Boots – shoes – and leggings
Patent
1993-09-24
1996-10-01
Davis, George B.
Boots, shoes, and leggings
395 83, 395 84, 395 93, 364461, B25J 900, G06F 900
Patent
active
055617425
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple-robot control method, wherein a plurality of robots mounted close to each other are controlled so that there is no interference between adjacent robots when the robots are simultaneously operated according to a command.
2. Description of Related Art
If a plurality of robots mounted close to each other execute a task in cooperation with each other, operation efficiency can be improved. However, care must be taken so that there is no interference between these closely mounted robots. For this reason, a conventional control method exists for predicting a region where there is the possibility of interference between robots, and for letting one robot wait so as not to enter the region for the duration when the other robot exists in the region and is operating therein. The conventional control method prevents two robots from being simultaneouly operated in the same region by taking advantage of communication between robots.
However, it is not easy to predict the region where the robots interfere with each other. If the region is broadly set in consideration of a sufficient margin such that these robots have no interference with each other, the time during which one robot exists in the region set becomes long. As a result, a waiting period for the other robot also becomes long; and for this reason, the operating efficiency is lowered. On the other hand, if a minimum region where the robots have no interference with each other is predicted and is preset to enhance the operating efficiency, it is necessary to perform a complicated computation for the prediction. Therefore, accurate prediction is difficult to make. Further, it is considerably difficult to preset the timing of communication between the robots; and for this reason, there is the disadvantage that there is an increase in the number of processes required to effectively operate the plurality of robots so as not to cause interference in the predicted region.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a multiple-robot control method, wherein there is no need to predict a region where a plurality of robots interfere with each other, operation programs are freely taught to each robot, and no interference occurs during the operation of the robots.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a multiple-robot control method, comprising the steps of: defining a spatial region for keeping a region necessary to the operation every unit operation command for each of a plurality of, for example, vertically jointed type robots which are mounted close to each other, and commanded so as to be operated at the same time; determining whether the defined spatial region crosses another spatial region which is defined similarly and kept for another robot; and determining whether it is ensured that no interference between robots occurs.
Further, the present invention provides a multiple robot control method, comprising the steps of: detecting whether a spatial region, which is defined and kept for a first robot, cross a spatial region which is defined and kept relative to another robot; and, controlling so that the first robot is stopped operating according to the detected result, and is kept in a waiting state until the spatial region of the first robot moves depending on an operation of the other robot, and the spatial regions of both robots do not cross each other.
Preferably, the occupied spatial region of each robot is defined by one or two planes which are parallel to each other and move horizontally in a specified direction.
More preferably, the plane for defining the spatial region of each robot is set to a position such that the plane is tangential to a sphere or cylinder obtained by assuming at least one of a sphere covering a wrist and hand of the robot, a sphere covering an elbow joint of the robot, and a cylinder representing a base of the robot, and receives it within the region defined by the plane. Further, the pla
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Zuofeng Li, et al. "Motion Space Analysis of an Object Handled by Two Robot Arms", Proceedings of the 28th IEEE conference on decision and control, pp. 2487-2493, Dec. 15, 1989, Tampa, Florida.
Terada Tomoyuki
Watanabe Atsushi
Davis George B.
Fanuc Ltd.
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