period number N, the actuator does not start acting immediately, but starts acting after the time set in the action standby time has elapsed.

[0190] In Figure 21 an example is shown where the item of "action standby time" is set in the numerical table 206b used in combination with the action description 206a of "Ω - AA". In Figure 21 the numerical table 206b exemplified in (a) of, 5 seconds is set in the "action standby time". Here, the action description 206a of "Ω - AA" combined with the numerical table 206b represents the opening and closing action of the chuck. Therefore, by combining the action description 206a of "Ω - AA" with Figure 21 the numerical table 206b in (a) of, it is possible to describe an action such that the chuck starts to close after 5 seconds. Of course, if the "action standby time" is set to 0 seconds in advance as in Figure 21 the numerical table 206b exemplified in (b) of, it is also possible to describe an action that immediately starts to close the chuck.

[0191] In addition, in the above-described embodiment, it has been described that the basic operation 206 of the YOGO diagram 200 is described using the operation description 206a and the numerical table 206b. Therefore, when generating a control program based on the YOGO diagram 200, the operation description 206a is transformed into program components, and the values stored in each item of the numerical table 206b are read and set as the independent variables of the program components. In this way, when adjusting the operations of the respective actuators after creating the YOGO diagram 200, it is very convenient because the content of the numerical table 206b can be changed (without changing the YOGO diagram 200). However, as long as the number of independent variables set in the program components does not increase (for example, if it is 10 or less), multiple numerical parameters can be set instead of the numerical table 206b. In this case, the basic operation 206 is described using the operation description 206a and multiple numerical parameters.

[0192] Figure 22 FIG. is an explanatory diagram illustrating a case where the basic operation 206 on the YOGO diagram 200 is described using the operation description 206a and multiple numerical parameters 206c. In Figure 22 (a) thereof, the basic operation 206 is described using the operation description 206a of "Ω-AB" and the numerical parameters 206c of "θ1", "RV1", and "RT1". Here, as described above, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AB" indicates a rotational operation of an actuator formed by combining an AC servo motor and a speed reduction mechanism (refer to Figure 6 ), and therefore, "rotation angle", "rotation speed", and "rotation torque" need to be set as independent variables (refer to Figure 8 ). Therefore, in the example shown in Figure 22 (a), three numerical parameters 206c corresponding to them are set. Here, Figure 22 "θ1" shown in (a) of

[0193] is a numerical parameter 206c representing the "rotation angle", "RV1" is a numerical parameter 206c representing the "rotation speed", and "RT1" is a numerical parameter 206c representing the "rotation torque". In addition, the values of the respective numerical parameters 206c (that is, "θ1", "RV1", "RT1") are stored in advance in the basic operation storage unit 102.

[0193] In addition, in Figure 22 (b) thereof, the basic operation 206 is described using the operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" and the numerical parameters 206c of "OV1" and "OF1". As described above, the operation description 206a of "Ω-AA" indicates an opening / closing operation of an actuator formed by combining an AC servo motor and a chuck mechanism (refer to Figure 6 ), and therefore, "opening / closing speed" and "opening / closing load" need to be set as independent variables (refer to Figure 7 ). Therefore, inFigure 22 In the example shown in (b) of , a numerical parameter 206c ("OV1") representing "opening / closing speed" and a numerical parameter 206c ("OF1") representing "opening / closing load" are set. In addition, the values of these numerical parameters 206c (i.e., "OV1", "OF1") are stored in the basic motion storage unit 102 in advance.

[0194] In this way, it is also possible to record the basic motion 206 on the YOGO diagram 200 using the motion description 206a and multiple numerical parameters 206c. Moreover, when adjusting the motion of the actuator after the YOGO diagram 200 is created, it is only necessary to change the value stored in the basic motion storage unit 102 without changing the YOGO diagram 200.

[0195] In addition, when recording the basic motion 206 in the YOGO diagram 200, it is also possible to mix and use the following methods for recording: the method of recording using the motion description 206a and the numerical table 206b, and the method of recording using the motion description 206a and multiple numerical parameters 206c.

