Multi-Robot Vision Coordination for Consistent Position Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robot systems require long cycle times and significant man-hours for correcting positional errors among multiple robots, and it is difficult to ensure consistent corrections across multiple robots.
Innovation Solution
A robot system comprising multiple robots, robot controllers, vision sensors, and a centralized visual processing computer that computes a workpiece coordinate system based on information from multiple vision sensors, allowing consistent motion corrections across robots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If multiple robots share one camera and deliver it sequentially for measurement, then the system can perform positional correction, but the cycle time becomes long and requires programming for delivery operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent assigns one camera to each robot instead of sharing a single camera. This segmentation allows each robot to perform measurements independently and simultaneously, eliminating the sequential delivery process and reducing cycle time while maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
Each robot performs its own measurement using its dedicated camera without requiring delivery operations by other robots. This self-service approach eliminates the need for programming delivery sequences and reduces cycle time while achieving positional correction.
2Measurement precision
If three points are extracted from images at each robot for measurement, then three-dimensional relative positions can be measured, but it is difficult to make positional corrections consistent among multiple robots
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central management device that collects measurement results from all robots and manages coordinate systems uniformly. This merging of coordinate management ensures consistent positional corrections across multiple robots while maintaining three-dimensional measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The management device acts as an intermediary that standardizes coordinate systems between robots. It receives measurement data from each robot's camera, processes the coordinate information, and ensures consistent positional correction across all robots, resolving the consistency issue.
3Device complexity
If one camera is shared among multiple robots, then the system can be simplified, but the cycle time for correction increases and requires manual programming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent assigns dedicated cameras to each robot, increasing the number of cameras but eliminating the need for complex delivery programming. This segmentation simplifies operation by allowing each robot to measure independently without manual intervention for camera delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of robots are installed so that they can simultaneously work on a common workpiece. Robot controllers are installed corresponding to the robots respectively. Each of vision sensors can acquire visual information about a measurement target that the workpiece has. The plurality of the robot controllers and the plurality of the vision sensors can all communicate with the visual processing computer commonly used. The visual processing computer computes a workpiece coordinate system based on a result of measurement of the measurement target that appears in the visual information acquired by the plurality of the vision sensors. Each of the robot controllers corrects a motion of the robot corresponding to the robot controller based on a result of a request to the visual processing computer.