阅读说明：本技术 控制装置、控制方法以及程序 (Control device, control method, and program ) 是由 浅井大史 土井裕介 玉田雄三 于 2018-12-13 设计创作，主要内容包括：在各种装置的组合中实现实时性高的系统控制。控制装置具备：控制指示接受部,接收针对多个被控制装置的成为控制的目标的控制目标指示；以及控制处理生成部,根据所述控制目标指示,生成针对所述多个被控制装置中的每个被控制装置的控制信号,所述控制装置根据所述多个被控制装置的通信延迟时间、相位偏移时间以及动作周期时间中的至少1个,以使所述多个被控制装置协作地达成所述目标的方式控制所述多个被控制装置的动作。(A system control with high real-time performance is realized in combination of various devices. The control device is provided with: a control instruction receiving unit that receives control target instructions to be targets of control for a plurality of controlled devices; and a control process generating unit that generates a control signal for each of the plurality of controlled devices in accordance with the control target instruction, wherein the control device controls the operations of the plurality of controlled devices so that the plurality of controlled devices cooperatively achieve the target in accordance with at least 1 of a communication delay time, a phase shift time, and an operation cycle time of the plurality of controlled devices.)

1. A control device is provided with:

a control instruction receiving unit that receives control target instructions to be targets of control for a plurality of controlled devices; and

a control process generation unit that generates a control signal for each of the plurality of controlled devices in accordance with the control target instruction,

the control device controls the operations of the plurality of controlled devices so that the plurality of controlled devices cooperatively achieve the target, based on at least 1 of the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time of the plurality of controlled devices.

2. The control device according to claim 1,

the control device performs control such that each of the controlled devices cooperates without outputting a synchronization signal.

3. The control device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:

and an exception processing execution unit that performs exception processing when at least 1 of a delay in reception of the control target instruction, a delay in generation of the control signal for the controlled device, a temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, and a spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device occurs.

4. The control device according to claim 3,

the exception processing execution unit switches the execution of the exception processing in accordance with the frequency of the operation causing the exception processing when the exception processing is performed.

5. The control device according to claim 4,

the exception processing execution unit

Compensating the operation of the controlled device to perform control when the number of occurrences of at least 1 of a delay in reception of the control target instruction, a delay in generation of the control signal for the controlled device, a temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, a spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device, and a communication abnormality is equal to or less than a predetermined number of times,

and a control unit configured to perform control to safely stop the operation of the controlled device when a number of occurrences of at least 1 of a delay in reception of the control target instruction, a delay in generation of the control signal for the controlled device, a temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, a spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device, and a communication abnormality exceeds a predetermined number of times.

6. The control device according to any one of claims 3 to 5,

exception handling is performed based on at least 1 of information received from a sensor, a delay of the control signal, and a communication anomaly.

7. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising an operation cycle estimation unit that estimates an operation cycle of the controlled device.

8. The control device according to claim 7,

the operation cycle estimation unit estimates an operation cycle of each of the controlled devices based on a timing at which a signal is transmitted to each of the controlled devices and a timing at which a reply is received from each of the controlled devices.

9. The control device according to claim 7 or 8,

the operation cycle estimation unit also estimates a communication delay and a phase shift for the controlled device.

10. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

and an adapter unit that stores a communication delay time, a phase shift time, and an operation cycle time for each of the controlled devices, and transmits the control signal generated by the control processing generation unit for each of the controlled devices to each of the controlled devices based on the stored information.

11. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,

the control target indication is generated from a previously learned model.

12. The control device according to any one of claims 1 to 11,

the control target instruction is generated by performing learning based on a control state of the controlled device and an operation state of the controlled device in parallel with control of the controlled device.

13. A system is provided with:

the control device of any one of claims 1 to 12; and

a plurality of controlled devices controlled by the control device.

14. A control device for controlling a plurality of controlled devices, comprising:

a control instruction receiving unit configured to receive a control target instruction that is a target of the control, for each of the controlled devices; and

a control processing generation unit that generates a signal for controlling the operation of the controlled device based on the received control target instruction,

and performing control of operating each of the controlled devices in such a manner that each of the controlled devices cooperatively reaches a target of control, based on the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time for each of the controlled devices.

15. A control method includes:

a step of receiving a control target instruction to be a target of control for a plurality of controlled devices;

generating a control signal for each of the plurality of controlled devices in accordance with the control target instruction; and

and controlling the operations of the plurality of controlled devices so that the plurality of controlled devices cooperatively achieve the target, based on at least 1 of the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time of the plurality of controlled devices.

16. A program for causing a computer to function as:

a unit that receives a control target instruction that is a target of control for a plurality of controlled devices;

means for generating a control signal for each of the plurality of controlled devices in accordance with the control target instruction; and

and means for controlling the operations of the plurality of controlled devices so that the plurality of controlled devices cooperatively achieve the target, based on at least 1 of the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time of the plurality of controlled devices.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a control device, a control method, and a program.

Background

In order to realize a critical system such as plant automation, there are communications that require real-time performance (for example, communications for real-time equipment control, safety, maintenance, and the like) and communications that do not require real-time performance (for example, communications for indication of a next target of equipment, maintenance telemetry, and the like). As an example of performing and controlling these communications, there is a case where real-time communications and non-real-time communications coexist by differentiating them and preferentially performing transmission and reception related to the real-time communications. As another example, the following system may be mentioned: in order to perform flexible processing, it is assumed that software combines an arbitrary plurality of control devices and an environment of sensors, and at least 1 cooperative control device for performing control for performing overall cooperative operation is provided.

However, tasks performed by a plurality of control devices, controlled devices, sensors, and combinations thereof have different time cycles, respectively. For example, since a control device and a controlled device need to have a high real-time performance, communication is performed 1 time every 4 milliseconds, while a sensor information acquisition cycle is 1 time every 16.67 milliseconds, and a control device for performing estimation by deep learning may require complicated calculation, and only 1 process and instruction may be performed every 200 milliseconds. In such a case, it is not a matter of course that a method of combining respectively different control cycles and smoothly executing the same is not necessary. In addition, even if the plurality of controlled devices have the same cycle, they do not necessarily operate at the same timing, and it is difficult to smoothly coordinate their operations.

