Robot network communication structure and method

Abstract

The invention discloses a robot network communication structure and method. The robot network communication structure sends a synchronous clock signal to each sub-assembly through a communication synchronization center module; each sub-assembly synchronously aligns the internal clock signal with the synchronous clock signal and sends out a data packet; the communication synchronization center module carries out data unified sorting on each data packet; the robot core control system takes the uniformly sorted data packet as a data source of a control decision of the composite robot; according to the invention, a unified synchronous clock can be established for real-time communication data and non-real-time communication data, various communication data are processed in a centralized manner in a reliable and real-time manner, and various complicated data are sorted in a unified manner, so that the data processing burden is reduced for a subsequent control system, control and data decision are facilitated, and the data processing efficiency is improved. And the real-time performance of a control system of the robot and the rationality distribution of whole machine computing resources are enhanced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the technical field of composite robots, and particularly to a robot network communication structure and method. Background Art

[0002] For the internal control of composite robots, there are both real-time control requirements and non-real-time control requirements. The internal of composite robots relies on a control communication bus to centrally process various control data, sensing data, and other information. Such data communication (including wired communication, wireless communication, etc.) must be in a highly reliable state to ensure the continuous stability of control performance and not affect the operation reliability, safety, and real-time performance of the robot.

[0003] However, how to reliably and in real-time centrally process various communication data for control and data decision-making, and enhance the real-time performance of the robot control system and the reasonable allocation of the overall machine computing resources is a problem that needs to be solved.

[0004] Based on this, a new technical solution is needed. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, this application provides a robot network communication structure and method.

[0006] This application provides the following technical solutions: A robot network communication structure according to this application is applied to a robot and is communicatively connected to the robot. The robot network communication structure includes a communication synchronization central structure, and the communication synchronization central structure includes: A clock source for generating a global synchronization clock signal; A synchronization distribution unit connected to the clock source for distributing the global synchronization clock signal to each sub-component inside the robot, so that the local clock units of each sub-component are synchronized with the global synchronization clock signal; A data receiving unit for receiving data packets generated and sent by each sub-component based on the synchronization clock and attaching a reception time tag to each data packet; A data alignment synchronization unit connected to the data receiving unit for sorting each data packet according to the reception time tag and aligning the time tags of each data packet to its closest global synchronization clock point to generate synchronized time sequence data packets; Wherein, the data alignment synchronization unit forms a data sequence stream based on multiple synchronized time sequence data packets, and the data sequence stream is used to provide a data source with consistent timing for the robot.

[0007] Furthermore, the communication synchronization central module further includes a data hierarchical fusion module; The data hierarchical fusion module is used to perform data priority classification on the data packets in the synchronous time series data packets based on the real-time nature of the data packets.

[0008] Further, the data packets with different priorities are marked with different data tags.

[0009] Further, the data hierarchical fusion module is also used to perform fusion processing on the data packets in the synchronous time series data packets to form a fused data packet.

[0010] Further, the data hierarchical fusion module fuses the data packets from different sources in the same synchronous time series data packet; or The data hierarchical fusion module fuses the different data packets in adjacent synchronous time series data.

[0011] Further, the communication data interface of the data receiving unit is integrated on the virtual data network management unit, and the virtual data network management unit is used to add data tags to the bus entry moments of data packets from different sources to distinguish the sources, and form a network data mesh virtual data network represented by the data tags.

[0012] Further, a redundant processing network quality prediction unit is further included The redundant processing network quality prediction unit receives the data packets of the sub-components, monitors and predicts the communication quality in the network path where it is located, and outputs the data packets after monitoring and prediction to the communication synchronization central module.

[0013] Further, the redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes a delay compensation module, a packet loss redundancy module, a channel switching module, and a traffic balance module; The delay compensation module is used to perform compensation processing on the network transmission delay situation; The packet loss redundancy module is used to perform redundancy processing on the detected data packet loss phenomenon; The channel switching module is used to perform channel switching on the detected faulty communication channel; The traffic balance module is used to evaluate the current network transmission data throughput and balance the data transmission loads of each communication channel.

