阅读说明：本技术 一种提升安全控制性能的工业机器人及其控制方法 (Industrial robot capable of improving safety control performance and control method thereof ) 是由 孙恺 于 2020-06-10 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种提升安全控制性能的工业机器人及其控制方法,工业机器人包括：底座；机械臂；关节,连接相邻的两个机械臂部分；执行端,一端连接于机械臂,另一端可连接工具；速度或加速度传感器,设置于关节,或者设置于关节和执行端；电机编码器,设置于关节的传动装置,以及控制模块。控制模块的第一控制模块和第二控制模块分别获取第一安全信息和第二安全信息,比较两者不一致时,控制机器人执行安全动作。本发明的有益效果是：工业机器人的安全性好,成本低廉。(The invention relates to an industrial robot for improving safety control performance and a control method thereof, wherein the industrial robot comprises: a base; a mechanical arm; a joint connecting adjacent two machine arm portions; one end of the execution end is connected with the mechanical arm, and the other end of the execution end can be connected with a tool; the speed or acceleration sensor is arranged on the joint or arranged on the joint and the execution end; the motor encoder is arranged on a transmission device of the joint, and the control module is arranged on the motor encoder. And a first control module and a second control module of the control module respectively acquire the first safety information and the second safety information, and when the first safety information and the second safety information are not consistent, the robot is controlled to execute safety action. The invention has the beneficial effects that: the industrial robot has good safety and low cost.)

1. An industrial robot comprising:

a base for carrying the industrial robot;

a robot arm connected to the base, the robot arm including two or more robot arm portions;

a joint for connecting adjacent said robot arm portions, said joint comprising a transmission;

one end of the execution end is connected with the mechanical arm, and the other end of the execution end can be connected with a tool so as to drive the tool to execute a work task through the mechanical arm;

characterized in that the industrial robot further comprises:

the speed or acceleration sensor is arranged at the joint or at the joint and the executing end and is used for detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint;

the motor encoder is arranged on the transmission device and used for detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot;

the control module comprises a first control module and a second control module, wherein the first control module is electrically connected to the speed or acceleration sensor and is used for acquiring first safety information; the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder and used for acquiring second safety information; and when the first safety information is inconsistent with the second safety information, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute the safety action.

2. An industrial robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the first control module calculates moment information of a joint from the detection of the speed or acceleration sensor, the first safety information comprising moment information of the joint.

3. An industrial robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the industrial robot comprises a current sensor, the second control module acquires moment information of the joint from the current sensor, and the second safety information comprises the moment information of the joint acquired from the current sensor.

4. An industrial robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the control module controls the industrial robot to perform the safety action when at least one of the first safety information or the second safety information fails to meet a preset safety requirement.

5. An industrial robot according to claim 1, characterized in that the velocity or acceleration sensor comprises at least one of an inertial measurement unit, a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, a gyroscope, a three-axis velocity sensor.

6. An industrial robot according to any of claims 1-5, characterized in that the first safety information and the second safety information comprise joint position information, joint velocity information, joint moment information, respectively.

7. An industrial robot according to claim 6, characterized in that said joint comprises an elbow joint for connecting two adjacent robot arm portions of a robot arm being relatively long, said first safety information and second safety information further respectively comprising information derived from at least one of joint velocity, joint position, joint moment, comprising: tool position, tool orientation, tool velocity, tool force, elbow joint position, elbow joint velocity, elbow joint force, robot power, robot momentum, robot stop distance, robot stop time, emergency stop, protection stop, robot movement digital output, robot not stop digital output, mode zone reduction.

8. A control method of an industrial robot, the industrial robot comprising:

a base for carrying the industrial robot;

a robot arm connected to the base, the robot arm including two or more robot arm portions;

a joint for connecting adjacent said robot arm portions, said joint comprising a transmission;

one end of the execution end is connected with the mechanical arm, and the other end of the execution end can be connected with a tool so as to drive the tool to execute a work task through the mechanical arm;

a speed or acceleration sensor disposed at the joint, or at the joint and the execution end;

the motor encoder is arranged on the transmission device;

the control module comprises a first control module and a second control module, the first control module is electrically connected to the speed or acceleration sensor, and the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder;

the control method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the speed or acceleration sensor detects at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot;

the motor encoder detects at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot;

the first control module acquires first safety information;

the second control module acquires second safety information;

and when the first safety information is inconsistent with the second safety information, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute the safety action.

