Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yoichi Sugitomo

Takeshi Asano

Hitoshi Kubota

Kenji Sogawa

Takashi Mitomi

Osamu Matsushima

Takahiro Yokomae

Masahide Yoshihara

Osamu Sonoyama

Toyotoshi Tsujikawa

A waiting time of an automated guided vehicle is substantially eliminated by significantly shortening the communication time of various information, and the transport efficiency of an automated guided vehicle as well as the operating rate of work stations and production lines as a whole are improved, and in addition, the flexibility of an operation control system for the automated guided vehicle is improved. An automated guided vehicle () includes a wireless local area network adapter () for passing information by radio with an operation control unit connected to the local area network or with another automated guided vehicle, a memory part () for storing at least information from the operation control unit or from another automated guided vehicle and information related to the automated guided vehicle itself, and a control part () for controlling the wireless local area network adapter and the memory part.

Automated guided vehicle, operation control system and method for the same, and automotive vehicle

The interference avoiding system is provided with an automatic correcting means for correcting a code string programmed for each robot, so that the communication and the waiting processes to check the interference are automatically inserted. In order to check the interference, a target position is transmitted to a checking device immediately before the robot starts operating, thereby to check the interference area by the checking device. Instead, data of the interference area is fed to a robot controller at the start of operation, and the communication is established only when the robot moves from inside to outside the interference area or vice versa. An operation command for the robots is selectively corrected automatically, that is, an operation command to move the robots in a direction not related to the interference direction is not corrected.

Interference avoiding system of multi robot arms

A robot control apparatus includes a sine wave signal-outputting device, an operating device, a command device for outputting a current value, a substracting device, an electric power amplifying device, and a programmable filter. The outputting device outputs sine wave signals of first and second phases having a phase difference of approximate 90.degree. generated by a position shift of a movable portion of a motor for driving an arm of a robot. The operating device determines the difference between a product of a value corresponding to the first phase signal and a value obtained by first-order differentiating a value corresponding to the second phase signal and a product of a value corresponding to the second phase signal and a value obtained by first-order differentiating the value corresponding to the first phase signal. The subtracting device subtracts the current value from the value outputted from the operating device based on the current value, and outputs a signal corresponding to a result the subtraction. The amplifying device outputs a signal to supply electric power to the motor in response to the signal outputted from the subtracting device. A filter operates as one of a high-pass and a band-pass filters according to the difference outputted from the command device, and is provided between the outputting device and the operating device and operates as a high-pass filter when the arm starts moving and the band-pass filter operates when the arm stops in contact with an object, and outputs a signal to the operating device.

Robot control apparatus

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Nishinomiya, Japan

Yoichi Sugitomo