Robot control device and robot control system

Abstract

A robot control system that increases the degree of freedom in handling alarms is a robot control device for controlling a robot, comprising: a database memory unit capable of storing multiple alarm attribute information databases that separately store multiple alarm attribute information; a database addition processing unit that adds the aforementioned alarm attribute information databases to the aforementioned database memory unit according to user input; and an alarm processing unit that generates an alarm based on the aforementioned alarm attribute information.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This invention relates to a robot control device and a robot control system. [Previous Technology]

[0002] A robot control device for controlling a robot is configured to generate an alarm and perform predetermined actions such as stopping the robot, issuing an alarm, and displaying a message when an abnormality is detected in the robot or surrounding machinery during the robot's operation. Furthermore, the robot control device can be configured to allow users to specify what type of alarm to generate under what circumstances through a user-created user program (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Previous Art Documents Patent Documents

[0003] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2-243290 [Summary of the Invention]

[0004] Summary of the Invention: Problem to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In the robot control device described in Patent Document 1, a user alarm command including an alarm number and a display message is described in the user program. However, the alarm command in the user program alone cannot describe complex processes such as causing the robot to perform a predetermined action when an alarm occurs or when the alarm resumes. Therefore, a technology that can increase the degree of freedom of the processing specified when an alarm occurs is desired. Means to solve the problem

[0006] The robot control device disclosed herein controls a robot. The robot control device includes: a database memory unit that can store a plurality of alarm attribute information databases that store a plurality of alarm attribute information respectively; a database addition processing unit that adds the aforementioned alarm attribute information databases to the aforementioned database memory unit according to user input; and an alarm processing unit that generates an alarm based on the aforementioned alarm attribute information.

[0007] The robot control system disclosed herein includes a robot control device for controlling a robot and a management device for managing the robot control device. A database memory unit, a database addition processing unit, and an alarm processing unit are respectively disposed in at least one of the robot control device and the management device. The database memory unit can store a plurality of alarm attribute information databases that separately store a plurality of alarm attribute information. The database addition processing unit adds the alarm attribute information databases to the database memory unit according to user input. The alarm processing unit generates an alarm based on the alarm attribute information. Effects of the Invention

[0008] According to the robot control device and robot control system of this disclosure, the degree of freedom in handling alarms will be increased.

Implementation Method

[0010] Form used to implement the invention

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the robot control device 10 of the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0012] The robot control device 10 controls the robot R according to the user program. The robot control device 10 can be implemented by executing an appropriate control program using a computer device equipped with memory, a processor (CPU), input / output interface, etc. Furthermore, the robot control device 10 may also be equipped with an input device (keyboard, touch pad, etc.) and a display device (display panel, etc.), and may be connected to external input devices and display devices. As an example of a configuration that integrates the input device and display device connected to the robot control device 10, a teaching operation panel used for teaching the robot R to move can be shown.

[0013] The robot control device 10 includes a program memory unit 11, a database memory unit 12, a program teaching processing unit 13, a database addition processing unit 14, a program execution unit 15, and an alarm processing unit 16. Furthermore, these components can be categorized by the functions of the robot control device 10, rather than being clearly distinguishable in terms of physical and programmatic structure. Additionally, the robot control device 10 may also have other further components.

[0014] The program memory unit 11 stores user programs that describe actions taught to robot R. More specifically, the program memory unit 11 secures the memory area of ​​the computer device's memory and controls the writing and reading of user programs to this memory area.

[0015] The user program may include not only commands specifying the actions of the robot R, but also commands specifying the actions of peripheral machines such as the working head installed at the front end of the robot, alarm generation conditions, and alarm call commands for alarm handling.

[0016] The database memory unit 12 stores multiple alarm attribute information databases, each storing a different alarm attribute information. Like the program memory unit 11, the database memory unit 12 secures the memory area of ​​the computer device and controls the writing and reading of alarm attribute information databases to this memory area. The database memory unit 12 only needs to be configured to store multiple alarm attribute information databases; it is not required that it actually stores multiple alarm attribute information databases.

[0017] Each alarm attribute information is a single record in the alarm attribute information database, and the information specifying the event to be executed in a single alarm handling process is the content of each data item. The alarm attribute information database can also be recorded as a separate file. In this way, by describing the content of the alarm handling process in a single record, the content of the alarm handling process to be performed can be specified by simply specifying the record. Therefore, various alarm handling processes can be performed appropriately without creating lengthy user programs.