[0196] In addition, it is sometimes required to maximize the manufacturing efficiency (number of manufactured products per unit time) in the control of the automatic manufacturing machine 1. In such a case, it is also possible to set in the numerical table 206b or the numerical parameter 206c the position where the start of the next basic motion 206 is allowed before the end of the basic motion 206.

[0197] For example, in Figure 5 In the YOGO diagram 200 illustrated, the only actuator that moves during the partial period numbered 1 is the actuator 13, and the only actuator that moves during the partial period numbered 2 is the actuator 11. Therefore, the motion of the actuator 11 starts after the motion of the actuator 13 ends. However, if the motion of the actuator 11 starts before the motion of the actuator 13 ends, the end of the motion of the actuator 11 can be advanced.

[0198] For example, in Figure 5 In the YOGO diagram 200 of , in the basic motion 206 of the actuator 13, the motion description 206a is "Ω-AC" and the numerical table 206b is "AC-B11". The motion description 206a of "Ω-AC" represents the motion of moving the actuator forward and backward (see Figure 6 ). In addition, in Figure 9In the example shown in (c), in the value table 206b of "AC - B11", the movement amount for forward and backward movement is set to "(+)46 mm". Therefore, the actuator 13 only moves forward 46 mm and then starts the operation of the next actuator 11. However, if the operation of the next actuator 11 starts at a time point before the movement amount of the actuator 13 reaches 46 mm (for example, when the movement amount is 43 mm), the end of the operation of the actuator 11 can be advanced. To enable such a situation, it is only necessary to preset the position allowing the start of the next basic operation (hereinafter referred to as the next operation allowable position) in the above value table 206b or the numerical parameter 206c.

[0199] Figure 23 It is an explanatory diagram illustrating the case where the next operation allowable position is set in the value table 206b or the numerical parameter 206c. In Figure 23 (a), it shows the case where the next operation allowable position is set as one of the items in the value table 206b. In Figure 23 (b), it shows the case where the next operation allowable position is set as one of the multiple numerical parameters 206c.

[0200] In Figure 23 the value table 206b illustrated in (a), for the Figure 9 value table 206b illustrated in (c), an item of "next operation allowable position" is added, and the value of "-5 (mm)" is set in this item. This means that since the value set in the item of "movement amount" in the value table 206b is "46 (mm)", the basic operation 206 of the next actuator can start after the movement amount reaches 41 (mm) (= 46 - 5).

[0201] In Figure 23 the example shown in (b), the next operation allowable position is set in one of the multiple numerical parameters 206c set for the operation description 206a of "Ω - AC". That is, the numerical parameter 206c of "LM1" represents the movement amount, and the numerical parameter 206c of "ALM1" represents the next operation allowable position. Therefore, the basic operation 206 of the operation description 206a of "Ω - AC" continues until the movement amount reaches the value set in the numerical parameter 206c of "LM1", but when the movement amount reaches the value set by the numerical parameter 206c of "ALM1" (= LM1 - ALM1), the next basic operation 206 can start.

[0202] The above has been described for the situation in Figure 5The actuator 13 set during the partial period numbered 1 on the illustrated YOGO diagram 200 has been described. Since only the actuator 13 is set during the partial period numbered 1, after the movement amount of the actuator 13 reaches the next operation permission position, the basic operation 206 of the actuator 11 set in the next partial period (i.e., the partial period numbered 2) starts. Additionally, if the next operation permission position is similarly set in advance for the basic operation 206 of the actuator 11, at the time when the movement amount of the actuator 11 (since the operation mode of the actuator 11 is a rotational movement, it is actually the rotation angle) reaches the next operation permission position, the basic operation 206 of the actuator 12 in the next partial period starts.

[0203] In addition, only the basic operation 206 of the actuator 10 is set during the partial period numbered 4, but the basic operations 206 of the three actuators 14 to 16 are set in the next partial period (i.e., the partial period numbered 5). Thus, when the movement amount of the actuator 10 reaches the next operation permission position, the basic operations 206 of the three actuators 14 to 16 start. Furthermore, the actuators 14 to 16 are actuators that perform sequential control and are not controlled by specifying a movement amount or a rotation angle, etc., so the next operation permission position is not set.