Also, in a cycle-synchronized environment, scheduling of real-time communication and non-real-time communication can be performed. However, in a real device, there are restrictions that the operation cycles are not unified, or that the operation cycles are not synchronized even if they are the same. In addition, in the conventional system, communication delay is not taken into consideration, and real-time performance cannot be realized when there is delay and jitter (delay variation) of the communication apparatus.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, the present invention provides a control system in which a plurality of devices are combined, which has high real-time performance.

A control device according to one embodiment includes: a control instruction receiving unit that receives control target instructions to be targets of control for a plurality of controlled devices; and a control process generating unit that generates a control signal for each of the plurality of controlled devices in accordance with the control target instruction, wherein the control device controls the operation of the plurality of controlled devices so that the plurality of controlled devices cooperatively achieve the target in accordance with at least 1 of the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time of the plurality of controlled devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control device according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the control device according to the embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a system including a control device according to an embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart related to another example of fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing pseudo codes defining an operation of the control device according to the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating pseudo code according to another example of fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of implementation according to an embodiment.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an implementation according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment does not limit the present invention. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the constituent elements having the same functions, and detailed description of the same constituent elements will not be repeated. In the following description, the time required for 1 cycle of the processing, the delay time, the phase shift time, and the like are values shown as an example for explanation, and are not actual values. Therefore, other numerical values can be handled in the same manner as in the present embodiment.

The coordinated control device according to the present invention defines the worst-case operation, and usually maintains the property of quasi real-time (real-time) scheduling to catch up with the deadline, and constructs a flexible application, and for this purpose, a Domain description language (DS L: Domain-Specific L angle) for stream processing that constructs application logic is used.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system controlled by a cooperative control apparatus according to the present embodiment. The system 1 includes a control target instruction device 10, a control device 20, a controlled device 30A, a controlled device 30B, and a sensor 40. In addition, although 2 controlled devices are provided as an example, a plurality of controlled devices may be provided in an amount larger than 2. The sensor 40 may be a controlled device controlled by the control device 20.

These devices are connected to each other through a communication path using the internet, ethernet (registered trademark), or the like. The connection method is not limited to wire connection, and may be wireless connection. The specification and the mode are not particularly limited, and may be a connection method for appropriately communicating signals. A delay in communication may exist from the control device 20 to each device.

The control target instruction device 10 is a device that instructs the control device 20 what control is to be performed. The target instruction is, for example, what operation each controlled device 30 performs based on a machine-learned model formed in the control target instruction device 10, or what target to operate the subsequent controlled device 30 by incorporating feedback information from the controlled device 30 or a state acquired from the sensor 40 into the model. In the machine learning, a process that takes longer time than other processes such as deep learning may be used.

As an example of a more specific instruction of the target, a series of operations of each arm necessary for cooperative control is performed such that 1 object is held by a plurality of arms and lifted, and then a jig or the like is provided below the lifted object by an arm other than the plurality of arms in an instruction of the industrial robot.

The processing performed in the control target instruction device 10 is, for example, processing that takes a relatively long time to perform machine learning as described above or to acquire the next instruction target from the machine-learned model, and therefore is executed in a 100-millisecond loop. The communication delay with the control device 20 is, for example, 5 milliseconds.

In fig. 1, only 1 control target instruction device 10 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of control target instruction devices 10 may be provided. In this case, the above-described cycle, delay, and the like exist for each control target instruction device 10.

The control device 20 is a device that transmits a control signal for each device to each controlled device 30 in accordance with the instruction of the control target acquired from the control target instructing device 10. And receives information from each controlled device 30 and the sensor 40, and generates a control signal according to the received state. At this time, the state acquired from each controlled device 30 and the sensor 40 may be transmitted to the control target instruction device 10, and the control target instruction may be acquired subsequently.

The controlled device 30 operates in accordance with the control signal received from the control device 20. In the above example, the controlled device 30 grips an object or sets a jig under the gripped object in accordance with the control signal generated by the control device 20 in accordance with each arm.

The plurality of controlled devices 30 operate in respective operation cycles. In addition, there may be a delay in communication from the control device 20 to each controlled device 30. Moreover, all of the controlled devices 30 do not operate in synchronization, but the operation cycles differ as described above, and there is a phase shift when each controlled device 30 operates. The phase offset is, for example, an offset indicating an offset of time, which may be different from each other until the start of the operation even when the control devices 30 simultaneously receive control commands from the control device 20.

The controlled device 30 operates in its own operation cycle in accordance with a control command from the control device 20. The controlled device 30 may feed back a signal indicating that the operation is performed to the control device 20. In another example, when an operation wait or a control command (idle state) can be received, the state may be transmitted to the control device 20.

The sensor 40 is, for example, a camera that captures the state of the controlled device 30. Alternatively, the vibration sensor may measure vibration, the sound sensor may measure sound, the temperature or humidity sensor may measure temperature or humidity, or the pressure sensor may measure pressure. Any sensor may be used as long as it senses the required state of the controlled device 30. The sensor 40 itself may be the controlled device 30 controlled by the control device 20.

In the case where the sensor 40 is a camera, the state of the controlled device 30 is photographed at a predetermined cycle (for example, 10 msec loop) and transmitted to the control device 20. The control device 20 generates a subsequent control signal to be transmitted to the controlled device 30 based on the feedback signal from the controlled device 30, the image captured by the sensor 40, and the control target value received from the control target instructing device 10.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 20. The control device 20 includes an operation cycle estimation unit 200, a control instruction reception unit 202, a control process generation unit 204, an exception processing execution unit 206, a program storage unit 208, and an adapter unit 210.

The operation cycle estimation unit 200 estimates the operation cycle of each of the controlled device 30, the sensor 40, and the control target pointing device 10. For example, the operation cycle of each device is estimated based on the timing at which a reply is made to a command from the control device 20. The control cycle of the controlled device 30 and the like may be given in advance. In this case, for example, after an instruction to reply is issued, the offset (offset) of the timing can be estimated from the timing at which the reply to the instruction is received from the controlled device 30 or the like.

