Method of controlling industrial robot, control system and robot system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12459119-B2
Application number	US-202017996352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2020
Priority date	Apr 22, 2020
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

A method of controlling an industrial robot, the method including visualizing a nominal path of the industrial robot, the nominal path being associated with a nominal trajectory of the industrial robot; visualizing indications of values of at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the nominal trajectory, for evaluating a risk potential of a physical contact between the industrial robot and a human; receiving a user input related to the nominal trajectory; modifying the nominal trajectory based on the user input to provide a modified trajectory; and executing the modified trajectory by the industrial robot. A control system and an industrial robot are also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling an industrial robot, the method comprising:
visualizing a nominal path of the industrial robot, the nominal path being associated with a nominal trajectory of the industrial robot; visualizing indications that are representative of values of at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the nominal trajectory, for evaluating a risk of injury of a physical contact between the industrial robot and a human should such physical contact occur, wherein the visualized indications assist in evaluating the risk of injury; receiving a user input related to the nominal trajectory; modifying the nominal trajectory based on the user input to provide a modified trajectory; and executing the modified trajectory by the industrial robot wherein the indications comprise a direction associated with a respective value of the at least one parameter.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter comprises acceleration, force, torque, pressure and/or kinetic energy.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising estimating an effective mass of the industrial robot, and determining values of the at least one parameter based on the effective mass.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications comprise indications of values of the at least one parameter in relation to a specific body part of the human.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications comprise indications of values of the at least one parameter in relation to a type of contact event between the industrial robot and the human.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising visualizing the industrial robot.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the indications comprise indications of values of at least one parameter of a part of the industrial robot.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications comprise indications visualized along the nominal path.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications are color indications.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications show whether the values are below or above a threshold value.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
visualizing a modified path associated with the modified trajectory; and visualizing indications of values of the at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the modified trajectory.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising automatically modifying the nominal trajectory to provide the modified trajectory in response to the user input.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the automatic modification comprises optimizing the nominal trajectory with a condition to provide a modified trajectory with values of the at least one parameter below a threshold value at least partly along a modified path associated with the modified trajectory.

14 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the automatic modification comprises optimizing the nominal trajectory to minimize a time of a movement between two target points along the nominal path.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the industrial robot is designed to interact with a human in a shared collaborative workspace.

16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indications are illustrations that assist user perception of the values of the at least one parameter and that reflect more than just the values themselves.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the direction is visualized with an arrow and a length of the arrow indicates a magnitude of the respective value of the at least one parameter.

18 . A control system for controlling an industrial robot, the control system comprising at least one data processing device and at least one memory having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising program code which, when executed by the at least one data processing device, causes the at least one data processing device to perform the steps of:
commanding visualization of a nominal path of the industrial robot, the nominal path being associated with a nominal trajectory of the industrial robot; commanding visualization of indications that are representative of values of at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the nominal trajectory, for evaluating a risk of injury of a physical contact between the industrial robot and a human should such physical contact occur, wherein the visualized indications assist in evaluating the risk of injury; receiving a user input related to the nominal trajectory; modifying the nominal trajectory based on the user input to provide a modified trajectory; and commanding execution of the modified trajectory by the industrial robot; wherein the indications comprise a direction associated with a respective value of the at least one parameter.

19 . A robot system comprising:
an industrial robot; and a control system for controlling the industrial robot, the control system includes at least one data processing device and at least one memory having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program comprising program code which, when executed by the at least one data processing device, causes the at least one data processing device to perform the steps of: commanding visualization of a nominal path of the industrial robot, the nominal path being associated with a nominal trajectory of the industrial robot; commanding visualization that are representative of indications of values of at least one parameter of the industrial robot as when executing the nominal trajectory, for evaluating a risk of injury of a physical contact between the industrial robot and a human should such physical contact occur, wherein the visualized indications assist in evaluating the risk of injury; receiving a user input related to the nominal trajectory; modifying the nominal trajectory based on the user input to provide a modified trajectory; and commanding execution of the modified trajectory by the industrial robot; wherein the indications comprise a direction associated with a respective value of the at least one parameter.

Assignees

• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Groth Tomas
• Olsson Tomas

Classifications

• B25J9/1633

  compliant, force, torque control, e.g. combined with position control · CPC title

• G05B2219/40202

  Human robot coexistence · CPC title

• B25J9/1666 Primary

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title