[0014] Further, the redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes a raw communication data output interface, a synchronous clock interface, and a processed communication data output interface; The raw communication data output interface is used to output the unprocessed raw communication data; The synchronous clock interface is used to receive the synchronous clock signal from the communication synchronization central module and synchronize the internal clock; The processed communication data output interface is used to output the processed communication data.

[0015] The present invention also provides a robot network communication method, which applies the robot network communication structure described above, including: using the communication synchronization central module to send a synchronization clock signal to each sub-component; each sub-component synchronizes and aligns the internal clock signal with the synchronization clock signal and sends out data packets; the communication synchronization central module uniformly combs the data of each data packet; the robot core control system uses the uniformly combed data packets as the data source for the control decision of the composite robot.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects that can be achieved by at least one of the above technical solutions adopted in this application at least include: The communication synchronization central module of this application sends a synchronization clock signal to each sub-component; each sub-component synchronizes and aligns the internal clock signal with the synchronization clock signal and synchronously sends out data packets; the communication synchronization central module uniformly combs the data of each synchronously sent data packet; the robot core control system uses the uniformly combed data packets as the data source for the control decision of the composite robot; This application can establish a unified synchronization clock for real-time communication data and non-real-time communication data, centrally process various types of communication data reliably and in real time inside, and then can provide guarantee for subsequent data processing and data fusion of data packets, uniformly comb the various complex data, thus reducing the data processing burden for the subsequent control system, being more conducive to the performance of the robot controller, and being more likely to ensure the real-time control effect, so as to control and make data decisions, enhance the real-time performance of the robot control system and the reasonable allocation of the whole machine computing resources, improve the reliability and safety of the composite robot operating in the flexible manufacturing scenario, can be used for internal and external communication of the composite robot, and provide a prerequisite for the reliable operation of the control system. Description of the Drawings

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required to be used in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of this application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0018] Figure 1 is the robot network communication structure diagram in this application; Figure 2 is the schematic diagram of the redundant processing network quality prediction unit in this application; Figure 3 is the schematic diagram of the communication synchronization central module in this application; Figure 4It is a schematic diagram of the synchronous time series data packet in this application; Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the first type of data packet fusion in this application; Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the second type of data packet fusion in this application; Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the data receiving unit in this application. Detailed implementation manners

[0019] The embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] The following uses specific specific examples to illustrate the implementation manners of this application. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of this application from the content disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, rather than all the embodiments. This application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific implementation manners. Various details in this specification can also be modified or changed based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of this application. It should be noted that, without conflict, the following embodiments and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in this application without making creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of this application.

[0021] It should be noted that the following describes various aspects of the embodiments within the scope of the appended claims. It should be obvious that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is illustrative only. Based on this application, those skilled in the art should understand that one aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number and aspects described herein can be used to implement the device and / or practice the method. In addition, this device and / or this method can be implemented using other structures and / or functions in addition to one or more of the aspects described herein.

[0022] It should also be noted that the drawings provided in the following embodiments only illustrate the basic concept of this application schematically. The drawings only show the components related to this application rather than being drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation. The type, quantity and proportion of each component in its actual implementation can be an arbitrary change, and the component layout type may also be more complex.

[0023] In addition, in the following description, specific details are provided to facilitate a thorough understanding of the examples. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the examples can be practiced without these specific details.

[0024] Compound robots are often applied to flexible industrial manufacturing scenarios, integrated with production lines to perform tasks such as loading and unloading operations on the production line and material transfer. Therefore, inevitably, for applications in such scenarios, high requirements are imposed on the real-time operation and reliability of compound robots. For example, compound robots need to meet the production line's beat requirements. Some production lines even have high beat requirements, leaving very strict time windows for the movement and operation of compound robots. During the operation process, compound robots need to meet real-time requirements, and some real-time time windows for operation have relatively high requirements for the operation space and time of compound robots; and so on.

[0025] As for the highly reliable operation of compound robots, there is no doubt about it. It is normal for the production line system to run continuously for 24 hours. Compound robots cannot experience work interruptions except during the charging period. Otherwise, it will lead to phenomena such as discontinuous production line operation, material shortage, or material stacking, which are not allowed in industrial production systems.