In addition, since the timing at which each controlled device 30 can return the signal is fixed in the periodic operation in which the loop processing operation is performed, it is possible to estimate the offset from the time when the control device 20 transmits the signal to the time when the controlled device 30 starts operating. That is, by reading the timing of the reply fixed for each device, the offset of the timing between the control device 20 and the controlled device 30, and between the plurality of controlled devices 30, is estimated. In this case, the operation cycle of each controlled device 30 may be given by a table value or the like, or may be estimated by the operation cycle estimation unit 200 as described above.

Even in the case where the offset cannot be read from the reply timing of one time, the offset can be judged by issuing the command as described above at a plurality of different timings and taking into account the timing at which the reply is received. Here, the offset is a value indicating a deviation of the operation cycle of each controlled device 30 as viewed from the control device 20.

As another example, it is possible to periodically issue a command to reply to the control target instruction device 10 or the controlled device 30 every 1 millisecond, for example, and estimate the timing at which the command is replied or how many commands are replied in a lump. By measuring the return timing in this manner, for example, even when the operation cycle of each controlled device 30 is unknown, the operation cycle itself can be estimated.

When the cycle is estimated in advance, the estimation can be performed by the above-described method, but the estimation may be performed during operation as another example. In this case, it is also possible to estimate the timing of the reply to the command issued from the control device 20. This allows the offset to be estimated while operating. When estimating the offset while operating, it is possible to perform control to absorb the time offset occurring during operation even in a long-term operation by estimating the time offset occurring during operation and storing the time offset in the adapter unit 210.

As described above, by transmitting the signal that controls the reply from the control device 20 to the controlled device 30 at an arbitrary timing, the phase shift of each controlled device 30 can be estimated from the timing at which the reply to the signal exists and the timing at which the control device 20 transmits the signal.

Even if the operation cycle is estimated as described above, an offset may occur in the actual operation. To cope with such a situation, the operation cycle estimation unit 200 may receive a sensor signal from the sensor 40 and estimate the offset and the operation cycle.

The control instruction receiving unit 202 receives the control target value transmitted from the control target instruction device 10 or an instruction of what kind of control is to be performed. In accordance with the instruction received by the control instruction receiving unit 202, control signals are sent to the controlled devices 30 and the sensors 40, and sent to necessary devices.

The control process generator 204 generates a control signal for controlling the controlled device 30 based on the received control target value. The control signal indicates a state of the movement of the controlled device 30, such as an operation and an end position of the controlled device 30. The control signal is transmitted to the adapter unit 210 corresponding to each controlled device 30 together with the delay characteristic.

The exception processing execution unit 206 performs exception processing when an exception occurs with respect to a device connected to the control device 20. For example, when an accident or a failure occurs, such as when the operating state of the controlled device 30 is out of a safe range or when there is a possibility that a plurality of controlled devices 30 collide with each other, exception processing is performed so as to prevent the occurrence of the accident or the like. As a cause of exception handling, other causes related to communication such as timing shift due to communication abnormality or no response to communication may be included. Further, the event may include a situation that may generally become dangerous.

The program storage unit 208 stores a program for controlling the operation of the control device 20. The program storage unit 208 may be configured to include a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory. The storage unit may store not only the operation of the control device 20 but also a program for controlling the controlled device 30 and the like.

The adapter unit 210 is an interface for connecting the controlled device 30 and the like and the control device 20, and 1 adapter unit 210 is provided for each controlled device 30 and the like. As another example, a plurality of controlled devices 30 and the like may be connected to 1 adapter unit 210. In this case, it is also possible to determine which controlled device 30 the communication is to be made to by setting a predetermined communication protocol in advance. The adapter unit 210 transmits the control signal to the controlled device 30 based on the delay characteristics of the control signal describing the operation to be executed by the controlled device 30, which is generated by the control processing generation unit 204.

Next, the operation of the control device 20 will be described. Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the control device 20 according to the present embodiment. The present flowchart shows, for example, the operation of 1 loop in the loop processing, and the operation target of the system 1 is achieved by repeating such an operation.

Before the operation of the flowchart, the operation cycle estimation unit 200 may estimate the control cycle of each of the control target pointing device 10, the controlled device 30, and the sensor 40. The operation cycle estimation unit 200 may estimate a delay in the communication path and/or a phase shift for each controlled device 30 in addition to the cycle. These parameters may be measured in advance. The operation cycle estimation unit 200 may estimate the control cycle of each device again at a predetermined timing. The adapter unit 210 corresponding to each controlled device 30 stores information of the control cycle, the communication delay, and the phase shift.

First, the control instruction receiving unit 202 receives a control target instruction from the control target instruction device 10 (step S10). The control target instruction device 10 generates an instruction to be targeted for an operation performed in the system 1 and transmits the instruction to the control instruction receiving unit 202 of the control device 20. The target instruction is, for example, an instruction indicating what state the controlled device 30 is to transition to in the future in order to set the state in the system 1 to the target state. The instruction is generated, for example, using a learned model, or is generated by actually learning from the state of the controlled device 30 at that timing. For example, the generation of the indication takes 100 milliseconds.

Next, the control instruction receiving unit 202 that has received the control target instruction determines whether or not there is an exception in receiving the control target instruction (step S12). That is, it is determined whether or not the control target instruction can be received at a predetermined timing. The control target instruction being unable to be received at a predetermined timing means, for example, that when the control target instruction device 10 instructs the control device 20 to perform a control target instruction every 100 milliseconds, it is determined whether the control target instruction is able to be received every 100 milliseconds. Further, at this time, there is a possibility that a time shift occurs depending on the communication state and the states of various devices, so a buffer in time may be provided so that reception can be performed during 120 milliseconds from the last reception, instead of being set to 100 milliseconds from the last reception.

When the control target instruction cannot be received at the predetermined timing (step S12: yes), the control device 20 performs exception processing regarding the control target instruction (step S14). The exception processing is executed by the exception processing execution unit 206.

The exception processing may be, for example, linear interpolation for the control target up to the previous time. As another example, control may be performed in the safe direction, that is, extrapolation interpolation may be performed to suppress the activity of the control target up to the previous time, rather than performing control by linear interpolation. Depending on the state of each controlled device 30, there is a possibility that occurrence of a collision or the like may occur due to extrapolation and interpolation. In such a case, it is also possible to further control and generate a control signal in the safe direction so that the controlled device 30 smoothly stops its activity.