[0018] Furthermore, the database memory unit 12 stores multiple alarm attribute information databases. The alarm attribute information database can be configured as a database that aggregates records of alarm handling that share certain commonalities, for example, a database that aggregates necessary alarm handling according to the location or machine that causes the alarm. In this way, since a large number of records can be managed hierarchically, record saving and record assignment become easier, and the unnecessarily large capacity of the alarm attribute information database is prevented from increasing unnecessarily due to an increase in the number of fields.

[0019] Alarm attribute information includes at least one of the following: display text, alarm severity, processing order when the alarm is generated, and processing order when the alarm is restored. That is, the alarm attribute information database includes at least one of the following: display text field, alarm severity field, processing order when the alarm is generated field, and processing order when the alarm is restored field. This allows for the specific identification of the alarm processing content.

[0020] Alarm attribute information can also include multiple display texts by language. That is, the alarm attribute information database can also include multiple fields corresponding to each language in order to register the display text in different languages. This makes multilingual support easier. Although the field for recording the display text in the desired language can also be specified in the alarm call command statement for specified alarm handling, from the point of view of simplifying the user program and preventing manufacturing errors, it is advisable to specify it through the initial setting of the robot control device 10, specifying it in the header of the user program, or setting it through switching operations such as the teaching operation panel connected to the robot control device 10.

[0021] The program teaching processing unit 13 can create a user program based on input from the teaching operation panel, etc., and transfer the created user program to the program memory unit 11. Furthermore, the program teaching processing unit 13 can also directly transfer the whole or part of a pre-created user program input from the outside to the program memory unit 11.

[0022] The user program may include: a condition setting statement for setting one or more alarm generation conditions, and an alarm call command statement for specifying alarm attribute information. The aforementioned alarm attribute information may specify the alarm processing to be performed when each alarm generation condition is met. In order to specify the alarm attribute information, the alarm call command statement may specify the number or file name of the alarm attribute information database, the number or unique key (e.g., ID) of the alarm attribute information (record) as arguments, and may further specify strings appended to the display text as arguments as needed.

[0023] As an example, if the alarm call command is set to "alarm_post", the number of the alarm attribute information database is set to "DatabaseID", the number of the alarm attribute information is set to "AlarmNumber", and the string appended to the display text is set to "Param_str", the alarm call command statement will be described as: "alarm_post[DatabaseID,AlarmNumber,Param_str]". Using this command, a user program can be created as follows: when the alarm generation condition is detected during the execution of the user program, a branch will be opened instead of the usual processing, and the alarm call command statement will be executed to generate an alarm, thereby alerting the operator and interrupting the execution of the program.

[0024] The database addition processing unit 14 adds alarm attribute information databases to the database memory unit 12 according to user input. The database addition processing unit 14 may also have the function of creating alarm attribute information databases according to user input, and may also read alarm attribute information databases created by other computer devices and transfer them to the database memory unit 12. Regarding the database addition processing unit 14, an output device may also be used to provide a user interface, which is configured to assist in the creation of alarm attribute information databases and to confirm alarm attribute information databases already stored in the database memory unit 12.

[0025] Preferably, the database addition processing unit 14 is configured to add new alarm attribute information databases or add new alarm attribute information to existing alarm attribute information databases, provided that the memory capacity ensured by the database memory unit 12 allows. In this way, when making changes to the specifications of equipment including the robot R, such as processing systems or operation processing systems, or when making changes to the workpieces processed in the equipment, appropriate user programs can be easily created by adding new alarm attribute information databases or alarm attribute information and using alarm call command statements that generate alarms using the added alarm attribute information.

[0026] The program execution unit 15 controls the robot R and the like according to the user program stored in the program memory unit 11. The control of the robot R and the like according to the user program is the same as that of conventional robot control devices, so detailed explanation is omitted.

[0027] The alarm processing unit 16 can be configured to monitor signals input from the robot R, etc., and generate an alarm based on the alarm attribute information specified in the alarm call command statement described in the user program. That is, the alarm processing unit 16 can be configured to generate an alarm according to the alarm call command described in the user program. In other words, a user program can be created such that when an alarm generation condition is detected during the execution of the user program, a branch is performed instead of the usual processing, and the alarm call command statement is executed to generate an alarm, thereby alerting the operator and interrupting the execution of the program.