[0026] Based on the above requirements, very high requirements are imposed on the overall performance of compound robots. Not only should the components of its body, especially the execution components, have reliable quality and be able to withstand the tests of harsh and long-term continuous operation, but more importantly, its control system should have sufficient performance and real-time performance requirements to meet the production beat requirements and real-time requirements of the production line.

[0027] In view of this, the applicant explored by studying the time of synchronously sending data packets to each sub-component of the robot and the receiving time of data packets from different sources and found that: by using a high-precision clock source and a synchronous distribution unit to send a global synchronous clock signal to each sub-component of the robot, the local clock units of each sub-component are synchronized with the global synchronous clock signal, so that all sub-components can synchronously send data packets (data packets from different sources) at the same moment. Then, the data receiving unit synchronously receives the synchronously sent data packets from different sources, attaches a receiving time label to the data packets according to the receiving time of the data packets from different sources, and then the data alignment and synchronization unit sorts the synchronously sent data packets from different sources according to the receiving time label and aligns them to the closest global synchronous clock point, thereby generating a synchronized time sequence data packet with a time order. Finally, a data sequence stream is formed based on the synchronized time sequence data packets at multiple moments to provide a data source with consistent time sequence for the robot.

[0028] A robot network communication structure of the present invention. Multiple sub-components synchronously send data packets (forming data packets from different sources) under the action of a global synchronous clock signal. Then, the data receiving unit sorts the data packets synchronously sent at the same moment according to the reception time. Finally, the synchronous time series data packets at different moments are formed into a data sequence stream, so that data packets from different sources can be sorted out, reducing the data processing burden for the subsequent control system and being more conducive to the performance of the robot controller.

[0029] Furthermore, the reception time tags on the synchronously sent data packets from different sources can also be used to reconstruct the events represented by the synchronously sent data packets from different sources and the order of the events. Therefore, even if there is network latency or network transmission disorder, the correct order of the original events can be reconstructed without being adversely affected by the data packet time tags.

[0030] Based on this, the following describes the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0031] An embodiment of this specification proposes a robot network communication structure: as Figure 1 shown, it includes a robot core control system, a communication synchronization central module, and multiple sub-components; the communication synchronization central module sends a synchronous clock signal to each sub-component; each sub-component synchronizes its internal clock signal with the synchronous clock signal and sends out data packets; the communication synchronization central module uniformly sorts out the data of each data packet; the robot core control system uses the uniformly sorted data packets as the data source for the control decision of the composite robot.

[0032] Specifically, in the robot control system, physically divided, there are two types of communication, one is wired and the other is wireless; for wired communication, it mainly includes the communication between the internal controller of the robot and each servo motor driver, the communication of the motor encoder, the communication of each sensor carried by the robot, and the communication between each component inside the robot, all of which belong to wired communication; wireless communication is mainly the communication between the robot and the external scheduling system and the communication between the robot and external devices.

[0033] From the perspective of control real-time performance, it can be divided into real-time communication and non-real-time communication. For example, the communication between the robot and each servo motor, the communication between the servo motor driver and each motor encoder, and the communication between the motor encoder and the robot core controller belong to real-time communication, with high requirements for the real-time performance of data transmission. The communication between the robot and each sensor carried is considered non-real-time communication relative to the control real-time performance, such as the communication with lidar, cameras, IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units), etc., which is non-real-time communication; in wireless communication, the communication between the robot and the scheduling system and other devices also belongs to non-real-time communication. Also, the communication between certain components inside the robot, such as RS232 / 485 / USB, also belongs to non-real-time communication. Figure 1 In Figure 1 , Canopen represents the Can bus, EtherCat represents Ethernet Control Automation Technology, and EtherNet represents Ethernet.

[0034] The communication synchronization central module sends the built-in high-precision synchronization clock signal to each communication unit component or device. After each device receives this synchronization clock signal, it aligns or sets its internal clock signal with this synchronization signal. Clock synchronization lays the foundation for operations such as time tagging, data alignment, and data fusion of subsequent communication data packets. After being processed by the communication synchronization central module, the data Figure 1 The data packets in Figure 1 are sent to the communication synchronization central module for further processing. The specific processing process will be described in detail later. They are sent to the robot core control system as the data source for algorithms such as robot control, decision-making, and navigation.

