The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 29, 2013
Filed:
Feb. 20, 2008
Emily-dandan Zhang, Shanghai, CN;
Levy-liwei Qi, Shanghai, CN;
Steve Murphy, Hovås, SE;
ABB Research Ltd., Zürich, CH;
Abstract
A method for optimizing placement of a plurality of workstations in a workcell including an industrial robot programmed to execute a sequence of tasks on the workstations. Each task contains robot targets to be visited by the robot when executing the task. A preferred region is defined within the reachable range of the robot. Tasks are placed inside or as close as possible to the preferred region using an evaluation criterion and an optimization algorithm. The tasks are assigned to each workstation a position inside or close to the preferred region. A best order of the workstations and a defined order in which the tasks are to be executed are determined. The positions of the workstations are adjusted utilizing an optimization algorithm configured to run the robot program iteratively in order to optimize the placement of the workstations with regard to the robot performance.