Industrial Robot Trajectory Control for Contact Risk Visualization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial robots designed for collaborative work with humans face challenges in assessing and mitigating the risk of physical contact, with users often lacking knowledge of potential dangers and efficiency being compromised by simple speed reductions.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that visualize the nominal path and parameters of an industrial robot, allowing users to evaluate and modify trajectories to minimize risk potential through intuitive user inputs, ensuring safe operation without unnecessary efficiency loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the speed of the industrial robot is lowered to improve safety, then the risk of physical contact is reduced, but the productivity and efficiency of the robot decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by visualizing risk parameters specifically at different locations along the robot's trajectory. Instead of uniformly reducing speed across all movements, the system identifies specific segments with high risk potential (such as areas with high kinetic energy or close proximity to human zones) and applies speed reductions only to those specific segments. This allows the robot to maintain high speed and productivity in low-risk areas while ensuring safety in high-risk areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamics by making the robot's speed profile adaptive rather than static. The control system continuously calculates risk parameters along the nominal trajectory and dynamically adjusts the speed profile based on these calculations. The system can modify speeds in real-time based on the visualized risk assessment, allowing the robot to operate at maximum speed when safe and reduce speed only when necessary for safety, thereby maintaining overall productivity while ensuring safety.
2Reliability
If comprehensive risk analysis is performed to improve safety assessment, then the reliability of collision risk evaluation is improved, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex manual risk analysis procedures with automated computational methods. Instead of requiring users to manually calculate kinetic energy, effective mass, and other risk parameters, the system automatically computes these parameters based on the robot's trajectory and operational parameters. The control system integrates the dynamics model and automatically performs comprehensive risk analysis, substituting complex manual calculations with streamlined automated computations that maintain accuracy while reducing user burden.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy or simulation of the physical robot's trajectory and calculates risk parameters in this virtual model. The control system computes kinetic energy, effective mass, and other safety parameters along the nominal trajectory in the virtual space before the robot executes the actual movement. This virtual risk assessment allows comprehensive analysis without adding physical complexity to the actual robot system.
3Measurement precision
If the user manually calculates kinetic energy and effective mass to assess collision risk, then the measurement precision of risk evaluation is improved, but the ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the control system to automatically perform all risk calculations without requiring manual user input. The system takes the robot's operational parameters, trajectory, and physical characteristics as input and automatically computes kinetic energy, effective mass, and other risk parameters along the entire trajectory. The control system then uses these automatically generated parameters to assess collision risk and suggest speed modifications, eliminating the need for users to perform complex manual calculations while maintaining high measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of controlling an industrial robot, the method including visualizing a nominal path of the industrial robot, the nominal path being associated with a nominal trajectory of the industrial robot; visualizing indications of values of at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the nominal trajectory, for evaluating a risk potential of a physical contact between the industrial robot and a human; receiving a user input related to the nominal trajectory; modifying the nominal trajectory based on the user input to provide a modified trajectory; and executing the modified trajectory by the industrial robot. A control system and an industrial robot are also provided.