[0035] For the overall control of the robot, the value of this communication structure is reflected in: 1. By establishing a unified synchronization clock for all real-time communication data and non-real-time communication data, it provides guarantee for subsequent data processing and data fusion of data packets, and is more conducive to ensuring the real-time control effect. 2. After various communication data existing in the whole robot system are processed inside the communication synchronization central module, it provides a data source with good consistency, strong real-time performance, and clear hierarchy (based on priority) for the control algorithm of the robot controller, which is more conducive to ensuring the control performance of the robot. 3. The communication synchronization central module system, like a large data sorting unit or a comb for processing various data, sorts out various complex data from all directions, thus reducing the data processing burden for the subsequent control system and being more conducive to the performance of the robot controller.

[0036] In one embodiment, as Figure 3As shown, it shows the internal working principle of the communication synchronization hub. The communication synchronization hub module includes a clock source, a synchronization distribution unit, a data receiving unit, and a data alignment and synchronization unit. Among them, the clock source is used to generate a global synchronization clock signal; the synchronization distribution unit is connected to the clock source and is used to distribute the global synchronization clock signal to each sub-component inside the robot, so that the local clock units of each sub-component are synchronized with the global synchronization clock signal; the data receiving unit is used to receive the data packets generated and sent by each sub-component based on the synchronization clock, and attach a reception time tag to each data packet; the data alignment and synchronization unit is connected to the data receiving unit and is used to sort each data packet according to the reception time tag, and align the time tags of each data packet to its closest global synchronization clock point to generate a synchronized time sequence data packet; among them, the data alignment and synchronization unit forms a data sequence stream based on multiple synchronized time sequence data packets, and the data sequence stream is used to provide a data source with consistent timing for the robot.

[0037] Among them, the clock source issues a synchronization clock signal; the synchronization distribution unit distributes the synchronization clock signal to the clock units in each sub-component through the communication network, providing a clock synchronization reference for the clock units in each sub-component; each sub-component generates a data time tag based on the synchronization clock and uniformly sends the data packet with the data time tag to the data receiving unit. The data receiving unit attaches a time tag and defines the data source according to the reception time for the data packet with the data time tag.

[0038] Specifically, the high-precision clock source distributes the clock signal through the clock source synchronization distribution unit via the communication network. After being received by the clock units in the clock source synchronization distribution interfaces of each component / module / device / (sub-component), it serves as the reference for internal clock synchronization of each. Each component / module / device / scheduled data, etc. generates a data time tag based on the synchronization clock and uniformly sends the data packet with the data time tag to the data receiving unit. After receiving the data packet, the data receiving unit attaches a time tag, defines the data source, and confirms the data type for all data packets. One use of the time tag of the data packet is to reconstruct the events represented by the data packet and the order of the events; its advantage is that even if there is network latency or out-of-order network transmission, the correct order of events can still be reconstructed according to the data packet time tag without having an adverse impact on the original order of event occurrence.

[0039] Among them, the data alignment and synchronization unit places the received data packets in the buffer area in chronological order, sorts and aligns the data packets from different sources in chronological order to form a synchronized time sequence data packet.

[0040] One of the benefits of forming the synchronous time series data packet after alignment is that it facilitates easier data fusion processing. For example, at a certain moment or even several moments, if there is a communication data interruption in the motor encoder (such as the signal cable being disconnected), the system will temporarily enable the IMU data to estimate the moving distance of the robot instead of the encoder signal, thereby improving the system security (such as Figure 4 in which, source 2 may be encoder data, and source 3 may be IMU data. Under normal circumstances, the two may be fused and processed as the basis for judging the moving distance of the robot. In some special cases, only one data may be used as a substitute).

[0041] The data hierarchical fusion module performs data priority classification and / or data fusion processing based on the synchronous time series data packet. Data classification & fusion, the above data sequence stream based on the synchronous clock sequence only provides the premise for further data processing, and the ultimate goal of the data is to enable the control system to utilize it better and more effectively. Data classification & fusion is set up to achieve this goal.

