Robot Remote Diagnostics via Local Data Compression
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robot monitoring systems face challenges in optimizing communication traffic between individual robots and remote service centers, leading to high communication costs and security concerns, while lacking efficient diagnostic capabilities for remote diagnostics.
Innovation Solution
A remote diagnostic system with a service unit connected to each robot controller for local diagnostic calculations and data compression, communicating over low-bandwidth lines, and utilizing a remote connector server for full computational diagnostics, ensuring adaptiveness, flexibility, and security through reprogrammable service units and secure communication protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If diagnostics computations are performed locally at the controller or at a device with high bandwidth connection, then diagnostic speed and precision are improved, but communication costs increase and security risks are heightened
Solution Approach 1:
The diagnostic system is segmented into two parts: a service unit at the robot controller that performs local data collection and preprocessing, and a remote diagnostics server that performs comprehensive analysis. This segmentation allows local execution of lightweight diagnostic functions while reserving complex computations for the remote server, reducing communication bandwidth requirements while maintaining diagnostic precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The service unit acts as an intermediary between the robot controller and the remote diagnostics server. It collects diagnostic data locally, performs preliminary processing and compression, then transmits only essential processed data over the communication link. This intermediary function reduces the communication burden while ensuring diagnostic accuracy through localized preprocessing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a remote service center monitors a high number of robots spread at different geographic locations, then service coverage is improved, but communication traffic optimization becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The service unit is designed with universal functionality to operate across multiple robot models and geographic locations. It implements standardized data collection, processing, and transmission protocols that work consistently across the entire robot fleet, simplifying communication traffic management despite the diverse deployment scenario.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts communication parameters such as data sampling rates, compression levels, and transmission frequencies based on robot operational states, network conditions, and diagnostic priorities. This parameter optimization reduces overall communication traffic while maintaining effective monitoring coverage across multiple locations.
3Loss of energy
If data is transmitted over low-bandwidth lines to reduce communication costs, then communication expenses are reduced, but data transmission speed and completeness are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The service unit performs preliminary data processing, filtering, and compression before transmission. By preparing and condensing diagnostic data locally in advance, the system minimizes the volume of data requiring transmission over low-bandwidth links, thereby reducing communication costs while maintaining transmission speed and data completeness.
4Measurement precision
If diagnostic computations are performed remotely at full computational power, then diagnostic capability is improved, but communication bandwidth requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and separates critical diagnostic data from the complete raw data set at the service unit. Only the most relevant and compressed diagnostic information is transmitted to the remote server, allowing full computational power to be utilized for analysis while minimizing the quantity of data transmitted over the communication channel.
Data Source
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AI summary
A remote diagnostic system for robots including a number of at least two robots (1), wherein a controller (1 a) of each robot (1) of the system is locally connected to a service unit (11) provided with local processing power, a remote service center (3) provided with a connector server (4) is arranged, and a communications infrastructure for transferring packets of information between a controller (1 a) of a robot (1) of the system and connector server (4) via said service unit (11) is arranged for performing remote monitoring and diagnostics at said remote service center (3), wherein said communications infrastructure uses internet and/or GPRS communication lines.