Image sensors distributed about a workcell including industrial machinery are registered using a registration object and an information tag associated therewith. The tag contains information specifying the location of the object and/or the pose of the object. This information is acquired along with images of the registration object, and the sensors are registered based at least in part on the images and the acquired information.

Image sensors distributed about a workcell including industrial machinery are registered using a registration object and an information tag associated therewith. The tag contains information specifying the location of the object and/or the pose of the object. This information is acquired along with images of the registration object, and the sensors are registered based at least in part on the images and the acquired information.

Control systems for industrial machinery (e.g., robots) or other devices such as medical devices utilize a safety processor (SP) designed for integration into safety applications and computational components that are not necessarily safety-rated. The SP monitors performance of the non-safety computational components, including latency checks and verification of identical outputs. One or more sensors send data to the non-safety computational components for sophisticated processing and analysis that the SP cannot not perform, but the results of this processing are sent to the SP, which then generates safety-rated signals to the machinery or device being controlled by the SP. As a result, the system may qualify for a safety rating despite the ability to perform complex operations beyond the scope of safety-rated components.

Control systems for industrial machinery (e.g., robots) or other devices such as medical devices utilize a safety processor (SP) designed for integration into safety applications and computational components that are not necessarily safety-rated. The SP monitors performance of the non-safety computational components, including latency checks and verification of identical outputs. One or more sensors send data to the non-safety computational components for sophisticated processing and analysis that the SP cannot not perform, but the results of this processing are sent to the SP, which then generates safety-rated signals to the machinery or device being controlled by the SP. As a result, the system may qualify for a safety rating despite the ability to perform complex operations beyond the scope of safety-rated components.

The invention relates to a sensor arrangement and to a method for safeguarding a monitored zone at a machine. The sensor arrangement comprises a camera continuously generating 3D images, a control and evaluation unit for the position detection of objects in the monitored zone and, in the case of a hazardous position, initiating a safety-directed response of the machine, with a buffer memory unit being provided for storing last recorded images and with a 3D reference map being prepared from the stored images when the safety-directed response was initiated, a voxel identification unit being provided for flagging those voxels in the current 3D image whose coordinates differ by a specified distance from those of the corresponding voxels of the reference map, a movement recognition unit being provided in which the voxels thus identified are examined as to whether they display position changes that are above a fixed threshold in the course of a fixed number of further current images, and independently thereof, a restart signal for the machine being able to be output at an output.

In an embodiment, a method during execution of a motion plan by a robotic arm includes determining a voice command from speech of a user said during the execution of the motion plan, determining a modification of the motion plan based on the voice command from the speech of the user, and executing the modification of the motion plan by the robotic arm.

An acquisition section 42 acquires a pose at a clock time ti and a pose at a clock time tj for each of plural robots, and acquires structural information. Based on structural information a computation section 44 computes positions of the prescribed part for each of the robots at the clock times ti, tj and at a midway clock times tc. A possibility determination section determines a possibility of interference, based on any overlap between added-margin regions resulting from addition of a prescribed margin to a circumscribing shape containing positions of the prescribed part at the clock times ti, tj, and tc for each of the robots. In cases in which there is a possibility of interference, an end determination section 48 sets tc so as to be a new ti or a new tj, and causes processing of the computation section 44 and the possibility determination section 46 to be executed repeatedly until a spacing between the prescribed parts satisfies an end condition. When determined that the end condition has been satisfied, an interference determination section 50 determines whether or not there is interference between the prescribed parts between the robots at any of the positions at ti, tc, and tj.

An acquisition section 42 acquires a pose at a clock time ti and a pose at a clock time tj for each of plural robots, and acquires structural information. Based on structural information a computation section 44 computes positions of the prescribed part for each of the robots at the clock times ti, tj and at a midway clock times tc. A possibility determination section determines a possibility of interference, based on any overlap between added-margin regions resulting from addition of a prescribed margin to a circumscribing shape containing positions of the prescribed part at the clock times ti, tj, and tc for each of the robots. In cases in which there is a possibility of interference, an end determination section 48 sets tc so as to be a new ti or a new tj, and causes processing of the computation section 44 and the possibility determination section 46 to be executed repeatedly until a spacing between the prescribed parts satisfies an end condition. When determined that the end condition has been satisfied, an interference determination section 50 determines whether or not there is interference between the prescribed parts between the robots at any of the positions at ti, tc, and tj.

An information processing system includes a request accepting unit for accepting a request for a selected pot to store a selected tool in a pot of a machine tool magazine; a storing unit for storing a setting value in each of a first cell and a second cell of the selected pot; a selecting unit for selecting the first cell or the second cell for the selected pot; a determining unit for determining a condition to store the selected tool in the selected pot on the basis of a size of each tool, a selected cell, and a storage condition of each of the pots; and an informing unit for informing when the condition of storage is not met.

In a method for operating an industrial facility which has at least one mobile system, a base map of the industrial facility is generated, which has information about at least one vehicle-accessible region and at least one closed region; a correction map of the industrial facility is generated, which has information about at least one vehicle-accessible region and at last one closed region; the base map is overlaid with the correction map; at least one metric feature of the base map is replaced by a metric feature of the correction map when a difference between a metric feature of the base map and a metric feature of the correction map is detected.