9. The control method according to claim 8, characterized by comprising: the first control module calculates joint moment information according to detection of the speed or acceleration sensor, and the first safety information comprises the joint moment information.

10. The control method according to claim 8, wherein the industrial robot includes a current sensor, the control method comprising: the second control module acquires joint torque information according to the current sensor, and the second safety information comprises the joint torque information acquired according to the current sensor.

11. The control method according to claim 8, characterized by comprising: and when at least one of the first safety information or the second safety information cannot meet the preset safety requirement, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute a safety action.

12. The control method of claim 8, wherein the velocity or acceleration sensor comprises at least one of an inertial measurement unit, a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, a gyroscope, and a three-axis velocity sensor.

13. The control method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that the first safety information and the second safety information include joint position information, joint speed information, joint torque information, respectively.

14. The control method according to claim 13, wherein the joint comprises an elbow joint for connecting two adjacent mechanical arm portions that are relatively long, and the first safety information and the second safety information further respectively comprise information obtained from at least one of joint velocity, joint position, and joint torque, the information comprising: tool position, tool orientation, tool velocity, tool force, elbow joint position, elbow joint velocity, elbow joint force, robot power, robot momentum, robot stop distance, robot stop time, emergency stop, protection stop, robot movement digital output, robot not stop digital output, mode zone reduction.

15. The control method according to claim 8, characterized by comprising: an initial position of the industrial robot is obtained, and a first control module obtains a joint position according to the initial position.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of industrial robots, in particular to an industrial robot capable of improving safety control performance and a control method thereof.

Background

With the development of society, robots are beginning to be widely used in various fields including home robots, industrial robots, and the like. The cooperative robot can assist people to efficiently complete work as a light robot in an industrial robot, and can complete work in a dangerous environment with high precision and high efficiency, so that the cooperative robot is widely favored.

In the working process of the cooperative robot, the cooperative robot may need to interact with human beings in a close distance, in order to better realize human-computer cooperation and guarantee the personal safety of a user, the safety performance of the cooperative robot is an important index.

A conventional robot system has a function of collision detection, which detects a collision of the robot with its environment by an abnormal moment generated at a manipulator part, and when the collision is detected, the robot system performs control so as to stop the operation of the robot or otherwise mitigate the collision with the environment. In this method of collision detection, the sensitivity of collision detection is crucial, but it is difficult to detect a collision between a human being and a robot from the moment of a robot hand part of the robot with high accuracy, and thus this method is not reliable enough to detect a collision between a human being and a robot.

In the prior art, a capacitance sensor is additionally arranged to detect capacitance change generated by the approach of an object and a human so as to judge the approach of the robot and the object or the human, but the capacitance sensor has limited detection materials, so that the realization safety performance is very limited.

Therefore, it is necessary to design an industrial robot and a control method thereof having good safety performance.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present invention aims to provide an industrial robot with good safety performance and a control method thereof.

The invention can adopt the following technical scheme: an industrial robot comprising: a base for carrying the industrial robot; a robot arm connected to the base, the robot arm including two or more robot arm portions; a joint for connecting adjacent said robot arm portions, said joint comprising a transmission; one end of the execution end is connected with the mechanical arm, and the other end of the execution end can be connected with a tool so as to drive the tool to execute a work task through the mechanical arm; characterized in that the industrial robot further comprises: the speed or acceleration sensor is arranged at the joint or at the joint and the executing end and is used for detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint; the motor encoder is arranged on the transmission device and used for detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot; the control module comprises a first control module and a second control module, wherein the first control module is electrically connected to the speed or acceleration sensor and is used for acquiring first safety information; the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder and used for acquiring second safety information; and when the first safety information is inconsistent with the second safety information, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute the safety action.