When the control target instruction can be received at a predetermined timing (no in step S12), the control processing generation unit 204 generates a control target (step S16). The control target generated by the control target instructing device 10 is generated in consideration of what kind of action the controlled device 30 can reach the control target in the future from the current state.

For example, the control process generating unit 204 calculates how much the current position is advanced in the next control cycle of the controlled device 30 to generate the control target for the control cycle of the controlled device 30 at a position between the current position and the arrival position as the control target. More specifically, when the control target instructing device 10 instructs the position to be the control target, which position is to be the arrival target in the next control cycle of the controlled device 30 is generated as the control target. For example, an arrival target in the next control cycle of the controlled device 30 is generated as the control target so that the controlled device 30 can move to the current control target in the time until the arrival of the next control target instruction.

Next, the control processing generation unit 204 generates a control instruction signal concerning the operation of the controlled device 30 up to the generated control target (step S16). For example, when a position to be a control target in a control cycle of the controlled device 30 is instructed, a signal that linearly moves in accordance with the control cycle of the controlled device 30 is generated. As another example, when there is a position at which the operation starts or ends during a period from the arrival of the control target instruction to the arrival of the next control target instruction, the control signal may be generated not linearly but gradually starting or gradually stopping the operation around the position.

The control signal is generated, for example, according to a program stored in the program storage section 208. When the movement position is designated, it is determined how to move within the 3-dimensional space, and a program related to the movement is extracted from the programs stored in the program storage unit 208. Then, a control signal is generated by setting necessary parameters such as a moving direction and a moving distance.

In this case, if the program stored in the program storage unit 208 is a program described in DS L, the parameters can be set as they are and signals can be generated, and it is also easy to combine a plurality of different types of operations.

The control targets and the control signals in step S16 and step S18 are not limited to those generated based on the positions of the control targets and the positions of the controlled device 30. For example, the control signal may be a control signal relating to electric power and power necessary for controlling a voltage value, a current value, and the like applied to the controlled device 30, a control signal relating to rotation and force such as a rotation angle and a torque of the controlled device 30, or a control signal relating to a temperature of the controlled device 30. In addition, when the controlled device 30 is an arm and includes a plurality of fingers, a control signal or the like for controlling the movement of the fingers in the arm may be generated. In this way, any signal can be handled as long as a control signal relating to the operation of the controlled device 30 is generated. Further, the above-described operations may be combined.

Next, a control signal for each controlled device 30 is transmitted to each controlled device 30 in accordance with the delay time or the like set in the adapter unit 210 (step S20). The generated control signal is transmitted from the control device 20 to the controlled device 30 based on the information of the communication delay and the information of the phase shift for each controlled device 30 stored in the adapter unit 210.

The description will be made using an example shown in fig. 1. Between the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B, there is a phase shift of 3 milliseconds. Therefore, in the adapter section 210 corresponding to the controlled device 30A, the communication delay is set to 0 msec, the control cycle is set to 10 msec, and the phase shift is set to 0 msec, whereas in the adapter section 210 corresponding to the controlled device 30B, the communication delay is set to 0 msec, the control cycle is set to 4 msec, and the phase shift is set to 3 msec.

In the case of such a configuration, in step S20, the control signal of the controlled device 30B is first transmitted to the controlled device 30B, and the control signal of the controlled device 30A is transmitted to the controlled device 30A 3 msec later. In fig. 1, since the communication delay of both the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B is 0 ms, the control related to the communication delay is not particularly performed, but when there is a difference in the communication delay, a signal generated so as to absorb the communication delay is transmitted. Such a signal is transmitted to controlled device 30A every 10 milliseconds, and such a signal is transmitted to controlled device 30B every 4 milliseconds. In this way, the control device 20 transmits a control signal in accordance with the communication delay, the control cycle, and the phase offset, and causes the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B to operate in cooperation.

Further, when the controlled device 30 operates for a long time, an error of about 100ppm may occur. In this case, an error of about 1 millisecond may occur in the operation for 10 seconds. The operation cycle estimation unit 200 and the like may estimate such an error based on a feedback signal from the controlled device 30 or a signal detected by the sensor 40, and may be provided in the adapter unit 210 corresponding to the controlled device 30 in which the error occurs.

As described above, the control device 20 performs the operations from the received control target instruction to the transmission of the control signal to each controlled device 30 in accordance with the operations from step S10 to step S20.

While the operations of the respective steps are being performed, the control device 20 receives a signal from the sensor 40 at any time (step S22). The sensor 40 transmits the detected information to the control device 20, for example, in each control cycle of the sensor 40. When the sensor 40 is a camera, 1 sheet of image data may be transmitted to the control device 20 every 10 milliseconds as an operation cycle, or 1 sheet of image data may be transmitted to the control device 20 every 100 milliseconds, for example, depending on the transfer rate and the processing rate. Alternatively, the images may be captured and transmitted in the span of the state of the controlled device 30 that needs to be grasped. In the case where the sensor 40 is not a camera, the information detected by the sensor 40 may be transmitted at an appropriate timing.

In addition, a case where the sensor signal cannot be received due to a failure of the sensor, a communication abnormality, or the like is also considered. In order to cope with such a case, the processing of step S22 or less may be performed when not only the sensor signal but also the communication from the sensor is not received and a predetermined time has elapsed. The predetermined time is, for example, a time 1.5 times the cycle of the signal transmitted from the sensor. The 1.5 times is an example, and may be set to 2 times or the like, and may be set to a time sufficient to absorb a communication delay, and conversely, may be set to 1.2 times or the like, so that a communication delay can be detected. The predetermined time may be determined independently of the cycle of transmission of the signal from the sensor.

Next, the control device 20 determines whether an accident or the like that is an exception in the controlled device 30 has occurred in the received sensor signal (step S24). If no exception has occurred (step S24: no), the control device 20 continues the existing processing (e.g., any processing from step S10 to step S20).

