Amada America, Inc.

Amada Company, Limited

Other

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

David Alan Bourne

Kensuke Hazama

Richard M Moore, Jr

Anne Marie Murray

Sivaraj Sivarama Krishnan

Melvin W Siegel

Duane Thomas Williams

Kyoung Hung Kim

Satyandra Kumar Gupta

Kerry L Elkins

Robert H Sturges, Jr

Robert H Sturgas, Jr

A setup planning technique is provided in which a family of parts to be manufactured is identified, and the setup constraints imposed by the various bending operations in the part family are determined. The setup constraints may define or describe spatial constraints on the sizes and locations of various tooling stages in the setup. After identifying setup constraints, setup plans are generated that satisfy all setup constraints. Any setup plan that satisfies all setup constraints may then be utilized to accommodate every part in the part family. Constraint propagation techniques may be utilized to identify compatible setup constraints and create setup plans. According to the various features and aspects of the invention, dissimilar sheet metal parts can share setups, and the need for extra tooling and fixturing may be minimized. Further, the present invention provides potential savings over state-of-the-art systems, and increases production capability and overall through-put of manufacturing facilities.

Apparatus and method for multi-part setup planning for sheet metal bending operations

An intelligent sheet metal bending system is disclosed, having a cooperative generative planning system. A planning module interacts with several expert modules to develop a bending plan. The planning module utilizes a state-space search algorithm. Computerized methods are provided for selecting a robot gripper and a repo gripper, and for determining the optimal placement of such grippers as they are holding a workpiece being formed by the bending apparatus. Computerized methods are provided for selecting tooling to be used by the bending apparatus, and for determining a tooling stage layout. An operations planning method is provided which allows the bending apparatus to be set up concurrently while time-consuming calculations, such as motion planning, are performed. An additional method or system is provided for positioning tooling stages by using a backstage guide member which guides placement of a tooling stage along the die rail of the bending apparatus. A method is provided for learning motion control offset values, and for eliminating the need for superfluous sensor-based control operations once the motion control offset values are known. The planning system may be used for facilitating functions such as design and assembly system, which may perform designing, costing, scheduling, and/or manufacture and assembly.

Intelligent system for generating and executing a sheet metal bending plan

A computerized method/system is provided for planning motion of a robot within a free space confined by obstacles, from an initial position to a goal position. In executing the method/system, a plan is generated so that the robot can hold and maneuver a workpiece throughout a sequence of bending operations to be performed by a bending apparatus. A plurality of proposed movements to be made by the robot are proposed for an mth movement within a sequence of movements, and at least a portion of the robot and the obstacles that confine the free space are modeled. A determination is made as to whether a collision will occur between the robot and an obstacle for each proposed movement, and a plan is generated including the sequence of movements by choosing for each movement in the sequence of movements, a proposed movement that will not result in a collision and that will bring the robot closer to the goal position. In choosing proposed movements, an estimated cost associated with each proposed movement may be taken into account. The estimated cost may be based upon a euclidian distance to the goal position from the position of the robot after the particular proposed movement is made as the mth movement, and/or the estimated cost may be determined as a function of the robot travel time from an (m&minus;1) th movement to the mth movement. Different methods are provided for performing fine motion planning and gross motion planning.

Method for planning/controlling robot motion

Several methods and subsystems are provided for aligning a workpiece as it is being loaded into a die space of a bending apparatus, and for performing sensor-based control of a robot as it moves a workpiece from one location to another within a bending apparatus environment. A backgaging mechanism is provided with finger gaging mechanisms having force sensors for sensing forces in directions perpendicular to and parallel to a die. In addition, a robot gripper sensor is provided for sensing either or both of shear forces and normal forces created by movement of a workpiece being held by the gripper. Several sensor-based control modules are disclosed, including a bend-following control module, a speed control module, a module for actively damping vibrations in a workpiece, a module for controlling active compliance/contact between a workpiece and an obstacle, a module for performing a guarded move to intentionally bring a workpiece into contact with an obstacle, and a module for detecting unintentional impacts between a workpiece and an obstacle. Several droop sensing methods and systems are also provided, including methods for performing droop sensing and compensation with the use of a vision-based droop sensor, a compound break-beam droop sensor, and a single break-beam droop sensor. In addition, an angle sensor is provided, along with a springback control method utilizing the disclosed angle sensor.