Further, the first control module calculates torque information of the joint according to detection of the speed or acceleration sensor, and the first safety information includes the torque information.

Further, the industrial robot comprises a current sensor, the second control module acquires joint moment information according to the current sensor, and the second safety information comprises the joint moment information acquired according to the current sensor.

Further, when at least one of the first safety information or the second safety information cannot meet a preset safety requirement, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute a safety action.

Further, the speed or acceleration sensor includes at least one of an inertial measurement unit, a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, a gyroscope, and a three-axis speed sensor.

Further, the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include joint position information, joint speed information, and joint torque information.

Further, the joint includes an elbow joint for connecting two adjacent mechanical arm portions of the mechanical arm, which are relatively long, and the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include information obtained according to at least one of joint velocity, joint position, and joint torque, and the information includes: tool position, tool orientation, tool velocity, tool force, elbow joint position, elbow joint velocity, elbow joint force, robot power, robot momentum, robot stop distance, robot stop time, emergency stop, protection stop, robot movement digital output, robot not stop digital output, mode zone reduction.

The invention can also adopt the following technical scheme: a control method of an industrial robot, the industrial robot comprising: a base for carrying the industrial robot; a robot arm connected to the base, the robot arm including two or more robot arm portions; a joint for connecting adjacent said robot arm portions, said joint comprising a transmission; one end of the execution end is connected with the mechanical arm, and the other end of the execution end can be connected with a tool so as to drive the tool to execute a work task through the mechanical arm; a speed or acceleration sensor disposed at the joint, or at the joint and the execution end; the motor encoder is arranged on the transmission device; the control module comprises a first control module and a second control module, the first control module is electrically connected to the speed or acceleration sensor, and the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder; the control method is characterized by comprising the following steps: the speed or acceleration sensor detects at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot; the motor encoder detects at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot; the first control module acquires first safety information; the second control module acquires second safety information; and when the first safety information is inconsistent with the second safety information, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute the safety action.

Further, the control method comprises the following steps: the first control module calculates joint moment information according to detection of the speed or acceleration sensor, and the first safety information comprises the joint moment information.

Further, the industrial robot includes a current sensor, and the control method includes: the second control module acquires joint torque information according to the current sensor, and the second safety information comprises the joint torque information acquired according to the current sensor.

Further, the control method comprises the following steps: and when at least one of the first safety information or the second safety information cannot meet the preset safety requirement, the control module controls the industrial robot to execute a safety action.

Further, the speed or acceleration sensor includes at least one of an inertial measurement unit, a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, a gyroscope, and a three-axis speed sensor.

Further, the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include joint position information, joint speed information, and joint torque information.

Further, the joint includes an elbow joint for connecting two adjacent mechanical arm portions with relatively long lengths, the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include information obtained according to at least one of joint velocity, joint position and joint moment, and the information includes: tool position, tool orientation, tool velocity, tool force, elbow joint position, elbow joint velocity, elbow joint force, robot power, robot momentum, robot stop distance, robot stop time, emergency stop, protection stop, robot movement digital output, robot not stop digital output, mode zone reduction.

Further, the control method comprises the following steps: an initial position of the industrial robot is obtained, and the first control module obtains the position of the joint according to the initial position.

Compared with the prior art, the specific implementation mode of the invention has the beneficial effects that: the industrial robot obtains first safety information and second safety information through the first detection module and the second detection module respectively, and detects the speed and the position information of the gate through the speed or acceleration sensor and the motor encoder respectively, so that the detection and the acquisition of the safety information are kept independent, and the safety of the industrial robot is good.