On the other hand, when an accident or the like occurs in the controlled device 30 as an exception (step S24: YES), an exception process is executed in the controlled device (step S26). This exception handling may occur, for example, without catching up with the generation of the control directive. Therefore, the program for the operation of the controlled device 30, which is transmitted to the controlled device 30 without overtaking the generation of the control instruction, is stored in the program storage unit 208 in advance.

When the next operation of the controlled device 30 cannot be determined without the generation of the control instruction, the program for exception processing stored in the program storage unit 208 is called up and transmitted to the controlled device 30 as the control signal. Further, the control signal may be transmitted without considering communication delay, phase offset, and the like. In this case, the severity parameter may be prepared in advance, and the severity may be increased when the generation of the control signal is not continued. Further, the control signal transmitted as the exception processing may be changed according to the level of severity.

When the control of various devices including the controlled device 30 is shifted in the time direction (jitter is generated) or when the control is shifted in the space direction (control error is generated), the exception processing may be executed in parallel with the detection of the exception in the controlled device 30. In the exception processing for the control offset, first, the sensor signal is received and it is determined whether or not an exception of the control offset has occurred (step S28). If the control deviation has not occurred (no in step S28), the control device 20 continues the existing processing in the same manner as described above.

On the other hand, when the control offset that is an exception occurs in the controlled device 30 or the like (yes in step S28), the exception processing of the control offset is executed (step S30). The exception processing may be caused by, for example, a communication delay occurring for some reason, or a brake not being caught up in the controlled device 30, or an overshoot or the like in the controlled device 30 acting more than the action intended to be controlled. Therefore, in the same manner as described above, the program relating to the operation of the controlled device 30, which is transmitted to the controlled device 30 in such a case, is stored in the program storage unit 208 in advance.

In this case, the program for exception processing stored in the program storage unit 208 is called and transmitted to the controlled device 30 or the like as a control signal. The control signal may be transmitted without considering communication delay, phase offset, and the like. At this time, the exception processing to be executed may be changed according to the severity using the same severity parameter as described above. The severity parameter may be calculated as the same severity in exception handling of the controlled device and exception handling of the control offset, or may be calculated as different severities.

As described above, the control device 20 receives the control target instruction, operates the controlled device 30 in accordance with the control target, and causes the controlled device 30 to execute the exception processing so as to prevent an accident or the like from occurring when there is a possibility.

In addition, as the exception processing, whether the branch is controlled by complementing the operation of the controlled device or safely stopping the controlled device may be determined, for example, according to the number of times of occurrence of the exception. The exceptions are, for example, a delay in receiving a control target instruction, a delay in generating a control signal for the controlled device, a temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, or a spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device, as described above.

For example, when the number of occurrences of an exception is equal to or less than a predetermined number, the control is performed by padding, and when the number of occurrences of an exception exceeds the predetermined number, the safety stop is performed. The number of occurrences of the exception may be the number of occurrences of the exception continuously, the number of occurrences of the exception within a predetermined time, or the number of occurrences of the exception accumulated from the start of the control by the control device 20.

The controlled devices 30 that perform exception processing may be all the controlled devices 30 or may be some of the controlled devices 30. For example, when the operation of a part of the controlled devices 30 has little influence on the other controlled devices 30, the operation of the part of the controlled devices 30 may be performed, and exception processing may be performed for the operation of the other controlled devices 30. In any case, exception processing is performed so that a part or all of the controlled device 30 can safely operate in cooperation.

Note that, in fig. 3, the respective processes are illustrated as serial operations, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the respective processes may be performed as parallel processes. For example, the reception of the control target instruction and the generation of the control target, the generation and transmission of the control instruction signal, and various kinds of exception processing may be operated as separate processes branched out. The determination of the occurrence of an exception may be performed by a daemon process, for example. Since the instruction to each controlled device 30 is an independent instruction, the sub-process corresponding to the operation cycle of the controlled device 30 may be executed in parallel for each controlled device 30.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a flow of processing including the control target indicating device 10, the control device 20, the controlled device 30, and the sensor 40.

First, each apparatus performs a predetermined process as a preprocessing. The control target instructing device 10 performs setting of the control target (step S100). The setting of the control target is performed by, for example, a user inputting a task or the like to be executed by the system 1. Without being limited thereto, the control target indicating device 10 or the like may automatically set the control target. The control target pointing device 10 may be set according to a task or the like input by the user.

The control device 20 stores various programs executed in the control device 20 (step S200). The program may be stored by downloading it from a predetermined file server or the like, or may be stored in advance in the program storage unit 208 in the control device 20. Next, the control device 20 estimates communication delay time, phase shift time, and control cycle for the control target indicating device 10, the controlled device 30, and the sensor 40 in the initial state by the operation cycle estimation unit 200, and sets the delay time, the phase shift time, and the control cycle as delay times related to the respective devices (step S202).

The controlled device 30 performs initialization (step S300). The initialization is an operation of resetting the value of the parameter to return to the initial value or returning the position of the controlled device 30 to the initial state. Further, information such as various parameters in the initialized state may be transmitted to the control device 20, and initial values may be set in advance in the control device 20. The controlled device 30 that has completed the initialization may transmit a signal indicating that the initialization has been completed to the control device 20.

The sensor 40 is also initialized (step S400). As in the controlled device 30, the initialization is an operation of resetting the value of the parameter and returning the parameter to an initial value or a state of sensing (standby state). The sensor 40 may transmit the state of being in the standby state to the control device 20.

After the initialization of the various devices is completed as described above, the system 1 starts an action for the control target.

First, the control target instruction device 10 generates a control target instruction and transmits the generated control target instruction to the control device 20 (step S102). The control target instruction is generated in accordance with the control target set in step S100 and the state of the controlled device 30 at the generated timing. For example, the control target instruction is generated so as to be a subsequent operation to the control target instruction generated in the previous 1 operation cycle. In another example, when the controlled device 30 is normally controlled in accordance with the control target instructions generated in the first 1 operation cycles, the control target instructions are generated as the control target instructions that follow the arrival point in the control target instructions generated in the first 1 operation cycles.

In this case, when the exception processing occurs, a subsequent control target instruction may be generated in which the exception processing operation is performed. In this case, the control target instruction device 10 can receive a control signal indicating what exception processing is to be transmitted from the control device 20 to the controlled device 30.