[0028] The alarm processing unit 16 can be configured to determine the change pattern of the program execution state, the display method of the displayed text, and whether to set a system error based on the alarm severity of the alarm attribute information. "Change pattern of the program execution state" refers to categories such as: whether to continue the actions of the robot R, etc., based on the user program; whether to temporarily stop the actions of the robot R, etc., based on the user program; or whether to forcibly terminate the execution of the user program. "Display method of the displayed text" refers to, for example, the size, color, and presence or absence of emphasis on the displayed text. Thus, by determining part of the alarm processing based on the alarm severity, the capacity of the alarm attribute information database can be reduced.

[0029] The alarm processing unit 16 may be configured to attach related information corresponding to the status when the alarm is generated to the display text of alarm attribute information, and display it on the display device of the robot control device 10 or on the display device connected to the robot control device 10. As the related information attached to the display text, it may be set as, for example, a string that can specify the device, part, etc. that is the cause of the alarm. The device, etc. that is the cause of the alarm can be described in advance in the alarm call command statement in accordance with the condition setting statement. As an example of implementation, the following method may be considered: embed a special string such as "%s" in advance in the alarm display text, and when the "string to be attached to the display text" has been specified when the alarm call command is executed, replace the aforementioned special string with the specified additional display string for display, etc., but the implementation method is not limited to this.

[0030] The alarm processing unit 16 can be configured to execute an alarm generation processing sequence that processes alarm attribute information when an alarm is generated. Furthermore, the alarm processing unit 16 can be configured to execute an alarm recovery processing sequence that processes alarm attribute information when recovering from an alarm. While the alarm generation processing sequence can also be directly described in the alarm attribute information, it is preferable to define it in a program that describes the actions or input / output processing of the robot R, etc., in the same language as the user program, or in a subroutine within the user program. Similarly, the alarm recovery processing sequence is preferably defined, in addition to the aforementioned actions or input / output processing of the robot R, etc., in a script or program that interacts with the operator in a dialogic manner while prompting for alarm-specific recovery methods to smoothly perform recovery operations from the alarm, or in a subroutine within the user program. Information that can identify specific programs, such as the program's file name and the subroutine's start line number, should be described in the alarm attribute information. In this way, by specifying the processing order when an alarm is generated and the processing order when an alarm is restored using alarm attribute information, it is easier to create user programs that perform appropriate processing when an alarm is generated, and it can prevent the size of the alarm attribute information database from unnecessarily increasing.

[0031] As described above, the robot control device 10, by including: a database memory unit 12 that databases and stores alarm attribute information for processing when a specific alarm is generated; and an alarm processing unit 16 that generates an alarm based on the alarm attribute information specified in the alarm call command statement described in the user program, can generate alarms accompanied by complex processing that cannot be described in the user program, thus increasing the degree of freedom in handling alarm generation. Furthermore, the creation of a suitable user program is also easy in the robot control device 10.

[0032] Next, an embodiment of the robot control system disclosed herein will be described. FIG2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the robot control system 100 according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, for the robot control system 100 of FIG2, the same constituent elements as the robot control device 10 of FIG1 are sometimes given the same reference numerals and repeated descriptions are omitted.

[0033] The robot control system 100 includes: one or more robot control devices 110 for controlling the robot, and a management device 120 for managing the robot control devices 110. The robot control devices 110 and the management device 120 communicate via a network or the like. The robot control system 100 may also include a plurality of management devices 120. Furthermore, in the robot control system 100, the plurality of management devices 120 may be arranged hierarchically to distribute functions.

[0034] The robot control device 110 shown in the figure includes a program memory unit 11, a database memory unit 12, a program teaching processing unit 13, a database addition processing unit 14, a program execution unit 15, and an alarm processing unit 16. On the other hand, the management device 120 includes a network database memory unit 22 and a network database addition processing unit 24. The database memory unit 12 and the database addition processing unit 14 on the robot control device 110 can also be omitted. Therefore, in the robot control system 100, the robot control device 110 and the management device 120 cooperate to control the robot R and generate alarms.

