Provided is a robot including: a robot body that is provided with at least one arm; a gas spring that functions as a balancer for the arm of the robot body; an internal-pressure detecting unit that detects a cylinder internal pressure of the gas spring; and a control device that controls the robot body. The control device calculates, as an estimated disturbance value, the difference between a torque command value for a servomotor that drives the arm and a torque of the servomotor that is required to actually operate the arm, determines that the robot body has had a collision when the estimated disturbance value exceeds a predetermined threshold, and corrects the estimated disturbance value or the threshold on the basis of the cylinder internal pressure detected by the internal-pressure detecting unit.

The invention relates to a method for operating a robot and to a robot, wherein the robot comprises movable elements ELE.sub.m which can be driven by actuators AKT.sub.n, and is designed to carry out a movement B with the elements ELE.sub.m, and wherein the robot comprises a detection system for determining signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) of a group of measurement variables G.sub.k.sup.B characterizing the movement B of the elements ELE.sub.m and the interactions thereof with an environment. The proposed method comprises the following steps: determining (10), by means of the detection system, reference signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B.sup.R(t) of the measurement variables G.sub.k.sup.B during at least one execution of the movement B of the elements ELE.sub.m which is in the form of a reference movement B; automatically determining (102), based on the reference signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B.sup.R (t), using an adaptive method, a mathematical model M.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B for describing the reference movement B including the reference interactions by the measurement variables G.sub.k.sup.B, during a normal execution of the movement B by the model M.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B; predicting (103) signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B.sup.P(t) for describing the reference movement B, including the reference interactions by the measurement variables G.sub.k.sup.B; comparing (104) the signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) determined currently during the normal execution of the movement B with the predicted signals W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) for determining a deviation Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) between W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B.sup.P(t) and in W.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B; insofar as the deviation Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) does not meet a predefined condition BED.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B, based on the deviation Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) classifying (105) the current deviation Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t) in one of a number I of predefined error categories F.sub.i,G.sub.k.sub.B(Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B(t)), wherein predefined control information S.sub.F.sub.i.sub.,G.sub.k.sub.B(t) for the actuators AKT.sub.k is produced for each of the error categories F.sub.i,G.sub.k.sub.B(Δ.sub.G.sub.k.sub.B

A collision position estimation device allowing extraction of data related to a torque of a section related to collision of a cushion member includes a machine learning device. The machine learning device includes a state observation unit for observing axis movement data indicating information related to movement of the axis and motor torque data indicating data related to torque of a motor driving the axis as a state variable representing a current state of an environment, a label data acquisition unit for acquiring collision position data indicating the position of the axis during collision of the cushion member as label data, and a learning unit for associating and learning the information related to movement of the axis and the data related to the torque of the motor driving the axis with the position of the axis during collision of the cushion member using the state variable and the label data.

A failure diagnosis device applicable to a mechanical device provided with motors independent of One another as sources to drive motion axes, respectively, and configured to acquire a moving position of each motion axis and a disturbance torque value applied to the motion axis every predetermined period, and to diagnose a failure of the mechanical device, includes a failure diagnosis unit configured to diagnose the motion axis as a failure when the disturbance torque value is larger than a predetermined failure determination threshold, and a re-determination unit configured to conduct re-determination of the failure on the motion axis, which is diagnosed as the failure by the failure diagnosis unit, based on a previous maintenance record and a previous inspection result.

The present invention is directed to a method for mitigation of the damages in case of accidental collisions in a machine tool comprising a computer numerical control (CNC) and a plurality of axes, wherein the occurrence of collisions is monitored, comprises: identifying a first axis being an axis at which a collision is first detected, identifying a second axis being an axis parallel to said first axis, and determining if both or one or none of the axes are resting. If both are resting unlocking the first axis or both axes. If the first axis or second axis is not resting, then the moving axis is defined as the collider, and said moving axis is braked, and simultaneously the resting axis is unlocked or stepped away or held in position. If both axes are moving, defining a collider axis based on said identified first axis at which a collision has been first detected, braking said collider axis and simultaneously unlocking or stepping away the axis parallel to said collider axis.

A method of determining a joint torque in a joint of an articulated industrial robot, the robot having a first arm and a second arm which are coupled to each other by the joint and which are movable relative to each other by an electric drive unit coupled to the first and second arm, includes: controlling the electric drive unit by an electronic control device; assigning a measuring device to the electric drive unit, the measuring device measuring an electric current supplied to the drive unit; determining an actual value of the torque which is applied to the second arm from the measured electric current; and comparing, using the electronic control device, the determined actual torque value with a predetermined desired torque value for the joint.

A failure diagnosis device applicable to a mechanical device provided with a motor as a source to drive a motion axis, and configured to acquire a moving position of the motion axis and a disturbance torque value applied to the motion axis every predetermined period, and to diagnose that a failure is occurring when the disturbance torque value is larger than a failure determination threshold, includes a disturbance torque selector configured to calculate a change from a reference value of each of the acquired disturbance torque values, and to accumulate the disturbance torque values except each disturbance torque value having the change from the reference value equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold, and a failure diagnosis unit configured to diagnose a failure of the mechanical device by using the disturbance torque values accumulated by the disturbance torque selector.

A monitoring device of a robot system including: a current sensor detecting a value of a current flowing through the servo motor; a current/torque converting the value of the current flowing through the servo motor which is detected by the current sensor into a torque value; a driving torque estimating section estimating at least a part of driving torque required to drive the servo motor; a differential torque calculating differential torque between the torque value obtained by conversion in the current/torque converting section and an estimated value of the driving torque; an external force converting the differential torque calculated by the differential torque calculating section into an external force applied to the robot; and a stop signal generating section which generates to stop the robot based on a value of the external force obtained by conversion in the external force converting section, and supplies the stop signal to the controller.

A control system (10) according to the present invention includes a robot arm (11) provided in a manner capable of moving in a given space, a motor (14) for operating the robot arm (11), a torque adjustment device (16) for operating in a manner capable of adjusting a transmitted torque that is transmitted from the motor (14) to the robot arm (11), and a control device (19) for performing operation control of the robot arm (11). The robot arm (11) is provided with a gravity-compensating mechanism (12) for cancelling an effect of gravity due to the robot arm (11), and the control device (19) commands adjustment of the transmitted torque at the torque adjustment device (16), without taking into account the effect of the gravity of the robot arm (11).

A method of determining a joint torque in a joint of an articulated industrial robot, the robot having a first arm and a second arm which are coupled to each other by the joint and which are movable relative to each other by an electric drive unit coupled to the first and second arm, includes: controlling the electric drive unit by an electronic control device; assigning a measuring device to the electric drive unit, the measuring device measuring an electric current supplied to the drive unit; determining an actual value of the torque which is applied to the second arm from the measured electric current; and comparing, using the electronic control device, the determined actual torque value with a predetermined desired torque value for the joint.