The control device 20 that has received the control target instruction generates a control target for each of the controlled devices 30 (step S204). As shown in fig. 1, when the operation cycle of the control target instruction device 10 is 100 milliseconds and the operation cycle of the controlled device 30A is 10 milliseconds, the control targets of the controlled devices 30 are generated, for example, every 10 milliseconds when the control target instruction is received 1 time.

For example, when an arrival point 100 milliseconds later is designated as a control target instruction, the arrival point may be equally divided by 10 to generate an arrival point every 10 milliseconds as a control target, or the control target may be generated so that the motion is relaxed before and after the start of the motion and the end of the arrival point. The control targets of the respective controlled devices 30 need not be generated for the entire amount of time expected after receiving the control target instruction until receiving the next control target instruction, but may be sequentially generated according to the states of the controlled devices 30 received from the sensors 40.

Next, control device 20 generates an instruction signal in accordance with the generated control target, and transmits the instruction signal to control device 30. The signal is transmitted to the controlled device 30 in consideration of the communication delay and the phase shift (the shift in time from the reception of the signal to the start of the operation) with respect to the operations of the plurality of controlled devices 30.

The controlled device 30 that has received the instruction signal executes an operation in accordance with the received instruction signal (step S302). Since the delay due to communication and the shift in the operation timing of the other controlled device 30 due to the phase shift are absorbed by the control device 20 as described above, the controlled device 30 may simply perform the operation based on the received instruction signal.

The generation and transmission of the instruction signal by the control device 20 and the execution of the operation of the controlled device 30 are repeated by the loop processing.

In such loop processing, the sensor 40 senses sensor information independently of each controlled device 30 (step S402), and transmits the sensed sensor signal to the control device 20 (step S404). Since the sensor 40 estimates the operation cycle, the communication delay, and the phase shift, it is also possible to estimate the shift of the operation of the controlled device 30 and the like by using these pieces of information as feedback information. By describing the estimated delay information and the like to the corresponding adapter section 210 as needed, the control device 20 can transmit the control signal generated at a more accurate timing to each controlled device 30.

The control device 20 monitors whether or not an exception has occurred based on the reception state indicated by the control target, the feedback signal from the controlled device 30, or the sensing signal from the sensor 40. When an exception occurs (step S208), the control device 20 transmits a control signal for performing exception processing to each controlled device 30.

Each controlled device 30 that has received the control signal performs an operation of exception processing in accordance with the control signal (step S304). In this case, the controlled device 30 may perform an operation based on the received control signal without determining whether or not the received signal is a signal related to exception processing.

As described above, when the control signal relating to the exception processing is generated, the control device 20 determines whether to continue or end the operation after the exception processing. When the operation is continued, the arrival position after the exception processing or the like may be transmitted to the control target instruction device 10, and the setting of the control target instruction may be corrected. In this way, the corresponding control target instruction can be received as a new control target instruction after the exception processing has occurred. In this case, since there is a possibility that a delay in processing occurs before a new control target instruction is generated, the operation until the new control target instruction is received can be supplemented by the control device 20 as appropriate based on the previously received control target instruction.

When the operation is ended by the exception processing, a control signal capable of safely stopping the controlled device 30 is generated to control the controlled device 30. It is possible to perform control so that information such as various parameters at the time point of stop is transmitted from the controlled device 30 at this timing. Further, the control may be performed so that various parameters and the like are initialized after the operation is stopped.

As shown in fig. 4, the control target instruction device 10, the controlled device 30, and the sensor 40 operate independently of each other, and the control device 20 integrates the operations thereof without transmitting and receiving the synchronization signal. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing generation and transmission of an instruction signal and execution of an operation of the controlled device 30 in a case where the operation cycles and the like of the controlled devices 30 are different from each other.

The operation cycle of the controlled device 30A is 10 msec and the phase shift is 0 msec, and the operation cycle of the controlled device 30B is 4 msec and the phase shift is 3 msec. The control device 20 generates a control target in accordance with the above-described procedure (step S204). Next, an instruction signal for each controlled device 30 is generated. Note that, although fig. 5 shows that the generation and transmission of the instruction signal are performed at the same timing, the present invention is not limited to this, and the instruction signal may be generated in advance, and the transmission timing may be shifted in accordance with the description of each adapter section 210 corresponding to each controlled device 30.

The generated instruction signal for the controlled device 30B is first transmitted to the controlled device 30B having a phase offset delayed from that of the controlled device 30A in accordance with the description of the adapter unit 210 corresponding to each controlled device 30 (step S206B).

Next, at the timing shifted by the phase shift amount, the control device 20 transmits an instruction signal to the controlled device 30A (step S206A). By transmitting the instruction signal in consideration of the phase shift in this way, the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B start operating in cooperation with each other (step S302A, step 302B).

Next, the control device 20 repeats generation and transmission of the instruction signal in accordance with the operation cycle of each of the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B (step S206A, step S206B). In this way, the controlled device 30A and the controlled device 30B can perform the cooperative operation of absorbing the phase shift between each other in cooperation with the operation cycle without transmitting and receiving the synchronization signal to and from each other and the control device 20.

The control device 20 appropriately corrects a temporal offset and a spatial offset such as a phase offset based on the feedback signal of each controlled device 30 and the sensor sensing signal of the sensor 40. In this way, the cooperative operation of the controlled devices 30 is continued even in a long-term operation.

In fig. 5, although the communication delay is not considered, the communication delay can be handled in the same manner as the phase shift.

Next, a specific implementation example of exception processing will be described using pseudo code. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing pseudo code regarding processing including exception processing.

In fig. 6, pseudo code representing processing for performing linear interpolation is shown as an example of completion processing, and a module for performing linear interpolation is described in a module L initial operation ().

The control signal is transmitted to each device in accordance with the communication delay described in the adapter section 210. The description of the adapter unit 210 and the transmission timing of the control signal enable each device to perform a highly real-time cooperative operation without transmitting and receiving a synchronization signal to and from the control target instruction device 10, the controlled device 30, and the sensor 40.

Fig. 6 shows, as an example, exception processing in the case where a delay in the control target indicating device 10 is detected, such as a case where an instruction from the control target indicating device 10 is delayed in the control device 20. As the definition of the adapter, exception processing is described in the adapter of the Operator which is a variable of the control target instruction device 10.