[0204] In addition, only the basic operation 206 of the actuator 12 is set during the partial period numbered 7, but the basic operations 206 of the two actuators 10 and 17 are set in the immediately preceding partial period (i.e., the partial period numbered 6). Thus, after the movement amounts of both of these two actuators 10 and 17 reach the next operation permission position, the basic operation 206 of the actuator 12 starts.

[0205] In this way, if the next operation permission position is set in advance for the actuator that performs servo control, the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine 1 can be ended earlier, so the manufacturing efficiency can be improved. Additionally, when setting the next operation permission position, the value 0 is initially set in advance, and then while operating the automatic manufacturing machine 1, the setting of the value table 206b or the numerical parameter 206c is corrected, and the value of the next operation permission position is increased in small amounts. If set in the above manner, an appropriate next operation permission position can be easily set.

[0206] Description of Reference Numerals

[0207] 1: Automatic manufacturing machine; 2: Track; 3: Conveyor unit; 3a: Gripping shaft; 3b: Chuck; 4: Processing unit; 11 - 20: Actuator; 10d - 20d: Drive circuit; 50: Computer; 100: Automatic manufacturing machine control device; 100a: YOGO diagram processing device; 100b: Control execution device; 100m: Monitor screen; 100s: Operation input button; 102: Basic motion storage unit; 105: Control program generation unit; 106: Control execution unit; 107: Program component storage unit; 110: Control program generation device; 201: Separation line; 202: Trigger line; 203: Action line; 204: Starting point; 205: End point; 206: Basic motion; 206a: Motion description; 206b: Numerical table; 206c: Numerical parameter.

Claims

1. A control program generation device that generates a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine having a plurality of actuators, wherein the control program generation device is characterized by comprising: A basic motion storage unit that stores, in correspondence with each other, a basic motion representing the motion of each degree of freedom of the actuator and a program component for realizing the basic motion; A motion diagram reading unit that reads a motion diagram, in which the motion period from the start of the motion of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of the motion is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the motion of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of the basic motions, and the basic motions are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected for each of the basic motions from the plurality of partial periods, thereby describing the motion of the automatic manufacturing machine; and A control program generation unit that generates the control program for causing the automatic manufacturing machine to operate by combining the program components of the plurality of basic motions assigned to the plurality of partial periods on the motion diagram in the order of the partial periods on the motion diagram, wherein Based on dividing the content of the basic motion into a motion description for qualitatively describing the basic motion and a numerical description for quantitatively describing the basic motion by a numerical value, the basic motion storage unit stores the program component corresponding to the motion description of the basic motion and a numerical table corresponding to the numerical description, or stores the program component corresponding to the motion description of the basic motion and a plurality of numerical parameters corresponding to the numerical description, The motion diagram reading unit reads the motion diagram that describes the basic motion using the motion description and the numerical table, or using the motion description and the plurality of numerical parameters, When combining the plurality of program components, the control program generation unit sets a numerical value for the program component according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters described together with the motion description of the program component.

2. The control program generation device according to claim 1, wherein In the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters stored in the basic motion storage unit, a numerical value including at least one of the motion amount, motion speed, and motion load of the basic motion is set.

3. The control program generation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The basic motion storage unit stores a reference table to be referred to when no numerical value is set in the numerical table.

4. The control program generation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The basic motion storage unit stores the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters including the motion standby time for waiting for the start of the motion of the basic motion.

