Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated

Jatin P Bhatt

William C Schwarz

Bhanu K Gouda

Bohumir Sladek

Robert B Hirschinger

Yuhong Huang

Fabio Malaspina

Jacob Strickler Baker

Jeffery William Brooks

Michael Piatka

Stephen L Steh

Slobodan Milosevic

David R Mowry

Jesse R Dunham

Juergen K Weinhofer

Robert H Schmidt

David Allen Johnston

Arun K Guru

Michael J Viste

Keith D Carter

Shipei Tian

Jeffrey W Brooks

Michael D Lennard

Chloe David

Alexander G Brynildsen

Rahul Sharma

Jesse Dunham

Motion is coordinated between a robot and a mover in an independent cart system. Positions for a mover along a track for the independent cart system and for each axis of motion of the robot mounted on the mover are received at the motion controller. The axis position corresponds to either an angular position of the motor or a mechanical position of a corresponding axis on which the motor is mounted. The motion controller receives a robot motion command corresponding to a desired operation of the robot and generates a mover motion command for the mover and an axis motion command for each axis of the robot. The mover motion command and the axis motion commands are generated as a function of the robot motion command, the position of the mover along the track, and the position of the motor or of the axis for each axis of the robot.

Coordinated motion of a robot and vehicle in an independent cart system

Motion is coordinated between a robot and a mover in an independent cart system. A first mover for the independent cart system is located at an initial position, where the robot is mounted on the first mover. A motion trajectory command, defining motion of the robot and the first mover, is received at a motion controller. A mover command is generated for the first mover and a robot motion command is generated for the robot as a function of the motion trajectory command at the motion controller. The mover command is transmitted to a segment controller in a track segment on which the first mover is located, and the robot motion command is transmitted to a robot control system. Operation of the first mover is controlled with the segment controller in tandem with controlling operation of the robot with the robot control system responsive to the robot motion command.

Method of coordinating motion of a robot and vehicle in an independent cart system

Embodiments of this present disclosure may include industrial components in an industrial environment and a control system. The control system may receive a request to perform a control operation using the industrial components and may access a reference array associated with the industrial components. The reference array may include rows and columns, where each row may correspond to a respective industrial component of the industrial components. The control system may identify or program set points in the reference array associated with completing the control operation and may detect current motion components of the plurality of industrial components. The control system may generate control commands for the industrial components based on the current motion components, the set points, and/or the reference array. The industrial components may perform the control operation in response to receiving the control commands.

Automation control based on a reference array

An industrial controller that integrates with an external controller for improved control of an industrial machine or process and for coordinating internal motion control functions of the industrial controller with the control routines native to the external controller is disclosed. The industrial controller includes one or more internal motion control instructions, such as a jog, cam, follower, or gearing function. The industrial controller further includes an internal motion planner to generate commands for motor drives connected to the industrial controller to execute the internal motion control instructions or user provided motion control instructions in a control program. External vendors have also developed motion planners to generate motion commands, for example, for the axes on robotic equipment. The present invention includes an interface between motion commands and motor drives controlled by the industrial controller and the external motion planners to seamlessly integrate the external motion planner with the industrial controller.

Method and apparatus for integrating an external motion planner with an industrial controller

An improved system and method for coordinating motion between an external device and independent movers traveling along a linear drive system includes a motion controller generating motion commands for both the external device and for each of the independent movers. Coordinate systems are defined in the motion controller that correspond to a track along which each of the independent movers travels and to the external device. An offset between the coordinate systems is also defined. The motion controller receives a command for coordinated motion and generates motion commands for the independent mover and the external device in one coordinate system to achieve the commanded coordinated motion. The motion command that corresponds to the coordinate system in which the motion commands are generated are transmitted directly, and the motion command associated with the second coordinate system is first transformed to the second coordinate system using the offset.

Method and apparatus for coordinating external device motion with motion of independent movers in a linear drive system

A runtime coordination subsystem allows programmers of multi-mover, linear motion systems to provide simple commands to the movers without concern for the presence of other movers on the track. The runtime coordination subsystem manages proper separation distances to prevent collisions and automatically queue movers in contention situations. In addition the runtime coordination subsystem permits a specialized multi-mover command controlling movers in unison with constant separation.

Multi-mover linear motor controller providing shared coordination subsystem

The present exemplary embodiment relates to motion control and planning algorithms to facilitate execution of a series of moves within a motion trajectory. In one example, a trajectory is specified as a sequence of one or more path segments. A velocity profile is calculated for each of the one or more path segments, wherein each velocity profile is divided into a blend-in region, a blend-out region and a remainder region. Each path segment is executed such that the blend-in region of its velocity profile overlaps only with the blend-out region of the previous profile.

Blending algorithm for trajectory planning

The invention provides systems and methods that integrate and/or control motion of a plurality of axes in a motion control environment. Grouped axes can be linked (e.g., via a tag) to provide desired multi-axis coordinated motion as well as provide control for corresponding aspects of motion such as acceleration, velocity, etc. Such axes can be integrated with other control functionality such as process and/or machine control to provide the user with a comprehensive control. The foregoing can provide simple mechanisms for moving devices in multiple axes of a coordinate system in a coordinated fashion. Such coordinated move functionality can provide a user-friendly interface for linear and circular moves in multi-dimensional space. The algorithm employed for path planning can provide fast execution and dynamic parameter changes (e.g., maximum velocity, acceleration and deceleration) along a desired path of motion. In this manner, such instructions can provide smooth transitions from one coordinated move to the next.

Systems and methods for coordination motion instructions

The subject invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate motion between different coordinate systems in an industrial control environment. The systems and methods accept data in one coordinate system and transform the data to a different coordinate system. Suitable transformations include instructions that transform between Cartesian, pre-defined non-Cartesian, and user-defined non-Cartesian coordinate systems, including transformations between a non-Cartesian coordinate system to another non-Cartesian coordinate system. Such transformations can be programmed in essentially any industrial control language and can be seamlessly integrated with the control environment. The systems and methods can be utilized to generate a motion instruction that includes, among other information, source and target coordinate systems and the transformation between them. The subject invention provides for connecting various systems together through respective motion instructions, wherein a motion of a source system is mapped to a coordinate system of a target system and the target system is moved accordingly.

Systems and methods that facilitate motion control through coordinate system transformations

A motion control system comprises control logic and a programming interface. The programming interface is configured to permit a user to specify a plurality of non-tangential path segments, and the control logic is configured to generate a plurality of additional connecting path segments substantially extending between and connecting the non-tangential path segments. The motion control system is configured to generate control signals to control operation of a plurality of motors to drive movement of a controlled element along a path defined by the non-tangential path segments and the additional connecting path segments.

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Richmond Heights, OH, United States of America

Jatin P Bhatt