Fanuc Robotics America Corporation

Fanuc America Corporation

Di Xiao

Sai-Kai Cheng

H Dean McGee

Jason Tsai

Randy A Graca

Chi-Keng Tsai

Jianming Tao

Ho Cheung Wong

Peter J Swanson

Min-Ren Jean

Tien L Chang

Matthew Ray Sikowski

A method for controlling a redundant robot arm includes the steps of selecting an application for performing a robotic process on a workpiece with the arm and defining at least one constraint on motion of the arm. Then an instruction set is generated based upon the selected application representing a path for a robot tool attached to the arm by operating the arm in one of a teaching mode and a programmed mode to perform the robotic process on the workpiece and movement of the arm is controlled during the robotic process. A constraint algorithm is generated to maintain a predetermined point on the arm to at least one of be on, be near and avoid a specified constraint in a robot envelope during movement of the arm, and a singularity algorithm is generated to avoid a singularity encountered during the movement of the arm.

Method of controlling a redundant robot

Painting robots processing a part moving on a conveyor are synchronized by creating for each of the robots a master sequence of computer program instructions for a collision-free movement of robots along associated master sequence paths relative to the moving part, each of the master sequence paths including positions of the associated robot and the conveyor at pre-defined synchronization points, and running each of the master sequences on a controller connected to the associated robot to move the associated robot and comparing a current path of the associated robot and the conveyor against the master sequence path. The method further includes operating the controllers to adjust the current paths based on the comparison between the master sequence path and the current path, and operating the controllers to request a conveyor motion hold as necessary to facilitate synchronization between movement of the robots and the conveyor.

Multi-arm robotic painting process synchronization

A system and method for controlling avoiding collisions and deadlocks in a workcell containing multiple robots automatically determines the potential deadlock conditions and identifies a way to avoid these conditions. Deadlock conditions are eliminated by determining the deadlock-free motion statements prior to execution of the motions that have potential deadlock conditions. This determination of deadlock-free motion statements can be done offline, outside normal execution, or it can be done during normal production execution. If there is sufficient CPU processing time available, the determination during normal production execution provides the most flexibility to respond to dynamic conditions such as changes in I/O timing or the timing of external events or sequences. For minimal CPU impact the determination is done offline where many permutations of programming sequences can be analyzed and an optimized sequence of execution may be found.

Method and system for automatically preventing deadlock in multi-robot systems

A method of controlling a robot () includes the steps of selecting an initial configuration from at least one of a first, second, and third sets to position a TCP at a starting point () along a path () and selecting a final configuration different than the initial configuration to position the TCP at an ending point (). Next, the TCP moves from the starting point () while maintaining the initial configuration, approaches the singularity between a first point () and a second point (), and selects one of the axes in response to reaching the first point (). The angle for the selected axis is interpolated from the first point () to the second point (). After the interpolation, the angles about the remaining axes are determined and positions the arms in the final configuration when the TCP reaches the second point () and moves to the ending point () while maintaining the final configuration.

Method of controlling a robot through a singularity

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Rochester Hills, MI, United States of America

Di Xiao