Interconnection device, communication method, and system including robot

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11271790-B2
Application number	US-201817257920-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2018
Priority date	Aug 1, 2018
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

An interconnection device, a communication method, and a system including a robot are disclosed. In an embodiment, the interconnection device includes a first OPC UA interface, configured to establish connection between the interconnection device and an OPC UA device; and an ROS interface, in communication with the first OPC UA interface. The ROS interface includes: at least one ROS node module, configured to perform communication between the OPC UA device and an ROS device; an ROS client library module, configured to provide a function library to be called when the ROS node module performs the communication; and an ROS core module, configured to manage the ROS node module in the ROS interface unit and a node module in the ROS device. Communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device is achieved via the interconnection device and the communication method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An interconnection device to realize communication between an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC UA) device and Robot Operating System (ROS) device, comprising:
a first OPC UA interface, configured to establish connection between the interconnection device and the OPC UA device; and
at least one ROS interface, for communication with the first OPC UA interface, the at least one ROS interface including
at least one ROS node module configured to perform communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
an ROS client library module, configured to provide a function library to be called upon the ROS node module performing the communication, and
an ROS core module configured to manage the ROS node module in the ROS interface and a node module in the ROS device, wherein

the ROS node module includes at least one of an ROS publishing node module and an ROS serving node module,
the ROS publishing node module is configured to perform topic communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS serving node module is configured to perform service communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS publishing node module is further configured to publish information received from the first OPC UA interface to a related ROS device, the related ROS device being an ROS device that subscribes to a topic related to the received information, and
the ROS serving node module is further configured to convert the information received from the first OPC UA interface into a format callable by the ROS device, and send the information subjected to format conversion to the ROS device.

2. The interconnection device of claim 1 , wherein the first OPC UA interface is connectable to a second OPC UA interface unit included in the OPC UA device.

3. The interconnection device of claim 2 , wherein
upon the second OPC UA interface being an OPC UA client, the first OPC UA interface is an OPC UA server; and
upon the second OPC UA interface being an OPC UA server, the first OPC UA interface is an OPC UA client.

4. The interconnection device of claim 3 , wherein the first OPC UA interface is connectable to a second OPC UA interface unit included in the OPC UA device.

5. The interconnection device of claim 4 , wherein
upon the second OPC UA interface being an OPC UA client, the first OPC UA interface is an OPC UA server; and
upon the second OPC UA interface being an OPC UA server, the first OPC UA interface is an OPC UA client.

6. The interconnection device of claim 2 , wherein the OPC UA device is a programmable logic controller.

7. The interconnection device of claim 1 , wherein the OPC UA device is a programmable logic controller.

8. The interconnection device of claim 1 , wherein an interface provided for the interconnection device is selected from a group consisting of Ethernet, Profinet, USB, and RS232.

9. A communication method between an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC UA) device and Robot Operating System (ROS) device, comprising:
sending, by the OPC UA device, information to an interconnection device including
a first OPC UA interface, configured to establish connection between the interconnection device and the OPC UA device; and
at least one ROS interface, for communication with the first OPC UA interface, the at least one ROS interface including
at least one ROS node module, configured to perform communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
an ROS client library module, configured to provide a function library to be called upon the ROS node module performing the communication, and

an ROS core module, configured to manage the ROS node module in the ROS interface and a node module in the ROS device, wherein
the ROS node module includes at least one of an ROS publishing node module and an ROS serving node module,
the ROS publishing node module is configured to perform topic communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS serving node module is configured to perform service communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS publishing node module is further configured to publish information received from the first OPC UA interface to a related ROS device, the related ROS device being an ROS device that subscribes to a topic related to the received information, and
the ROS serving node module is further configured to convert the information received from the first OPC UA interface into a format callable by the ROS device, and send the information subjected to format conversion to the ROS device;

performing, by the interconnection device, protocol conversion processing on the received information; and
transmitting, by the interconnection device, the processed information to the ROS device for communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device.

10. A communication method between Robot Operating System (ROS) device and an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC UA device), comprising:
sending, by the ROS device, information to an interconnection device, the interconnection device including
a first OPC UA interface, configured to establish connection between the interconnection device and the OPC UA device; and
at least one ROS interface, for communication with the first OPC UA interface, the at least one ROS interface including
at least one ROS node module, configured to perform communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
an ROS client library module, configured to provide a function library to be called upon the ROS node module performing the communication, and

an ROS core module, configured to manage the ROS node module in the ROS interface and a node module in the ROS device, wherein
the ROS node module includes at least one of an ROS publishing node module and an ROS serving node module,
the ROS publishing node module is configured to perform topic communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS serving node module is configured to perform service communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
the ROS publishing node module is further configured to publish information received from the first OPC UA interface to a related ROS device, the related ROS device being an ROS device that subscribes to a topic related to the received information, and
the ROS serving node module is further configured to convert the information received from the first OPC UA interface into a format callable by the ROS device, and send the information subjected to format conversion to the ROS device;

performing, by the interconnection device, protocol conversion processing on the received information; and
transmitting, by the interconnection device, the processed information to the OPC UA device for communication between the ROS device and the OPC UA device.

11. A system, comprising:
at least one device;
a controller configured to control the at least one device;
at least one robot; and
an interconnection device configured to permit communication between an Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control Unified Architecture (OPC UA) device and a Robot Operating System (ROS) device, the interconnection device including,
a first OPC UA interface, configured to establish connection between the interconnection device and the OPC UA device; and
at least one ROS interface, for communication with the first OPC UA interface, the at least one ROS interface including
at least one ROS node module configured to perform communication between the OPC UA device and the ROS device,
an ROS client library module configur

Assignees

• Siemens Ag
• Xu wen kang
• Fan Shun Jie

Inventors

• Xu wen kang
• Fan Shun Jie

Classifications

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04L69/08 Primary

  Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion · CPC title

• G05B19/0423

  Input/output · CPC title

• G05B19/052

  Linking several PLC's · CPC title

• G05B19/054

  Input/output · CPC title