Drawings

The above objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention can be achieved by the following drawings:

fig. 1 is a perspective view of an industrial robot of an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an industrial robot performing end connection tool according to an embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a robotic joint of one embodiment of the present invention

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a control method of an industrial robot of an embodiment of the present invention

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in the following embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The present invention protects an industrial robot, and referring to fig. 1-3, fig. 1 schematically shows a perspective view of an industrial robot 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2 schematically shows a schematic view of an end-of-action connecting tool 200 of an industrial robot 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a joint 130 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the industrial robot 100 comprises a base 110, the base 110 is used for carrying the industrial robot 100, and a user can mount the industrial robot 100 to a working platform through the base 110 to execute work; a robot arm connected to the base 110 and movable to perform a work task of the robot 100, the robot arm including two or more arm parts 121; a joint 130 for connecting adjacent robot arm portions 121, wherein the joint 130 further includes a transmission device 131, and the transmission device 131 generates power to move the connected robot arm portions 121; the execution end 140, referring to fig. 2, one end of the execution end 140 is connected to a robot arm, and the other end can be connected to a tool 200, the robot arm moves to drive the tool 200 to move so that the tool can perform a work task, and specifically, the tool may exemplarily include a gripper. Two or more robot arm sections 121 can be rotated by the joint 130, and different robot arm sections 121 may have different lengths, so that the industrial robot 100 can cover a wide working range and has good flexibility. Specifically, the implement end 140 includes a tool flange, one end of which is fixedly coupled to the robotic arm and the other end of which mounts the tool 200 for performing work. The industrial robot 100 further comprises a velocity or acceleration sensor 133 disposed at the joint 130, or disposed at the joint 130 and the executing end 140, for detecting at least one of a position and a velocity of the robot joint 130, specifically, a velocity of the executing end 140 or information detected by the acceleration sensor 133 is used to obtain information of a position and a velocity of the joint 130 before the executing end 140. The industrial robot 100 further comprises a motor encoder 132, disposed on the transmission 131, for detecting at least one of a position and a velocity of the joint 130 of the industrial robot; a control module, including a first control module and a second control module, where the first control module is electrically connected to the speed or acceleration sensor 133 and is used to acquire first safety information, where the acquiring of the first safety information includes acquiring information detected by the speed or acceleration sensor 133, acquiring information detected by other necessary sensors, and directly or indirectly obtaining information according to the information acquired by the sensors, where the directly or indirectly obtained information includes information calculated by the first control module; the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder 132 and configured to acquire second safety information, where the acquiring of the second safety information includes acquiring detection information of the motor encoder 132, acquiring information detected by other necessary sensors, and directly or indirectly obtaining information according to the information detected by the sensors, where the directly or indirectly obtained information includes information calculated by the second control module; the control module compares the first safety information and the second safety information, and controls the industrial robot 100 to perform a safety action when the comparison is inconsistent. The control module compares the first safety information and the second safety information to be inconsistent, wherein the first control module compares the second safety information to find that the second safety information is inconsistent with the first safety information acquired by the control module, or the second control module compares the first safety information to find that the first safety information is inconsistent with the second safety information acquired by the control module. The control robot 100 performs safety actions including various actions defined by safety specifications of the industrial robot 100, and thus, the detailed description thereof is omitted. First safety information and second safety information are respectively obtained through the first control module and the second control module, and the first safety information, the second safety information and the second safety information are respectively detected through different channels (different sensors and different control modules), so that the detection result is independent, unsafe factors can be found in time, and the safety performance of the industrial robot 100 is good.

The first safety information and the second safety information respectively comprise a plurality of items of information, the comparison of the inconsistency of the first safety information and the second safety information comprises the comparison of each item of information respectively to judge whether the items of information are consistent, and when some item of information in the first safety information and the second safety information is inconsistent, the robot 100 is controlled to execute a safety action. It should be noted that there may be a necessary error in the acquisition of the first security information and the second security information, which should not be included in the range of comparing the inconsistency between the first security information and the second security information, so-called inconsistency judgment, allowing the necessary error to exist. The judgment of the so-called inconsistency indicates that the first security information and the second security information are not substantially inconsistent, rather than inconsistent due to necessary detection or calculation errors.

