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Complex Robot Control
Robotics are essential to the competitiveness of many of Europe's manufacturing industries, such as shipbuilding. A robot controller that overcomes many of the limitations of existing systems, will extend the range of applications in which robotic systems can be applied
Smart Welder is a robot control system which allows more flexible manipulation of complex robotics applications. Control of up to 12 axes is possible, and the controller uses parallel architecture to give very high performance, making robot movements smooth and accurate. The system is expected to interest robot manufacturers who need highly sophisticated controllers. It can also be used to enhance control of existing robotics systems with a large number of redundant axes, or which do not have full sensor integration. Its open architecture, flexibility and easy access to different complex manipulators give Smart Welder a clear advantage over alternative systems. The system is based on a PowerPC, and is easily adaptable to different kinematics, making it relatively cheap to implement. Smart Welder is currently being demonstrated at Odense Steel Shipyard (OSS), where computer-aided design (CAD) instructions and sensor information are combined and interpreted, giving a high degree of precision and control in the welding process.
Conventional robot control systems for standard robot applications can manipulate robots with six axes. While this is adequate for most robot applications, there exists a niche in the emerging robotics market for complex manipulators. The marketing of Smart Welder is aimed principally at those robot manufacturers without their own proprietary systems. The Smart Welder controller, capable of manipulating up to 12 axes, can be applied to those systems with more than six axes (kinematic redundancy). Mobile, redundant tele-manipulators for the construction industry, as well as old, slow and imprecise manipulator systems lacking more advanced controller features (such as sensor integration) will also benefit from the Smart Welder technology.
The robot controller provides access to CAD and simulation input. The programming is done in the standardised Industrial Robot Language (IRL), and the on-line integration of vision and sensor data is possible during programme execution. Up to 12 
axes can be manipulated. The parallel architecture of the system gives very fast sampling and interpolation times, leading to smooth and accurate robot movements. The system has been migrated from a transputer network to a PowerPC platform. The modular system architecture is kept open, making the controller easy to reconfigure to different kinematics. This in turn ensures high reliability and low adaptation costs for the user.
The controller has been installed in a prototype application at OSS. The demonstration forms part of a strategy to increase the degree of automation in shipbuilding through the intensive use of high performance computing. A modified version, controlling 8 axes, was demonstrated at the European IT Conference (EITC) 1995 exhibition in Brussels.
tel +49-241-886-4200 -- fax +49-241-875-715
e-mail strunz@aps.rwth-aachen.de
Research Area High Performance Computing and Networking
Project CLEOPATRA-Controller
Related Results ACRO; HEPHAESTOS; ROADROBOT
Keywords control systems;robotics; welding;
| Project Participants |
|---|
| APS DE |
| Odense Steel Shipyard DK |
| Thomson Broadcast Systems FR |
home page | Results Zone | IT Solutions | Application Areas | Research Areas | High Performance Network Computing The URL for this page is /esprit/src/results/res_area/hpcn/hpcn8.htm
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