Nordson Corporation

Rolf T Spongh

Jeffrey S Noss

Michael B Olex

A controller for a manipulator or robot having a plurality of power-driven, signal-controlled links interconnected to permit relative motion therebetween to define plural degrees of freedom. The links of the manipulator are controlled to perform movements corresponding to stored sequences of command positions. The controller stores, for each link, a sequence of command positions and is operable to add a further command position or a further sequence of command positions to the original sequence of command positions. In a non-synchronous mode of operation (where the movements of the robot are not sychronized with movement of the workpiece) or in a synchronous mode, a further command position is added to the end of the original sequence by producing a number of additional command positions and storing the additional command positions after the original sequence. The last of the additional command positions is substantially equal to the further command position. The position change per command of the additional commands is maintained generally constant. In like manner, in the nonsynchronous mode, the initial position of a further sequence of command positions can be added to the end of an original sequence. In a synchronous mode of operation a first and a second sequence of command positions can be connected. To do this, a portion of each original command sequence is replaced by a substitute sequence of command positions, preserving the correlation between the command position processing rate and the conveyor rate.

Transitional command position modification for a controller

A control system for a work robot having a number of articulated links including a controller for driving the links under closed loop servo control in response to a sequence of recorded link position commands read from a robot program memory. The sequence of link position commands is produced in a training session by an operator manually manipulating a robot simulator, or training arm, through a series of work-performing motions which are to be duplicated by the work robot. The sequence of link position commands produced by manual manipulation of the training arm during the training session is stored in the robot program memory. When the work robot is subsequently driven under closed loop servo control in response to the program stored in the robot memory, the controller also executes auxiliary functions, such as movement of a work piece operated upon by the work robot, in response to auxiliary function commands which are also stored in the robot program memory. In order to properly store the auxiliary function commands in the robot program memory, the auxiliary function commands are loaded in an auxiliary function memory prior to a training session so that they can be read out in a desired sequence.

Auxiliary function command presequencing for a robot controller

A method and apparatus for real time editing, or modifying, of a stored program of prerecorded ON and OFF commands for a bistable workpiece-treating device mounted for movement by a robot. The editing occurs while both the ON/OFF program and a program of prerecorded robot motion commands which drive the robot are being processed by the robot controller, with the ON/OFF commands, as edited, being output to the bistable device for execution along with the robot commands, as well as stored in the memory as substitute commands for subsequent re-execution.

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Waterloo, Belgium

Rolf T Spongh