Data authentication system for collaborative robot system

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a data authentication system for a collaborative robot system, the data authentication system enabling highly reliable and quick analysis of cause of accident and evaluation of circumstance for insurance claims when an accident occurs. [Solution] A data authentication system 100 comprises: a collaborative robot system 102; and servers 104, 106, 108 respectively managed by third parties including a user, a manufacturer, and an insurance company. The collaborative robot system includes: a data generation unit 120 that generates state data; and a transmission unit 122 that distributes the state data to the servers in parallel through a local area network 110. Each server includes a storage unit 136a, 136b, 136c that stores the state data received by a reception unit 132a, 132b, 132c, and an authentication unit 134a, 134b, 134c that imparts authentication information to the state data. The authentication unit of each server stores the state data in the storage unit when the identity between the state data received by the own server and the state data received by the other server is confirmed.

Description

Data notarization system for collaborative robot systems

[0001] The present invention relates to a data notarization system for a collaborative robot system connected to a local area network.

[0002] Industrial robots that share a workspace with workers, known as collaborative robots, require safety measures. Collaborative robots ensure safety through motion control, for example by stopping the robot if its arm collides with a worker. However, because the worker and collaborative robot share a workspace, there is a possibility that they may collide with each other and cause an accident. In the unlikely event that an accident does occur, reliable data on the conditions at the time of the accident is needed to analyze the cause and evaluate the situation.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a cryptographic system for distributing certificates. The cryptographic system includes a certificate authority device and multiple network nodes. The network nodes send public keys to the certificate authority device. The certificate authority device generates a certificate including the public key and forms an identifier by applying an identity-forming (hash function) function to the certificate.

[0004] The attestation authority device also generates local key material unique to the network node by applying the local key material generation algorithm of the identity-based key pre-distribution scheme to the formed identifier, and sends the encrypted local key material to the network node, which is then implicitly authenticated through the network node's access to a shared key that is retrievable from the local key material.

[0005] Special table 2019-514269 publication

[0006] However, the cryptographic system in Patent Document 1 simply describes that data is shared and stored among multiple network nodes in a local area, and that the data is encrypted using a hash function when exchanged with a certification authority device over the Internet. While encryption makes it difficult for third parties to view the data, it does not guarantee the reliability of the data (such as that the data existed at the relevant date and time, or that it has not been replenished or tampered with).

[0007] For this reason, even if the encryption system of Patent Document 1 is applied to data on collaborative robots that may be involved in accidents with workers, insurance companies must strictly verify the reliability of the data in order to file insurance claims in the event of an accident. Therefore, simply encrypting the data makes it difficult to quickly analyze the cause of the accident or assess the situation.

[0008] In view of these problems, the present invention aims to provide a data authentication system for a collaborative robot system that can reliably and quickly analyze the cause of an accident and evaluate the situation for insurance claims when an accident occurs.

[0009] In order to solve the above problems, a typical configuration of a data notarization system for a collaborative robot system according to the present invention includes a collaborative robot system, a first server under the jurisdiction of a user who uses the collaborative robot system, a second server under the jurisdiction of the manufacturer of the collaborative robot system, a third server under the jurisdiction of a third party including an insurance company, and a local area network connecting the collaborative robot system and each server, wherein the collaborative robot system has a data generation unit that acquires the status of the collaborative robot system and generates predetermined status data, and a transmission unit that distributes the status data to each server in parallel via the local area network, and each server has a receiving unit that receives the status data generated by the data generation unit from the transmission unit, a memory unit that stores the status data, and an authentication unit that assigns authentication information to the status data, and the authentication unit of each server stores the status data in the memory unit when it confirms that the status data it received is identical to the status data received by the other servers.

[0010] It is preferable that at least one of the first server, the second server, and the third server has a public section, and the public section obtains a hash value of the status data whose identity has been confirmed, and publishes the hash value via the Internet.

[0011] The above-mentioned publishing unit preferably obtains a notarization timestamp for the published hash value from a notarization authority and publishes the notarization timestamp via the Internet.

[0012] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a data authentication system for a collaborative robot system that can reliably and quickly analyze the cause of an accident and evaluate the situation for insurance claims when an accident occurs.

[0013] While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments.

[0014] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dimensions, materials, and other specific values ​​shown in the embodiments are merely examples for facilitating understanding of the invention and, unless otherwise specified, do not limit the present invention. In this specification and drawings, elements having substantially the same functions and configurations are designated by the same reference numerals to avoid redundant explanation, and elements not directly related to the present invention are not shown.