The industrial robot 100 includes a plurality of types, and the cooperative robot is one of the most advanced in recent years, and the control module of the cooperative robot includes at least two parts, namely a control box of the cooperative robot, which is a general control center thereof, and a control unit at the joint 130 of the cooperative robot, and is capable of processing the work information of the cooperative robot and generating an appropriate work instruction according to the current work condition.

The industrial robot 100 further comprises user interface means for programming the industrial robot 100 to control it to perform preset operations. The user interface device includes a teach pendant provided outside the main body of the industrial robot 100 and connectable to the main body of the industrial robot 100, and the industrial robot 100 includes the teach pendant.

In order to ensure the safety of the industrial robot 100 during working, at least the position, speed, moment of the joint 130 of the industrial robot 100 needs to be obtained, the position and speed of the joint 130 can be obtained by the speed or acceleration sensor 133, and the position and speed of the joint 130 can also be obtained by the motor encoder 132, which work independently to obtain the position and speed information of the joint 130 of the first safety information and the position and speed information of the joint 130 of the second safety information. The speed or acceleration sensor 133 may acquire position and speed information of the joint 130, the first control module may calculate torque information of the joint 130 according to the position and speed information of the joint 130 detected by the speed or acceleration sensor 133, and the first safety information may include the position and speed information of the joint 130 acquired by the first control module through the speed or acceleration sensor 133, and may also include the position and speed information of the joint 130 detected by the first control module through the speed or acceleration information, and the torque of the joint 130 calculated. It should be noted that the speed or acceleration sensor is further disposed at the execution end and is configured to detect a joint position and speed information of a previous joint of the execution end, and the first control module calculates the joint torque information according to the previous joint position and speed information detected by the execution end. The industrial robot 100 further includes a current sensor 134, and the second control module obtains the moment information of the joint 130 according to the current sensor 134, and the second safety information includes the moment information of the joint 130 detected by the current sensor 134. That is, the second safety information includes the position and speed information of the joint 130 acquired by the second control module through the motor encoder 132, and the torque information of the joint 130 acquired by the second control module through the current sensor 134. Specifically, the joint 130 of the industrial robot 100 includes a motor encoder 132 and a speed or acceleration sensor 133, the first control module obtains the position and speed information of the joint 130 through the motor encoder 132, and the second control module obtains the position and speed information of a joint 130 on the joint 130 through the speed or acceleration sensor 133, because the data information detected by the speed or acceleration sensor 133 at the joint 130 actually reflects the output of the joint 130 on the joint 130, so the position and speed information of a joint 130 on the joint 130 can be obtained through the detected data of the speed or acceleration sensor of the joint 130. Further, the execution end 140 of the industrial robot 100 comprises a velocity and acceleration sensor, i.e. the tool flange of the industrial robot 100 comprises a velocity or acceleration sensor, and in particular, information detected by the velocity or acceleration sensor 133 at the tool flange is used to obtain the joint velocity and position of a joint 130 on the tool flange. In an exemplary embodiment, the industrial robot 100 is a six-axis robot 100, a speed and acceleration sensor is disposed at a tool flange, and a speed or acceleration sensor 133 at the tool flange is used for acquiring position and speed information of a sixth joint of the industrial robot 100, and acquires the position and speed information of the joint together with a motor encoder 132 at the sixth joint, so as to obtain position and speed information of the joint 130 of the first safety information, and position and speed information of a shutdown position and speed of the second safety information. In summary, the first safety information includes information obtained by the first control module through the speed or acceleration sensor 133, and information calculated through the information obtained by the speed or acceleration; the second safety information includes information acquired by the second control module via the motor encoder 132, and information acquired via the current sensor 134. Therefore, the joint position, the speed and the moment of the first safety information and the joint position, the speed and the moment of the second safety information can be obtained through the first control module and the second control module respectively, and corresponding items of the first safety information, the second safety information and the second safety information are compared to judge whether to execute safety action.