[0042] In one embodiment, as Figure 4 shown, in the data alignment and synchronization unit, based on the synchronous clock, the time tag is aligned with the synchronous clock to form a data sequence stream of data packets from different sources based on the synchronous clock and in the order of time.

[0043] The data alignment and synchronization unit aligns the data packet time tag with the closest synchronous clock based on the synchronous clock, and finally forms a data sequence stream of data from different sources based on the synchronous clock and in the order of time. Under certain implementation measures, it is also possible to compensate for data packets with known network delays; or based on a certain delay prediction mechanism, compensate for network delays.

[0044] In one embodiment, the data hierarchical fusion module is used to classify the data priorities of the data packets in the synchronous time series data packet based on the real-time nature of the data packets, and the real-time data with different priorities are respectively marked with different data tags for distinction.

[0045] According to the different requirements for real-time performance of the control system, the data is divided into three levels: high real-time (high priority), medium real-time (medium priority), and low real-time (low priority). For example, motor control, encoder communication, and data related to robot safety are all classified as high real-time, enjoying the highest processing and communication compensation, and data fusion priority. The data of the robot's perception and sensing systems, such as lidar, IMU, etc., are regarded as medium real-time; while data such as vision cameras and external environment monitoring sensors are regarded as non-real-time, with the lowest priority. High real-time data is listed as a priority for processing by the communication synchronization center, such as data time tagging, alignment, data fusion calculation, network transmission, latency compensation, etc., to ensure real-time control performance. This priority is also reflected in the utilization level of the overall internal data communication channel bandwidth. If the overall data communication bandwidth decreases due to factors such as a large amount of data or interference, and the network latency increases, the system will sacrifice low-priority data packets, such as external environment monitoring sensor data, and reduce its transmission frame rate to ensure that the transmission of high-real-time data such as motor control is not affected.

[0046] Such as Figure 4 Source 7 data packets and source 8 data packets are defined as low-priority data packets with a lower frame rate. The system can change high-frame-rate or high-priority data packets into low-frame-rate or medium-low-priority data packets according to actual control needs to adapt to the needs of system control. During the actual data transmission process, high-real-time and low-real-time data will be marked with different data tags for differentiation to facilitate the subsequent processing of the robot controller.

[0047] In one embodiment, the data hierarchical fusion module is further configured to perform fusion processing on the data packets in the synchronization time series data packets to form a fusion data packet.

[0048] Specifically, the data hierarchical fusion module fuses the data packets from different sources in the same synchronization time series data packet; or the data hierarchical fusion module fuses the different data packets in adjacent synchronization time series data.

[0049] Such as Figure 5 The multi-data fusion in the operation of the communication synchronization center shown represents the formation of a new data packet after multi-data fusion processing of the source 2 data packet, the source 3 data packet, and the source 4 data packet; the figure shows that the fusion processing process may pass through several synchronization clocks, depending on the time required for the fusion processing. Since all data packets have been subjected to formatting operation processing such as time synchronization and data alignment before fusion calculation, the data fusion processing time here will be greatly shortened.

[0050] Such as Figure 6The multi-data fusion in the shown communication synchronization center during operation can perform fusion calculations on data packets from different sources of adjacent clock sequences to relieve the pressure on computing resources during multi-data fusion processing, and this embodiment is suitable for the fusion calculation of data packets with lower priorities or non-real-time data packets. It is also suitable for the fusion processing of data packets with a large amount of data, which consume a lot of computing resources.

[0051] It should be noted that the synchronization clock can be determined according to the actual computing power level of the robot controller. For those with high computing power, a higher frequency can be configured; for those with lower computing power, a lower frequency can be configured to adapt to different types and requirements of robots. It is also used for the adaptation of communication with different peripherals and components to achieve the requirements of the best or overall data communication balance, on the premise of meeting the actual control performance and real-time requirements.