[0015] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a data notarization system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a functional block diagram of the data notarization system 100 shown in Fig. 1. The data notarization system 100 includes a collaborative robot system 102, a first server 104, a second server 106, a third server 108, and a local area network (LAN) 110. The local area network 110 connects the collaborative robot system 102 with each of the servers 104, 106, and 108.

[0016] The collaborative robot system 102 is an industrial robot system that shares a work area with a worker H shown in Fig. 1. The collaborative robot system 102 includes a robot 112, a peripheral sensor 114, a camera recorder 116 shown in Fig. 2, a peripheral device 118, a data generation unit 120, and a transmission unit 122. The peripheral sensor 114 detects when the worker H enters a dangerous area. The dangerous area is the range of motion of the robot 112 or an area expanded a predetermined distance from the range of motion.

[0017] When the worker H enters a dangerous area, the robot 112 operates in a collaboration mode to work in collaboration with the worker H, and monitoring by a safety function becomes effective. In the collaboration mode, safety is ensured by operation control, for example, by slowing down the movement speed of the arm or by stopping the robot 112 if the worker H collides with the arm.

[0018] However, because the worker H and the collaborative robot system 102 share the work area, there is a possibility that they may collide with each other and cause an accident. If an accident does occur, and the cause of the accident is to be analyzed and the situation evaluated, highly reliable data on the conditions at the time of the accident is required.

[0019] Therefore, the notarization system 100 according to this embodiment employs a configuration that uses highly reliable "status data" from the collaborative robot system 102 to reliably and quickly analyze the cause of an accident and assess the situation for insurance claims when an accident occurs. The "status data" includes the drive torque of the robot 112 at a given point in time (which means the force of the collision in the event of an accident), camera footage from the camera recorder 116 installed in the vicinity, values ​​from the human presence sensor (peripheral device 118), and various other sensor values. All torque and sensor values ​​are recorded in pairs with the date and time of acquisition, and values ​​are acquired, for example, every 100 milliseconds (0.1 seconds), forming one set of data in units of seconds or minutes.

[0020] The data generating unit 120 acquires the status of the collaborative robot system 102 and generates the status data. The transmitting unit 122 distributes the status data directly to the first server 104, the second server 106, and the third server 108 in parallel via the local area network 110.

[0021] The first server 104 is a server under the jurisdiction of the user of the collaborative robot system 102. The second server 106 is a server under the jurisdiction of the manufacturer of the collaborative robot system 102. The third server 108 is a server under the jurisdiction of a third party, including an insurance company. Third parties are not limited to insurance companies; fourth and fifth servers under the jurisdiction of research institutions, safety supervision organizations, etc. may also be added. Note that "under the jurisdiction" means that other people cannot operate the server or retrieve or edit the stored status data.

[0022] Furthermore, each of the servers 104, 106, and 108 can access a notary public authority 126 via the Internet (WAN: Wide Area Network) 124, and can use the notarization services provided by the notary public authority 126. A cloud server 128 is also connected to the Internet 124. The cloud server 128 is a server for providing (disclosing) various types of information to the cloud 130 shown in FIG. 2.

[0023] 2, each server 104, 106, 108 includes a receiving unit 132a, 132b, 132c, an authenticating unit 134a, 134b, 134c, a storage unit 136a, 136b, 136c, and a publishing unit 138a, 138b, 138c. The receiving units 132a, 132b, 132c receive status data distributed in parallel directly from the transmitting unit 122 of the collaborative robot system 102 via the local area network 110.

[0024] The authentication units 134a, 134b, and 134c assign authentication information such as a timestamp and digital certificate to the received status data. The storage units 136a, 136b, and 136c store the status data with the assigned authentication information. The publishing units 138a, 138b, and 138c publish information (described below) related to the status data via the Internet 124 to the Internet 124 and the cloud 130.

[0025] 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the data notarization system 100 in FIG. 1. In the data notarization system 100, the data generation unit 120 first generates status data of the collaborative robot system 102 (step S100). Next, the transmission unit 122 directly distributes the status data to each of the servers 104, 106, and 108 in parallel via the local area network 110 (step S102).

[0026] Next, the authentication units 134a, 134b, and 134c of each server 104, 106, and 108 verify the identity of the status data they received with the status data received by the other servers. If the identities are verified, authentication information is added to the status data (step S104). Furthermore, the authentication units 134a, 134b, and 134c store the verified status data and authentication information (electronic certificates authenticating the identity) in the storage units 136a, 136b, and 136c, respectively (step S106). Therefore, the status data and authentication information stored in the storage units 136a, 136b, and 136c are highly reliable.