In this embodiment, a velocity or acceleration sensor 133 and a current sensor 134 are provided at the joints of the industrial robot 100, and a velocity or acceleration sensor 133 is provided at the execution end of the industrial robot, and the joints 130 connect adjacent arm portions 121, and the movement of the arm portions 121 connected thereto is controlled by manipulating the joints 130. The joint 130 is connected to the arm part 121 by means of a quick-release mounting, such as a screw connection. By arranging the speed or acceleration sensor 133 and the current sensor 134 mainly at said joint 130, so that the electronics of the main body of the industrial robot 100 are concentrated at the joint 130, the joint 130 and the robot arm part 121 can be designed and mounted modularly, which facilitates replacement and mounting in case of a malfunction of a part during use. Specifically, industrial robot 100 includes control module, and control module is including being located the outside controller of industrial robot 100 host computer to and be located the articulated the control unit of industrial robot 100, through setting up the control unit in joint 130, make things convenient for robot 100 modular design and installation for industrial robot 100's use experience is better for the control part of industrial robot 100 main part is mainly concentrated on joint 130 department.

In this embodiment, the control module executes the security action when comparing the first security information with the second security information. Further, when at least one of the first safety information and the second safety information fails to satisfy a preset safety condition, the control module controls the industrial robot 100 to execute a safety action. That is, when the first safety information and the second safety information are identical, some detection information of the first safety information and the second safety information may not satisfy the preset safety requirement, and at this time, the control module controls the industrial robot 100 to perform the safety action.

In this embodiment, the velocity or acceleration sensor includes at least one of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis magnetometer, a gyroscope, and a three-axis speedometer. The velocity or acceleration sensor is used to acquire at least one of joint position and joint velocity information of the industrial robot 100. The acquiring of the joint position information by the industrial robot 100 through the velocity or acceleration sensor 133 further comprises acquiring an initial position of the joint of the industrial robot 100 before the industrial robot 100 starts working, specifically, acquiring the initial position through a sensor system of the industrial robot 100, or receiving a setting of a user to acquire the initial position, acquiring the position information of the joint 130 by the first control module according to the detection of the velocity or acceleration sensor 133, and further acquiring the position of the joint 130 by the first control module according to the detection of the velocity or acceleration in combination with the initial position of the joint 130 through integral calculation. In particular, the velocity or acceleration sensor 133 may be used to detect the joint position and the joint velocity of the industrial robot 100, while the velocity and acceleration sensor may also be used to determine the absolute pose of the robot 100, e.g. may be used for the determination of the mounting pose. In summary, the velocity or acceleration sensor 133 is selected to detect the position information and the velocity information of the joint of the industrial robot 100, and the velocity and acceleration sensor also has the functions of determining the absolute posture and the like of the robot 100, so that the function reuse is realized, the components are saved, the components of the robot can be reduced, the manufacturing cost of the industrial robot is reduced, and the component composition of the industrial robot is simplified.

As described above, the first safety information and the second safety information according to the present invention respectively include joint position information, joint velocity information, and joint torque information, and in addition, the first safety information and the second safety information further include information obtained based on at least one of the joint position information, the joint velocity information, and the joint torque information, and specifically include:

the tool position is the position of a tool of the robot 100, specifically, the position of the tool of the robot 100 is calculated by a first control module and a second control module, the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include tool position information, and the industrial robot 100 is controlled to execute a safety action when the tool position information of the first safety information and the tool position information of the second safety information are different;

the tool orientation, i.e. the maximum orientation of the tool of the robot 100 is limited, and in particular the orientation of the tool of the robot 100 is calculated by a first control module and a second control module, respectively, the first safety information and the second safety information comprise the tool orientation, respectively, and the industrial robot 100 is controlled to perform a safety action by comparing that the tool orientations of the first safety information and the second safety information are different.

The tool speed, i.e. the maximum speed of the tool of the robot 100 is limited, specifically, the speed of the tool of the robot 100 is calculated by the first control module and the second control module respectively, the first safety information and the second safety information respectively include the tool speed, and the industrial robot 100 is controlled to perform the safety action when the tool speeds of the first safety information and the second safety information are different.