Method and apparatuses for backgaging and sensor-based control of bending operations

Apparatus and method for multi-purpose setup planning for sheet metal bending operations

A fingerpad force sensor system is disclosed which is useful for detecting process variations during manufacturing processes in which a plurality of force sensors are applied to the gripper of a robot in order to monitor shear forces applied to the workpiece held by the robot during, for example, sheet-metal bending manufacturing processes. Each sensor is encapsulated in rubber pads which are secured to the gripper of the robot such that they monitor the status of the workpiece during all phases of automated bending: material acquisition, material handling, machine loading and unloading.

Fingerpad force sensing system

Several methods and subsystems are disclosed for aligning a workpiece as it is being loaded into a die space of a bending apparatus, and for performing sensor-based control of a robot as it moves a workpiece from one location to another within a bending apparatus environment. A backgaging mechanism is provided with finger gaging mechanisms having force sensors for sensing forces in directions perpendicular to and parallel to a die. In addition, a robot gripper sensor is provided for sensing either or both of shear forces and normal forces created by movement of a workpiece being held by the gripper. Several sensor-based control modules are disclosed, including a bend-following control module, a speed control module, a module for actively damping vibrations in a workpiece, a module for controlling active compliance/contact between a workpiece and an obstacle, a module for performing a guarded move to intentionally bring a workpiece into contact with an obstacle, and a module for detecting unintentional impacts between a workpiece and an obstacle. Several droop sensing methods and systems are also disclosed, including methods for performing droop sensing and compensation with the use of a vision-based droop sensor, a compound break-beam droop sensor, and a single break-beam droop sensor. In addition, an angle sensor is disclosed, along with a springback control method utilizing the disclosed angle sensor.

Methods and apparatus for backgaging and sensor-based control of bending

An intelligent sheet metal bending system is disclosed, having a cooperative generative planning system. A planning module interacts with several expert modules to develop a bending plan. The planning module utilizes a state-space search algorithm. Computerized methods are provided for selecting a robot gripper and a repo gripper, and for determining the optimal placement of such grippers as they are holding a workpiece being formed by the bending apparatus. Computerized methods are provided for selecting tooling to be used by the bending apparatus, and for determining a tooling stage layout. An operations planning method is provided which allows the bending apparatus to be set up concurrently while time-consuming calculations, such as motion planning, are performed. An additional method or system is provided for positioning tooling stages by using a backgage guide member which guides placement of a tooling stage along the die rail of the bending apparatus. A method is provided for learning motion control offset values, and for eliminating the need for superfluous sensor-based control operations once the motion control offset values are known. The planning system may be used for facilitating functions such as design and assembly system, which may perform designing, costing, scheduling and/or manufacture and assembly.

Intelligent system for generating and executing a sheet metal bending

A computerized method/system is provided for planning motion of a robot within a free space confined by obstacles, from an initial position to a goal position. In executing the method/system, a plan is generated so that the robot can hold and maneuver a workpiece throughout a sequence of bending operations to be performed by a bending apparatus. A plurality of proposed movements to be made by the robot are proposed for an mth movement within a sequence of movements, and at least a portion of the robot and the obstacles that confine the free space are modeled. A determination is made as to whether a collision will occur between the robot and an obstacle for each proposed movement, and a plan is generated including the sequence of movements by choosing for each movement in the sequence of movements, a proposed movement that will not result in a collision and that will bring the robot closer to the goal position. In choosing proposed movements, an estimated cost associated with each proposed movement may be taken into account. The estimated cost may be based upon a euclidian distance to the goal position from the position of the robot after the particular proposed movement is made as the mth movement, and/or the estimated cost may be determined as a function of the robot travel time from an (m-1)th movement to the mth movement. Different methods are provided for performing fine motion planning and gross motion planning.

Methods and apparatuses for backgaging and sensor-based control of

The present invention includes an interpreter in which a parser examines a message using grammar and lexical tables to produce a parse table. The parse table is compared to data needed in a semantics table to fire a rule. The firing of a rule causes a function table to be evaluated. The function table includes function calls which can perform user desired functions. Among the functions is a generate function which will take the contents of a table and turn it into a message and route the message to a destination where the destination can be a table, process or device. Plural interpreters can be created where each interpreter includes a workspace containing the above-mentioned tables. Each interpreter can perform a different task such as recognizing the meaning of a message in one language and performing some action such as sending out a message in a different language or updating a database. The present invention is particularly suitable for managing a machining workcell including machines from different vendors.

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Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America

David Alan Bourne