[0035] As a specific example, when an alarm is generated on a robot control device 110, the alarm processing unit 16 of the robot control device 110 first searches whether alarm attribute information matching the alarm exists in the network database memory unit 22. If found, alarm processing is performed based on the alarm attribute information. If alarm attribute information matching the alarm is not found in the network database memory unit 22, the alarm processing unit 16 searches whether alarm attribute information matching the alarm exists in the database memory unit 12 within the robot control device 110. If found, alarm processing is performed based on the alarm attribute information. If the alarm attribute information does not exist in either database or memory unit, standard system alarm processing is performed (e.g., displaying the alarm number and interrupting the execution of the user program).

[0036] The advantage of this processing method is that it can be used as follows: the necessary and minimum alarm attribute information that should be included as a standard specification is first stored on the robot control device 110, and the alarms required for the application are added to the network database memory unit 22 on the management device 120.

[0037] Furthermore, in this processing method, when alarm attribute information with the same unique key (ID, etc.) exists on both the robot control device 110 and the management device 120, the alarm attribute information on the management device 120 will be used preferentially. Therefore, there is the following advantage: when the alarm processing method needs to be changed to the standard alarm processing method, it can be done simply by changing the alarm attribute information on the management device 120.

[0038] Furthermore, in the robot control system 100, multiple robot control devices 110 share the network database memory unit 22 and the network database addition processing unit 24 provided in the management device 120. With this configuration, in factories with multiple manufacturing lines, management is easy because it is not necessary to register alarm attribute information databases for each robot control device 110 individually.

[0039] Although the embodiments disclosed herein have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiments. Furthermore, the effects described in the foregoing embodiments are merely examples of the best effects produced by the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are not limited to the contents described in the foregoing embodiments.

[0040] In a robot control system, the components of the program memory unit, database memory unit, program teaching processing unit, database addition processing unit, program execution unit, and alarm processing unit can be located in either the robot control device or the management device, or some of the components can be distributed between the robot control device and the management device. Furthermore, if both the robot control device and the management device have database memory units, priority can be given to either the alarm attribute information stored in the database memory unit of the robot control device or the alarm attribute information stored in the database memory unit of the management device. [Simplified Explanation of the Diagram]

[0009] FIG1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the robot control device according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the robot control system according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A robot control device for controlling a robot, the robot control device comprising: a database memory unit capable of storing a plurality of alarm attribute information databases that separately store a plurality of alarm attribute information; a database addition processing unit capable of adding the alarm attribute information databases to the database memory unit according to user input; an alarm processing unit capable of generating an alarm based on the alarm attribute information; and an input / output interface capable of communicating with an external management device, the management device comprising: a database memory unit capable of storing a plurality of alarm attribute information databases that separately store a plurality of alarm attribute information; the alarm processing unit first searching the database memory unit of the management device, and if no matching alarm attribute information is found, searching the database memory unit of the robot control device.

2. The robot control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aforementioned alarm attribute information includes at least one of the following: display text, alarm severity, processing order when the alarm is generated, and processing order when the alarm is restored.

3. The robot control device as described in claim 2, wherein the aforementioned alarm attribute information includes a plurality of the aforementioned display characters in terms of language.

4. The robot control device as requested in item 2 or 3, wherein the aforementioned alarm processing unit determines the change mode of program execution status, the display method of displayed text, and whether to set a system error based on the severity of the aforementioned alarm.

5. The robot control device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the aforementioned alarm processing unit may display related information corresponding to the status when the alarm is generated, with the aforementioned display text attached.

6. The robot control device of claim 2, wherein the aforementioned alarm processing unit executes the aforementioned alarm generation processing sequence when an alarm is generated.

7. The robot control device of claim 2, wherein the aforementioned alarm processing unit executes the aforementioned alarm recovery processing sequence when recovering from an alarm.

8. The robot control device as described in claim 1, wherein the aforementioned alarm processing unit generates an alarm in accordance with an alarm call command described in the user program.

9. A robot control system comprising a robot control device for controlling a robot and a management device for managing the robot control device, wherein a database memory unit, a database addition processing unit, and an alarm processing unit are respectively disposed in at least one of the robot control device and the management device; the database memory unit can store a plurality of alarm attribute information databases that respectively store a plurality of alarm attribute information; the database addition processing unit adds the alarm attribute information databases to the database memory unit according to user input; the alarm processing unit generates an alarm based on the alarm attribute information; the database memory unit is disposed in both the robot control device and the management device; the alarm processing unit first searches the database memory unit of the management device, and if no matching alarm attribute information is found, searches the database memory unit of the robot control device.

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