The tool force, i.e. the maximum force that the tool of the robot 100 is limited to exert in the specific case of operation. For example, when the tool is the gripping tool 200, the maximum force that the robot 100 exerts in a gripping condition is limited. Similar to the above, the first control module and the second control module each calculate a tool force and perform a safety action when the two are not in agreement.

It should be noted that: the industrial robot 100 generally has a plurality of joints and its robot arm generally consists of a plurality of robot arm portions 121, in particular, the robot arm portion 121 includes two relatively long portions and other relatively short portions, in particular, the joint connecting two relatively long adjacent robot arm portions 121 is defined as an elbow joint. Specifically, in the present embodiment, the elbow joint is a joint, i.e., two robot arm portions of the robot arm with relatively long length are connected by one joint, and in other embodiments, the elbow joint may also include two joints, i.e., two robot arm portions 121 of the robot arm with relatively long length are connected by two joints.

The first security information and the second security information specifically further include:

the first control module and the second control module respectively calculate the elbow joint positions and execute safety actions when the elbow joint positions are not consistent with the elbow joint positions, namely the position range of the limiting elbow joint.

The elbow joint velocity, i.e., the maximum velocity of the restricted elbow joint 130, as similar to above, the first control module and the second control module each calculate the elbow joint velocity and perform a safety action when the two do not coincide.

The elbow joint force, i.e., the maximum force limiting the elbow joint 130, as similarly described above, the first control module and the second control module each calculate the elbow joint force and perform a safety action when the two are not in agreement.

Since the industrial robot 100 includes the plurality of joints 130 and the safety information of the plurality of joints 130 is not completely the same, it is necessary to set monitoring of the safety information of each joint when necessary. The elbow joint is a relatively critical joint, and monitoring information of safety information of the elbow joint should be strictly set.

Robot power, i.e. the maximum mechanical work the robot 100 is limited to the environment, in particular the limitation considers the payload as a part of the robot 100 and not the environment, similar to the above, the first and second control modules calculate the robot 100 power separately and perform a safety action if the two are not identical.

The robot momentum, i.e. the limiting maximum robot momentum, as above, the first control module and the second control module calculate the robot momentum, respectively, and perform a safety action when the two are not identical.

The robot stopping distance, i.e. the maximum distance that the robot tool or elbow can be moved when stopped, is limited, and similarly to the above, the first control module and the second control module respectively calculate the robot 100 stopping distance and perform a safety action when the two do not coincide.

Robot stop time, i.e. limiting the maximum time it takes to stop the robot, such as: when the emergency stop is activated, the first control module and the second control module respectively calculate the robot 100 stop time, and perform a safety action when the two are not identical, similarly to the above.

The robot emergency stop is to detect information of the robot emergency stop, and the first control module and the second control module respectively acquire the information of the robot emergency stop and execute safety action when the two are not consistent.

The robot protection stops, namely the protection stops are executed when the input pin is low and the robot is in the automatic mode, and similarly to the above, the first control module and the second control module respectively acquire the robot protection stop information and execute the safety action when the two are not consistent.

And similarly to the above, the first control module and the second control module respectively acquire the robot mobile digital output information and execute the safety action when the two are not consistent.

The robot does not stop the digital output, namely, the digital output in the state that the robot does not stop is obtained, and similarly to the above, the first control module and the second control module respectively obtain the digital output which is not stopped by the robot and execute the safety action when the two are not consistent.

The robot mode area is reduced, that is, the robot mode area reduction information is acquired, and similarly to the above, the first control module and the second control module respectively acquire the robot mode area reduction information and perform the safety action when the two are not identical.

The above safety information is common information that is generally required to be acquired and judged to perform safety actions in the field of industrial robots, and is not a list of all safety information, and the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the limitation of the claims.

The beneficial effects of the above embodiment are: the industrial robot is provided with a first control module and a second control module which respectively acquire first safety information and second safety information, and independent sensors such as a speed or acceleration sensor 133 and a motor encoder 132 are used, so that detection on the safety information is independent, processing actions of the control modules are independent, and the working safety of the industrial robot is guaranteed. Meanwhile, the motor encoder 132 and the speed or acceleration sensor 133 can be functionally multiplexed, thereby reducing the number of component parts of the industrial robot, reducing the manufacturing cost of the whole machine, and simplifying the structure of the industrial robot.