[0027] Next, the publishing unit 138a, 138b, 138c of either the first server 104, the second server 106, or the third server 108 obtains a hash value of the status data whose identity has been confirmed through a hash function (step S108), and publishes the hash value to the cloud 130 via the Internet 124 (step S110).

[0028] In this way, the data notarization system 100 can confirm the existence of reliable data by publishing the hash value of the status data whose identity has been confirmed via the Internet 124. Note that the status data itself is not published on the Internet 124 or the cloud 130. This is because the status data is confidential information and because its huge data size would strain line capacity and require long transfer times.

[0029] In other words, by disclosing only the hash value, the data authentication system 100 can ensure the existence of data at a certain point in time while preventing the leakage of confidential state data. In the event of an accident, the hash value of the state data at the time of the accident can be calculated and compared with the publicly available hash value to ensure that it is indeed the state data at the time of the accident.

[0030] If the notarization service is to be used (step S112, Yes), one of the publishing units 138a, 138b, and 138c obtains a notarization timestamp for the published hash value from the notarization authority 126 (step S114) and publishes the notarization timestamp via the Internet 124 (step S116). On the other hand, if the notarization service is not to be used (step S112, No), the process ends.

[0031] In this way, data notarization system 100 not only publishes the hash value of the data whose identity has been confirmed, but also uses the notarization service to publish a notarization timestamp for the hash value. This allows data notarization system 100 to guarantee not only the existence of reliable data, but also that the hash value (i.e., the state data) certainly existed at the time of notarization (i.e., the date and time indicated by the timestamp). Note that the date and time indicated by the notarization timestamp is the time of notarization, not the time of data acquisition, so the notarization timestamp is generated without delay (for example, in seconds or minutes) after the state data is generated.

[0032] Furthermore, according to the data notarization system 100, because the third server 108 is under the jurisdiction of the insurance company, the reliability of the condition data stored on the third server 108 has already been confirmed by the insurance company. Therefore, the insurance company can use this condition data, the reliability of which has been confirmed, to quickly analyze the cause of an accident and evaluate the situation for insurance claims when an accident occurs. Furthermore, highly reliable condition data is also stored on the first server 104, which is under the jurisdiction of the user, and the second server 106, which is under the jurisdiction of the manufacturer. Therefore, users and manufacturers can analyze the cause of an accident and evaluate the situation, just like the insurance company.

[0033] While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is clear that those skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications and alterations within the scope of the claims, and it is understood that these modifications and alterations also fall within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0034] This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-167774 filed on September 28, 2023, and the above contents are incorporated herein by reference in the specification, claims, and drawings of this application.

[0035] The present invention is applicable to a data notarization system for a collaborative robot system connected to a local area network.

[0036] 100...data notarization system, 102...collaborative robot system, 104...first server, 106...second server, 108...third server, 110...local area network, 112...robot, 114...peripheral sensor, 116...camera recorder, 118...peripheral device, 120...data generation unit, 122...transmission unit, 132a, 132b, 132c...reception unit, 124...Internet, 126...notarization agency, 128...cloud server, 130...cloud, 134a, 134b, 134c...authentication unit, 136a, 136b, 136c...storage unit, 138a, 138b, 138c...publication unit, H...worker

Claims

1. A data authentication system comprising: a collaborative robot system; a first server under the jurisdiction of a user who uses the collaborative robot system; a second server under the jurisdiction of a manufacturer of the collaborative robot system; a third server under the jurisdiction of a third party such as an insurance company; and a local area network connecting the collaborative robot system and each of the servers, wherein the collaborative robot system has a data generation unit that acquires a status of the collaborative robot system and generates specified status data, and a transmission unit that distributes the status data to each of the servers in parallel via the local area network, each of the servers has a receiving unit that receives the status data generated by the data generation unit from the transmission unit, a memory unit that stores the status data, and an authentication unit that assigns authentication information to the status data, wherein the authentication unit of each of the servers stores the status data in the memory unit when it is confirmed that the status data received by it is identical to the status data received by another server.

2. The data authentication system for a collaborative robot system as described in claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the first server, the second server and the third server has a public section, and the public section obtains a hash value of the status data whose identity has been confirmed and publishes the hash value via the Internet.

3. A data notarization system for a collaborative robot system as described in claim 2, characterized in that the publishing unit obtains an attestation timestamp from a notarization agency for the published hash value and publishes the attestation timestamp via the Internet.

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