[0052] In one embodiment, as Figure 7 shown, in the data receiving unit, all communication data interfaces are integrated on the virtual data network management unit. The data receiving unit receives data from each network channel and self-organizes network data internally. All input network data passes through the communication data interfaces of the data receiving unit and is uniformly distributed to the internal unified network data bus for transmission. When network data from different sources enters the bus, data tags are added to distinguish the network sources, forming a virtual data network of network data represented by data tags. Based on the virtual data network management unit, redundancy and dynamic management of the networked data are realized, ensuring the continuity of the physical meaning represented by the output data, so as to facilitate subsequent data prioritization and / or fusion.

[0053] As Figure 7 shown in the hardware framework of the data receiving unit, all communication data interfaces are integrated on the Mesh virtual data network management unit. This unit receives data from each network channel and self-organizes mesh network data inside the unit, further enhancing the redundancy of network data and the fusion of data, improving the reliability of data transmission and processing inside the robot, and not causing robot performance problems and reliability problems due to the short-term loss of a certain signal or data disconnection.

[0054] After all input network data passes through the data interfaces of this unit, it is uniformly distributed to the internal unified network data bus for transmission. When data from different network sources enters the bus, data tags are added to distinguish the network sources, forming a mesh (grid) virtual data network of network data represented by data tags. Based on this mesh virtual data network, the management unit can realize the redundancy and dynamic management of the networked data, ensuring the continuity of the physical meaning represented by the output data, and facilitating hierarchical classification and further fusion at the subsequent stage. Figure 7 In it, Zigbee represents the Internet of Things, and BlueTooth represents Bluetooth.

[0055] In one embodiment, as Figure 1 shown, the communication structure further includes a redundant processing network quality prediction unit. The redundant processing network quality prediction unit receives data packets of sub-components, monitors and pre-judges the communication quality in the network path where it is located, and outputs the data packets after monitoring and pre-judging to the communication synchronization central module.

[0056] To improve the reliability of overall communication data, whether it is real-time communication or non-real-time communication, a redundant processing & network quality prediction unit is provided at key nodes. The main function of this unit is to monitor and pre-judge the communication quality in the network path where it is located. For example, if it is monitored that there is data packet loss in a certain communication loop or communication channel, or the network signal quality is lower than the set threshold value, then this unit will take compensation measures or enable redundant channels to eliminate or reduce the damage. Figure 1 In ①②③ in, it represents that the processed data packets output from 3 or several redundant processing & network quality prediction units are sent to the communication synchronization center for further processing.

[0057] In one embodiment, as Figure 2 shown, the redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes a delay compensation module and a packet loss redundancy module; the delay compensation module is used to perform compensation processing on the network transmission delay situation; the packet loss redundancy module is used to perform redundancy processing on the detected data packet loss phenomenon to maintain the continuity of data.

[0058] In one embodiment, as Figure 2 shown, the redundant processing network quality prediction unit further includes a channel switching module and a traffic balance module; the channel switching module is used to perform channel switching on the detected faulty communication channel, and switch the detected faulty channel to other communication channels; the traffic balance module is used to evaluate the current network transmission data throughput and balance the data transmission load of each communication channel.

[0059] The redundant processing & network quality prediction unit can realize the monitoring of network signal quality, the monitoring and measurement of network data packet transmission delay, data packet loss, and network transmission data throughput.

[0060] In one embodiment, the redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes an original communication data output interface, a synchronous clock interface, and a processed communication data output interface; the original communication data output interface is used to output unprocessed original communication data; the synchronous clock interface is used to receive the synchronous clock signal from the communication synchronization central module to synchronize the internal clock; the processed communication data output interface is used to output the processed communication data.

[0061] Specifically, the unit has three data interfaces: 1) the output of the original communication data, which is directly output without any processing; 2) the synchronous clock, which receives the synchronous clock from the communication synchronization center and synchronizes the internal clock accordingly; 3) the output of the processed communication data.

[0062] The embodiment of this specification also discloses a robot network communication method, which applies the robot network communication structure of any one of the above embodiments, including: using the communication synchronization center module to send the synchronous clock signal to each sub-component; each sub-component synchronizes the internal clock signal with the synchronous clock signal and sends out data packets; the communication synchronization center module uniformly combs the data of each data packet; the robot core control system uses the uniformly combed data packet as the data source for the control decision of the composite robot.