The invention also provides a method for controlling an industrial robot, which is described above with reference to fig. 4, and the details of which are not repeated here. The control method comprises the following steps:

s1, detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot 100 by a speed or acceleration sensor;

i.e., a velocity or acceleration sensor is provided at the joint 130 or at the joint 130 and the executing end 140, the velocity or acceleration sensor is used to detect the joint position and velocity information of the joint preceding the joint where it is located, and the velocity or acceleration sensor at the executing end is used to detect the joint position and velocity of the joint preceding the executing end. Specifically, the actuation end 140 includes a tool flange. The velocity or acceleration sensor 133 detects one of a position and a velocity, and preferably, both of a joint position and a velocity.

S2, detecting at least one of the position and the speed of the joint of the industrial robot by a motor encoder;

i.e. a motor encoder, is provided to the joint actuator 131 for detecting at least one of the position and velocity of the joint of the industrial robot 100, preferably both the position and velocity of the joint.

S3, the first control module acquires the first safety information;

the first control module is electrically connected to the velocity or acceleration sensor and is capable of acquiring information directly detected by the velocity or acceleration, i.e., at least one of position and velocity information of the joint, and acquiring information indirectly acquired by the velocity or acceleration sensor 133, including information calculated from the position and velocity information of the joint.

S4: the second control module acquires second safety information;

the second control module is electrically connected to the motor encoder 132, and is capable of acquiring the joint speed and position information that can be directly detected by the motor encoder, and the second safety information acquired by the second control module further includes information indirectly acquired according to the joint speed and position information detected by the motor encoder, for example, information calculated according to the position and speed information of the joint.

And S5, when the first safety information and the second safety information are not consistent, the control module controls the industrial robot 100 to execute the safety action.

That is, the control module compares the corresponding items of the first safety information and the second safety information with each other, and controls the robot 100 to execute the safety action. Specifically, when the security actions are executed, one of the security actions may be selectively executed, or a plurality of the security actions may be simultaneously executed as needed.

In this embodiment, the control method further includes the first control module calculating torque information of the joint 130 according to the detection of the speed or acceleration sensor 133, and the first safety information includes the torque information. That is, the first safety information includes the joint position and velocity information detected by the velocity or acceleration sensor 133, and the joint moment information calculated by combining the position and velocity information of the joint 130 with the mass distribution of the industrial robot 100 and the like, and other information calculated from the position, velocity, and moment information of the joint.

The industrial robot 100 further comprises a current sensor 134, and the control method comprises the second control module acquiring moment information in the joint from the current sensor 134, and the second safety information comprises the moment information in the joint 130 acquired from the current sensor 134. That is, the second safety information includes information on the position and speed of the joint detected by the motor encoder 132, and information on the moment of the joint detected by the current sensor 134, and other information calculated from the position, speed, and moment of the joint.

Specifically, the control method includes: when at least one of the first safety information or the second safety information cannot meet a preset safety requirement, the control module controls the industrial robot 100 to execute a safety action.

Specifically, the detecting of the position and the velocity information of the joint of the industrial robot 100 by the velocity or acceleration sensor 133 further includes: the initial position of the industrial robot 100 is obtained, the second control module obtains the position of the joint according to the initial position, and the initial position of the joint is integrated through the detection information of speed or acceleration, and the position of the joint is obtained through integral operation. Acquiring the initial position of the industrial robot 100 includes the industrial robot acquiring its initial position before the industrial robot starts working through a sensor system, or the industrial robot acquiring the initial position through input information of a user.

It should be noted that the sequence of steps S1 and S2 in the control method described above is not limited to one of the steps S1 and S2, or S2 and S1, and the sequence of steps S1 and S2 in the control method includes both of them, and the sequence of steps S1 and S2 is not limited to one of them. The above-mentioned embodiments only express several embodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the inventive concept, which falls within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent shall be subject to the appended claims.