As an exception process in the case where the control target instruction is not received, when the operation is continued, the value is set to currentValue + timeOffset (currentValue-previous value)/cycle; linearly extrapolating and interpolating the value after timeOffset from the difference between the current value and the value of the previous 1 cycle, for example, by default a. value + (operator. value) as a target in each cycle of the controlled device 30 and the sensor 40; and carrying out extrapolation interpolation.

As an exception process in the case where the control target instruction is not received, when the safety stop is performed, the value is set to currentValue + timeOut (currentValue-previous value)/cycle; during the time when the timeOut value has elapsed, the controlled device 30 and the sensor 40 are safely stopped.

By describing communication delay, phase shift, and the like as definitions of the adapter in this way, it is possible to perform a cooperative operation with high real-time performance without transmitting and receiving a synchronization signal.

In the example of fig. 6, the controlled device 30 is set to a state where there is no phase shift between deviceA and deviceB, but the present invention is not limited to this. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the pseudo code.

As shown in fig. 7, the adapter definitions of deviceA and deviceB of the controlled device 30 can be different adapter definitions. In the example of fig. 7, a difference of delay1 as a communication delay and shift1 as a phase shift occurs between deviceA and deviceB, so in the adapter definition of DeviceType2 as a device type of deviceB, value-delay1-shift1 is set; absorb these delays, etc. and send control signals. When the relative sensor is also similarly shifted in phase, the adapter is defined as shown in fig. 7.

Note that, although the exception processing by the control target instruction device 10 is described in fig. 6, the exception processing may be described in the adapter definition of DeviceType1 when, for example, exception processing unique to DeviceType1 is caused as in fig. 7. In this way, it is possible to describe the specific processing of each apparatus.

As described above, as the cause of occurrence of exception processing, there are, for example, a cause of occurrence of collision of devices with each other, a communication abnormality (communication failure), and other causes that may generally cause danger to a human being or an apparatus. In order to detect an abnormality in communication, when communication is performed from the operator, a response signal (for example, a signal such as ACK/NACK) may be transmitted from deviceA or the like to the operator via an adapter, or the absence of communication may be detected by analyzing the operation of each device based on an image captured by a camera or the like. In addition, the communication state may be monitored and detected by each device or operator.

That is, as described above, when the number of times of occurrence of at least 1 of the delay of reception of the control target instruction, the delay of generation of the control signal for the controlled device, the temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, the spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device, and the communication abnormality is equal to or less than the predetermined number of times, the operation of the controlled device is complemented and the control is performed. On the other hand, when the number of occurrences of at least 1 of a delay in reception of the control target instruction, a delay in generation of the control signal for the controlled device, a temporal offset of the operation of the controlled device, a spatial offset of the operation of the controlled device, and a communication abnormality exceeds a predetermined number of times, control is performed to safely stop the operation of the controlled device.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a specific implementation of the present embodiment.

In the Fog stage, there is a control target indicating apparatus 10, and communication between the control target indicating apparatus 10 and the control apparatus 20 is through an ethernet connection using TCP/IP. Since communication between the control target instruction device 10 and the control device 20 does not require high real-time communication, communication using ordinary TCP/IP can be used as described above.

The control device 20 is present at a cell level (cell level), and is connected to each controlled device 30 by, for example, EtherCAT (registered trademark), and is connected to a sensor by ethernet extended by TSN (Time-Sensitive Networking) capable of enduring communication of a larger amount of data than communication with the controlled device 30. Since communication with higher real-time performance is required between the controlled device 30 and the sensor 40 and the control device 20 as compared with the control target indicating device 10, the communication is performed by a communication method using ethernet extended as described above, for example.

Each controlled device 30 may be connected in a ring shape as shown in fig. 8, or a plurality of controlled devices 30 may be connected to the control device 20.

The sensor 40 is connected to the control device 20 via a switch 42 and a controller 44. By using the TSN-extended ethernet, communication with a large amount of data can be tolerated, and low-latency communication is prioritized, so that highly real-time perception information can be transmitted to the control device 20.

By this connection, the sensor 40 can sense the operating states of the plurality of controlled devices 30 and can transmit the sensed information to the control device 20 as soon as possible. As described above, the control command of each controlled device 30 can be transmitted in accordance with the control target instruction generated by the control target instructing device 10 without transmitting the synchronization signal.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by estimating the operation cycle of each controlled device 30 and describing the operation cycle in the adapter unit 210 corresponding to each controlled device 30, and transmitting a control signal while absorbing delays such as communication delays and phase shifts, and time delays in the control device 20, it is possible to control a plurality of controlled devices 30 in accordance with a control target instruction generated by the control target instructing device 10 in a state where high-real-time communication (between the controlled device 30 and the sensor 40 and the control device 20) and non-such communication (between the control target instructing device 10 and the control device 20) coexist without transmitting and receiving a synchronization signal. With such a configuration, a control target with higher accuracy can be generated in the control target instruction device 10, and the controlled device 30 and the sensor 40 can be controlled in real time.

Note that the control device 20 may absorb all or a part of the delay or the like in the system 1. When the control device 20 absorbs all the delay or the like, there may be an external observation means such as the sensor 40. This is because the delay characteristics of each controlled device 30 can be analyzed by the control device 20 or the peripheral device based on the deviation of the current instruction state between the external observation means and each controlled device 30, the delay characteristics can be described in the adapter section corresponding to each controlled device 30 in the control device 20, and the program processing section can generate the command string using the delay characteristics. Here, the delay characteristic is a concept including not only the value and the operation delay but also the characteristics of each controlled device 30 and the like. In addition, a device such as the control target indicating device 10 may be included in each controlled device 30 as a device using deep learning.

The DS L is DS L in which dynamic characteristics, particularly characteristics of CPU time, are confirmed by dynamic tests constituting its constituent elements in advance, and application logic synthesized by DS L is application logic that clearly satisfies desired real-time attributes with a certain degree of probability.

