Industrial robot system comprising a dual arm robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10518405-B2
Application number	US-201616313665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2016
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

An industrial robot system including a dual arm robot having two arms independently movable in relation to each other, and a hand-held control device for controlling the robot and provided with a visual display unit for displaying information about the arms. The control device is provided with a measuring device for measuring the orientation of the control device, and the control device is configured to display information about one of the arms in a first area on the display unit and to display information about the other arm in a second area on the display unit, and to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot so that the positions of the first and second area on the display unit reflects the orientation of the control device in relation to the positions of the arms.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An industrial robot system comprising a dual arm robot having two arms independently movable in relation to each other, and a hand-held control device for controlling the robot and provided with a visual display unit for displaying information about the arms, wherein the control device is provided with a first measuring device for measuring the orientation of the control device, and the control device is configured to display information about one of the arms in a first area on the display unit and to display information about the other arm in a second area on the display unit, and to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot so that the positions of the first and second areas on the display unit reflect the orientation of the control device in relation to the positions of the arms.

2. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to determine when it is in front of the robot and when it is behind the robot based on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot, and to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on whether the control device is in front of the robot or behind the robot so that information on the arm on a left side of the robot with respect to the control device is presented to the left of the information on the arm on the right side of the robot regardless of whether the control device is in front of the robot or behind the robot.

3. The robot system according to claim 2 , wherein the control device is configured to determine when it is on a first side of the robot and when it is on a second side of the robot based on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot, and to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on whether the control device is determined to be in front of the robot, behind the robot, on the first side of the robot, or on the second side of the robot.

4. The robot system according to claim 2 , wherein said first measuring device includes a magnetometer.

5. The robot system according to claim 2 , wherein the robot is provided with a second measuring device for measuring an orientation of the robot, and the control device is configured to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on the difference between the orientation of the control device and the orientation of the robot.

6. The robot system according to claim 2 , wherein said information about the arms includes swim lanes representing work flows for each of the arms.

7. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to calculate a difference between the orientations of the control device and the robot, and to determine whether the control device is in front of the robot or behind the robot based on the calculated difference between the orientations.

8. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to determine when it is on a first side of the robot and when it is on a second side of the robot based on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot, and to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on whether the control device is determined to be in front of the robot, behind the robot, on the first side of the robot, or on the second side of the robot.

9. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein said first measuring device includes a magnetometer.

10. The robot system according to claim 9 , wherein said first measuring device includes an accelerometer, and the control device is configured to determine the orientation of the control device based on measurements from the magnetometer and the accelerometer.

11. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein the robot is provided with a second measuring devices for measuring an orientation of the robot, and the control device is configured to change the positions of the first and second areas in dependence on the difference between the orientation of the control device and the orientation of the robot.

12. The robot system according to claim 11 , wherein said first measuring devices is configured to measure the orientation of the control device in relation to the earth magnetic field, and the second measuring device is configured to measure the orientation of the robot in relation to the earth magnetic field, and the control device is configured to calculate the difference between the orientation of the control device and the orientation of the robot, and to change the positions of first and second areas in dependence on the difference.

13. The robot system according to claim 12 , wherein said second measuring device includes a magnetometer.

14. The robot system according to claim 12 , wherein the robot has a body and the arms are movably connected to the body, and said second measuring device is mounted in the body.

15. The robot system according to claim 11 , wherein said second measuring device includes a magnetometer.

16. The robot system according to claim 15 , wherein said second measuring devices includes an accelerometer, and the robot is configured to determine the orientation of the robot based on measurements from the magnetometer and the accelerometer.

17. The robot system according to claim 11 , wherein the robot has a body and the arms are movably connected to the body, and said second measuring device is mounted in the body.

18. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein said information about the arms includes swim lanes representing work flows for each of the arms.

19. The robot system according to claim 18 , wherein the control device is configured to determine when it is in front of the robot and when it is behind the robot based on the orientation of the control device in relation to the robot, and to switch the positions of the swim lanes in dependence on whether the control device is in front of the robot or behind the robot.

20. The robot system according to claim 1 , wherein said control device is a tablet computer.

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Henriksson Adam
• Blom Jonatan
• Timsjö Susanne

Classifications

• G05B2219/36168

  Touchscreen · CPC title

• G05B2219/36162

  Pendant control box · CPC title

• G05B2219/39443

  Portable, adapted to handpalm, with joystick, function keys, display · CPC title

• B25J9/1682 Primary

  Dual arm manipulator; Coordination of several manipulators · CPC title

• G05B19/409

  characterised by using manual data input [MDI] or by using control panel, e.g. controlling functions with the panel; characterised by control panel details or by setting parameters (G05B19/408, G05B19/4093 take precedence) · CPC title