Murata Machinery, Ltd.

Wataru Kitamura

Tetsuya Kuwahara

Eijiro Aoki

Toshikazu Nakagawa

Yasuhisa Ito

Haruki Ogo

Munekuni Oshima

Masahiro Ikeda

Yoshinori Nakai

Kentaro Kataoka

A traveling vehicle system includes: a plurality of traveling vehicles; and a controller that is capable of communicating with the plurality of traveling vehicles and that controls the plurality of traveling vehicles, a traveling region of the traveling vehicles having designated therein a plurality of blocking sections each of which undergoes, when occupied by one of the plurality of traveling vehicles, exclusive control to prohibit another traveling vehicle from moving thereinto. The controller determines, where in a series of operations to be executed by the traveling vehicle, the operation of the traveling vehicle from the start of traveling to stopping before executing a predetermined operation included in the series of operations is demarcated, whether or not to grant the traveling vehicle an occupation permission for the blocking sections to be occupied for the traveling vehicle to execute operations.

Traveling vehicle system and traveling vehicle control method

A communication method of a transport system including of transport carriages each transporting a transported object, and communication devices connected one-to-one with loading ports onto which the transported objects are loaded. The communication devices are communicably connected to each other in advance. The communication method includes transmitting, from a specific transport carriage to the communication devices, a first signal having a specific communication as a final transmission destination, and receiving, in the specific communication device, the first signal from the specific transport carriage through a communication channel that passes through another communication device. The first signal is a signal communicated for the specific transport carriage to transfer the transported object to and from a specific loading port connected one-to-one with the specific communication device.

Communication method, transport system, and communication device

A transport system includes a plurality of transport vehicles and a controller. The transport vehicle includes a travel unit and transfer unit. The controller performs a blocking control to prohibit transport vehicles other than the transport vehicle from entering a blocking zone corresponding to the area occupied by the transport vehicle when transferring an article in a plan view. To transfer an article from/to a placement table, the transport vehicle travels along the route to the placement table in a first direction. An area of the blocking zone when the transport vehicle accesses to the placement table in the first direction is equal to or less than an area of the blocking zone identified when the transport vehicle accesses to the placement table in the second direction different from the first direction.

Transport system and grid system

A transport vehicle includes: a traveler; a transferer that is mounted on the traveler and receives or delivers an article from or to a transfer destination; and an antenna that is provided so that at least the position or the posture thereof can be changed to follow the action of the transferer, and that performs wireless communication with another device.

Transport vehicle

A traveling vehicle system includes a plurality of traveling vehicles, a controller that controls the plurality of transport vehicles, a traveling region of the traveling vehicles having a plurality of blocking sections each of which undergoes exclusive control to prohibit another traveling vehicle from moving thereinto. The traveling vehicle makes a request to the controller for occupation permissions regarding a plurality of blocking sections to be occupied by the traveling vehicle and are designated by instructions. The controller then determines, among the plurality of blocking sections for which the traveling vehicle makes a request for occupation permissions, one or more of the blocking sections that are able to allow permissions consecutively from an end thereof to be primarily occupied, based on the traveling direction of the traveling vehicle, and the controller grants the traveling vehicle the permissions for one or more blocking sections determined to allow the permissions.

The object is to provide a vehicle system capable of suppressing a decrease in article transport efficiency while ensuring a route of an operator. The vehicle system includes a grid-patterned rail, a vehicle traveling on the rail, a controller that controls the vehicle, a work terminal that transmits identification information indicating an actual location to the controller, and a scaffold for allowing an operator carrying the work terminal to walk below the rail, the scaffold being provided below the rail. If entry permission to one or more cells formed by the rail is obtained from the controller, the vehicle enters the one or more cells. If entry permission to the one or more cells is not obtained from the controller, the vehicle does not enter the one or more cells. The controller performs blocking so as not to grant the vehicle the entry permission at least to a cell corresponding to the actual location indicated by the identification information transmitted from the work terminal, among a plurality of cells corresponding to a route of the operator from the entrance to the scaffold to the destination.