5. A control program generation method for generating a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine having a plurality of actuators by a computer, wherein the control program generation method is characterized by including the following steps: An operation diagram reading process reads an operation diagram, in which the operation period from when the automatic manufacturing machine starts operation to when it ends operation is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of basic operations representing the operations of each degree of freedom of the actuator, and the basic operations are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic operation from the plurality of partial periods, whereby the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is described; An operation diagram analysis process extracts the plurality of basic operations included in the operation diagram and the partial periods to which the plurality of basic operations are assigned by analyzing the operation diagram; and A control program generation process generates the control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine by combining program components for implementing the basic operations in the order of the partial periods to which the basic operations are assigned in the operation diagram, wherein, the operation diagram reading process is a process of reading the operation diagram that describes the basic operations in the operation diagram using an operation description and a numerical table, or using an operation description and a plurality of numerical parameters, the operation description is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic operation, and the numerical table and the plurality of numerical parameters are used to numerically describe the quantitative matters of the basic operation, the control program generation process is a process as follows: by referring to the correspondence relationship in which the operation description of the basic operation is stored corresponding to the program component for implementing the operation description, the operation description is transformed into the program component, and numerical values are set for the program component according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters recorded together with the operation description, and then the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods to generate the control program.

6. A computer-readable storage medium stores a program for using a computer to implement a method for generating a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine having a plurality of actuators, and the program is characterized in that the computer implements the following functions: An operation diagram reading function reads an operation diagram, in which the operation period from when the automatic manufacturing machine starts operation to when it ends operation is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of basic operations representing the operations of each degree of freedom of the actuator, and the basic operations are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic operation from the plurality of partial periods, whereby the operation of the automatic manufacturing machine is described; An operation diagram analysis function extracts the plurality of basic operations included in the operation diagram and the partial periods to which the plurality of basic operations are assigned by analyzing the operation diagram; and A control program generation function generates the control program for operating the automatic manufacturing machine by combining program components for implementing the basic operations in the order of the partial periods to which the basic operations are assigned in the operation diagram, wherein, The action diagram reading function is a function for reading the action diagram that describes the basic actions in the action diagram using an action description and a numerical table, or using an action description and a plurality of numerical parameters. The action description is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic action, and the numerical table and the plurality of numerical parameters are used to numerically describe the quantitative matters of the basic action. The control program generation function is a function as follows: By referring to the correspondence relationship in which the action description of the basic action is stored corresponding to the program components for implementing the action description, the action description is transformed into the program components, and numerical values are set for the program components according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters recorded together with the action description. Then, the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods to generate the control program.

7. A computer program product includes a program that is used to implement, using a computer, a method for generating a control program for an automatic manufacturing machine having a plurality of actuators. The program is characterized in that the following functions are implemented by the computer: An action diagram reading function that reads an action diagram. In the action diagram, the action period from the start of the action of the automatic manufacturing machine to the end of the action is divided into a plurality of partial periods, the action of the automatic manufacturing machine is decomposed into a plurality of basic actions representing the actions of each degree of freedom of the actuator, and the basic actions are assigned to any one of the partial periods selected for each basic action from the plurality of partial periods, thereby describing the action of the automatic manufacturing machine. An action diagram analysis function that extracts, by analyzing the action diagram, a plurality of the basic actions included in the action diagram and the partial periods to which the plurality of basic actions are assigned; and A control program generation function that generates a control program for causing the automatic manufacturing machine to operate by combining program components for implementing the basic actions in the order of the partial periods to which the basic actions are assigned in the action diagram. Wherein, The action diagram reading function is a function for reading the action diagram that describes the basic actions in the action diagram using an action description and a numerical table, or using an action description and a plurality of numerical parameters. The action description is used to qualitatively describe the content of the basic action, and the numerical table and the plurality of numerical parameters are used to numerically describe the quantitative matters of the basic action. The control program generation function is a function as follows: By referring to the correspondence relationship in which the action description of the basic action is stored corresponding to the program components for implementing the action description, the action description is transformed into the program components, and numerical values are set for the program components according to the numerical table or the plurality of numerical parameters recorded together with the action description. Then, the program components are combined in the order of the partial periods to generate the control program.

Citation Information

Patent Citations

  • Robot system and processing system, as well as method of manufacturing processed product

    JP2011245602A

  • Machine tool

    JP2018192570A

  • Liquid permeable sheet for absorbent article

    JP2020075017A

  • NC program generating device

    JP1991154105A

  • Sequence control method

    JP1999202912A