In addition, a default policy and an emergency policy in an output data section to the device are defined in response to a case where the desired real-time characteristics are not satisfied. The default policy and the emergency policy are operated by an embedded hard real-time (hard real-time) process, and are adopted when the control is not caught up in real time and the operation is performed in quasi real time. If the default policy continues for a certain time or longer, it is determined to be urgent, and a safety stop can be performed by the urgent policy. This ensures the safety of the system itself, and also prevents malfunctions of various devices in the system.

In the above embodiment, the control device 20 and the controlled device 30 are provided separately, but not limited thereto. The control device 20 and the controlled device 30 may be provided in the same machine or device. In this case, a plurality of controlled devices may be included in 1 device.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating 1 embodiment. For example, the system 1 is installed inside the 1-body robot 1R. The above embodiment can also be applied to a case where a plurality of controlled devices 30 whose control cycles are not synchronized are provided in the robot 1R.

For example, each controlled device 30 is connected to a sensor and an actuator, and executes a control loop for realizing a mission-critical process. When the sensors and actuators belonging to different controlled devices 30 perform coordinated operations, the present embodiment can correct the control cycle and the offset of the measurement cycle of each sensor, absorb the fluctuation of the processing time, the communication delay, and the like. By performing such correction and the like, real-time performance can be achieved when the robot 1R is operated.

The process of safely suspending the predefined cooperative operation job may be executed for each controlled device 30 when the processing time, the communication delay, and the like exceed predetermined thresholds, for example, when the processing time, the communication delay, and the like exceed predetermined times. As described above, the emergency stop may be performed when an exception to the predefined process occurs in the process.

For example, as shown in fig. 9, the robot 1R includes arms 300 and 302 as 2 controlled devices. These arms 300, 302 are capable of cooperating operation. In the case of performing the cooperative operation of gripping 1 object, even when the control cycles of the arms 300 and 302 are not synchronized, the respective controlled devices correct the deviation of the control cycles, and the respective arm portions operate in cooperation to realize the gripping operation.

For example, when a large delay occurs in communication with the arms 300 and 302 as the controlled devices and the cooperative operation must be stopped, the object held may be damaged at the time of the sudden stop. In such a case, by defining exception processing in the program section in advance, it is possible to define safety stop processing in accordance with the operation of each of the arms 300 and 302 as the controlled devices. For example, by this definition, the arms 300 and 302 can be stopped slowly, and the treatment can be performed without damaging the object.

As described above, the system 1, that is, the robot 1R may be provided with the sensor 40. For example, the robot 1R is provided with a camera 400. The sensor 40 and the controlled device 30 connected to the same control device 20 can be controlled separately according to the present embodiment as described above. In the 1 control device 20, the synchronization is generally performed by a control signal such as a bus clock, but for example, in the case where the calculation amount is variable and the processing is performed in accordance with a clock cycle without determining the calculation result and the measurement cycle of the sensor is not constant, the synchronization processing using the correction value is used.

In the example of fig. 9, 1 control device 20 can control the gripping of an object by the arms 300 and 302 based on the image acquired by the camera 400. Even if the arms 300 and 302 and the camera 400 have different synchronization cycles, according to the present embodiment, the arms 300 and 302 are controlled according to the video from the camera 400, and even if an exception occurs, the cooperative operation can be appropriately performed.

The present embodiment can also be applied to a case where the robot is remotely operated via a data communication network such as the internet. Even when communication delay is large or data is lost, system control with high real-time performance can be performed. Thus, the robot to be operated can be less likely to be in an abnormal situation such as an emergency stop by exception processing defined in advance. In this way, mission-critical work using the robot can be continued.

The apparatus according to the above embodiment can be implemented as a control apparatus that controls a plurality of controlled apparatuses, the control apparatus including:

a control instruction receiving unit configured to receive a control target instruction that is a target of the control, for each of the controlled devices; and

a control processing generation unit that generates a signal for controlling the operation of the controlled device based on the received control target instruction,

and performing control of operating each of the controlled devices in such a manner that each of the controlled devices cooperatively reaches a target of control, based on the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time for each of the controlled devices.

The method according to the above embodiment may be implemented as a control method for controlling a plurality of controlled devices, the control method including:

a step of receiving a control target instruction that is a target of control for each of the controlled devices;

generating a signal for controlling the operation of the controlled device according to the received control target instruction; and

and performing control to operate each of the controlled devices in a manner to cooperatively reach a control target based on the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time for each of the controlled devices.

The program according to the above embodiment can be implemented as a program for causing a computer to control a plurality of controlled devices, the program executing:

a step of receiving a control target instruction that is a target of control, for each of the controlled devices;

generating a signal for controlling the operation of the controlled device according to the received control target instruction; and

and performing control to operate each of the controlled devices in a manner to cooperatively reach a control target based on the communication delay time, the phase shift time, and the operation cycle time for each of the controlled devices.

In all of the above descriptions, at least a part of the system 1 may be configured by hardware, or may be configured by software, and may be implemented by information Processing by software such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). In the case of a software configuration, a program for realizing the functions of the system 1 and at least a part thereof may be stored in a storage medium such as a flexible disk or a CD-ROM, and may be read and executed by a computer. The storage medium is not limited to a removable example such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and may be a fixed storage medium such as a hard disk device or a memory. That is, the information processing by software may be information processing specifically realized using hardware resources. The processing by software may be processing executed by hardware installed in a circuit such as an FPGA (Field-Programmable gate array). The generation of the learning model and the Processing after the input to the learning model can be performed using an accelerator such as a GPU (graphics Processing Unit), for example.

The learning model according to the present embodiment can be used as a program module as a part of artificial intelligence software. That is, the CPU of the computer operates to calculate data detected by the sensor 40 or data to be an operation target based on the model stored in the control target instructing device 10 and output the result from the learned model.

While the present invention can be described in detail with reference to the embodiments, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. Various additions, changes, and partial deletions can be made without departing from the conceptual idea and gist of the present invention derived from the contents and equivalents thereof defined in the claims.

Description of the symbols

1: system for controlling a power supply

10: control target indicating device

20: control device

200: operation cycle estimation unit

202: control instruction receiving unit

204: control processing generation unit

206: exception processing execution unit

208: program storage unit

210: adapter part

30: controlled device

40: sensor with a sensor element

1R: robot

300. 302: arm(s)

400: camera with a camera module