Vehicle system

A travel system includes a travelling carriage that travels on a predetermined track, access points including first APs that wirelessly communicate with the travelling carriage and second APs that wirelessly communicate with the travelling carriage in a communication slot different from a communication slot of the first APs, and a controller that, via any one of the access points, receives from the travelling carriage position information indicating the current position of the travelling carriage, and transmits to the traveling carriage a travel instruction to control travel of the travelling carriage. The travelling carriage includes a wireless interface that wirelessly communicates with one of the first APs, and wirelessly communicates with one of the second APs when wireless communication with the one of the first APs is not possible.

Travel system and control method of travel system

A controller determines, when a traveling vehicle to proceed in a first direction from a predetermined cell toward a destination is present, whether or not to grant the traveling vehicle occupation permission for a cell adjacent to the predetermined cell in the first direction. The traveling vehicle proceeds in the first direction if occupation permission for the adjacent cell has been granted from the controller, whereas the traveling vehicle stops at the predetermined cell if occupation permission has not been granted. The controller assigns to the traveling vehicle a traveling instruction in which a cell situated at a plurality of cells ahead of the predetermined cell in the second direction is designated as a waypoint to the destination if the traveling vehicle has not obtained occupation permission for the adjacent cell and has continuously been in a stop state at the predetermined cell for a predetermined period of time.

A transport control device includes a state predictor that is machine-learned to output, for each candidate of a setting value of a parameter to control the operation of a transport system, state prediction information indicating a predicted state of the transport system associated with a second period after a first period, and a determinator that determines state prediction information associated with a prediction target period for each candidate of the setting value of the parameter, and determines the setting value of the parameter to be applied to the transport system in the prediction target period based on an evaluation result of the state prediction information for each candidate of the setting value of the parameter.

Transport control device

A communication system includes a transmission-side processing device, and a reception-side processing device, the transmission-side processing device and the reception-side processing device communicate using a plurality of communication lines, wherein the transmission-side processing device concurrently transmits the same telegraphic messages via each of the plurality of communication lines, and the reception-side processing device is capable of concurrently receiving telegraphic messages via each of the plurality of communication lines, and when a same telegraphic message as a previously received telegraphic message is received later, invalidates the same telegraphic message received later while processing the previously received telegraphic message.

Communication system and communication method

A method for controlling a conveyance system includes transmitting, by a specific conveyance vehicle specific transfer location information to a management device, extracting from correspondence information by the management device, specific communication-device address information corresponding to the specific transfer location information received from the specific conveyance vehicle, and transmitting to the specific conveyance vehicle by the management device the specific communication-device address information extracted, and executing by the specific conveyance vehicle using the specific communication-device address information received from the management device communication with a first communication device connected to a first semiconductor manufacturing device to transfer a FOUP between the first semiconductor manufacturing device and the specific conveyance vehicle.

Method for controlling conveyance system, conveyance system, and management device

An unmanned traveling vehicle includes a block information acquirer that acquires position information on blocks each of which is a range of positions in an area within which the unmanned traveling vehicle is allowed to travel and channel information indicating a wireless channel available inside each of the blocks, a position acquirer that acquires a current position of the unmanned traveling vehicle, a determiner that identifies a block including the current position acquired by the position acquirer from among the blocks with reference to the position information, and determines, with reference to the channel information, a wireless channel to be used for wireless communication inside the block identified, and a communicator that performs the wireless communication by the wireless channel determined by the determiner and indicated by the channel information.

Unmanned traveling vehicle, travel system, and method for controlling unmanned traveling vehicle

A control system includes a to-be-controlled apparatus disposed in a clean room, a control device disposed outside the clean room and controlling the to-be-controlled apparatus through Ethernet communication, and a conversion device disposed in the clean room and mutually converting communication data on Ethernet communication with the control device and communication data on serial communication with the to-be-controlled apparatus.

Control system, control device, conversion device, method for controlling control system, method for controlling control device, and method for controlling conversion device

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Inuyama, Japan

Wataru Kitamura