[0063] The hybrid data communication structure and method applicable to the composite robot of this application consider the wired communication and wireless communication as a whole, and effectively fuse and compensate for the delay based on the real-time and non-real-time communication data, effectively avoiding and solving conventional problems such as communication anomalies and data flow anomalies in the control of the composite robot, fundamentally solving the problems of many communication nodes, complex system, and low communication reliability caused by the mixing of real-time data and non-real-time data in the composite robot control system, thereby greatly enhancing the reliability and real-time performance of the robot control system, improving the safety and reliability of the actual operation of the robot, and thus meeting the stringent requirements for the composite robot in the actual industrial flexible manufacturing scenario.

[0064] In this specification, the same or similar parts among the various embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the embodiments described later, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the foregoing embodiments.

[0065] The above is only the specific implementation manner of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily thought of by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be covered by the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A robot network communication structure is applied to a robot and communicatively connected to the robot, characterized in that, The robot network communication structure includes a communication synchronization hub structure, and the communication synchronization hub structure includes: A clock source, the clock source is used to generate a global synchronous clock signal; A synchronization distribution unit, connected to the clock source, for distributing the global synchronization clock signal to each subcomponent inside the robot, so that the local clock unit of each subcomponent is synchronized with the global synchronization clock signal; A data receiving unit, used for receiving data packets generated and sent by each sub-component based on the synchronous clock, and attaching a receiving time tag to each data packet; A data alignment and synchronization unit, connected to the data receiving unit, for sorting the data packets according to the received time tags, and aligning the time tags of the data packets to the closest global synchronization clock point to generate synchronized time series data packets; A data hierarchical fusion module, the data hierarchical fusion module is used to fuse the data packets in the synchronous time series data packets to form a fused data packet; Wherein, the data alignment and synchronization unit forms a data sequence stream based on a plurality of the synchronized time series data packets, and the data sequence stream is used to provide a data source with consistent timing for the robot.

2. The robot network communication structure according to claim 1, wherein, The data classification and fusion module is used to classify the data priorities of the data packets in the synchronous time series data packets based on the real-time performance of the data packets.

3. The robot network communication structure according to claim 2, wherein, The data packets of different priorities are marked with different data labels.

4. The robot network communication structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The data hierarchical fusion module fuses data packets from different sources in the same synchronous time series data packet; or The data hierarchical fusion module fuses different data packets in adjacent synchronous time series data.

5. The robot network communication structure according to claim 1, wherein, The communication data interface of the data receiving unit is integrated on the virtual data network management unit, and the virtual data network management unit is used to add data labels to data packets from different sources when they enter the bus to distinguish the sources and form a network data mesh virtual data network represented by the data labels.

6. The robot network communication structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, Also includes redundant processing network quality prediction unit The redundant processing network quality prediction unit receives the data packets of the subcomponents, monitors and predicts the communication quality in the network path, and outputs the data packets after monitoring and prediction to the communication synchronization central module.

7. The robot network communication structure according to claim 6, characterized in that, The redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes a delay compensation module, a packet loss redundancy module, a channel switching module and a traffic balancing module; The delay compensation module is used to compensate for network transmission delay; The packet loss redundancy module is used to perform redundancy processing on the detected data packet loss phenomenon; The channel switching module is used to switch the communication channel where a fault is detected; The traffic balancing module is used to evaluate the current network transmission data throughput and balance the data transmission load of each communication channel.

8. The robot network communication structure according to claim 6, wherein, The redundant processing network quality prediction unit includes an original communication data output interface, a synchronous clock interface and a processed communication data output interface; The raw communication data output interface is used to output unprocessed raw communication data; The synchronous clock interface is used to receive a synchronous clock signal from a communication synchronization hub module to synchronize the internal clock; The processed communication data output interface is used to output the processed communication data.

9. A robot network communication method, characterized in that, Applying the robot network communication structure described in any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising: using a communication synchronization central module to send a synchronization clock signal to each sub-component; each sub-component synchronizes and aligns the internal clock signal with the synchronization clock signal and sends out data packets; the communication synchronization central module uniformly combs the data of each data packet; the robot core control system uses the uniformly combed data packets as the data source for the control decision of the composite robot.

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