A method and apparatus for determining a trajectory of a robot's end effector are disclosed. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a force obtaining device to obtain a collision force of the end effector of the robot, caused by a collision of the end effector upon the collision being detected; and a trajectory determining device to determine a second trajectory of the end effector based on the collision force of the end effector obtained, and based on a recorded first trajectory of the end effector. The recorded first trajectory is a trajectory recorded before the collision, and the second trajectory is a trajectory determined after the collision. As such, an efficient protection for the robot and its working environment at the moment of collision may be achieved.

The present invention addresses the issue of providing a robot system and a robot operation method whereby, even if an issue occurs with an EOAT (a tool attached to the tip of a robot arm) and repair is required during application processing work by a robot, that repair does not take a lot of time or effort, errors do not occur during restoration work, and the restoration can be conducted quickly. This issue is solved by the present invention being configured so as to enable application processing work to be resumed by a user program that had been interrupted, after: returning back along the path recorded during progress by the robot tool; causing the tool to exit the work region; removing the cause of the error; then moving forward again along the recorded tool path to return to the point at which the error occurred.

A method and apparatus for determining a trajectory of a robot's end effector are disclosed. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a force obtaining device to obtain a collision force of the end effector of the robot, caused by a collision of the end effector upon the collision being detected; and a trajectory determining device to determine a second trajectory of the end effector based on the collision force of the end effector obtained, and based on a recorded first trajectory of the end effector. The recorded first trajectory is a trajectory recorded before the collision, and the second trajectory is a trajectory determined after the collision. As such, an efficient protection for the robot and its working environment at the moment of collision may be achieved.

Executable format data resulting from decoding of a positioning block (retraction block) prior to start of cutting and an end point coordinate position P1 for command for the retraction block are stored. When machining is interrupted and a request for retraction of a tool is input, a retracting operation 1 is performed to retract the tool from a machining interruption position P2 to the stored end point coordinate position P1 of the retraction block. Subsequently, the stored executable format data of the retraction block is executed, with a moving direction for the executable format data being reversed to move the tool. The tool performs a retracting operation 2 of moving in the opposite direction along a moving path for in the retraction block. The retracting operations 1, 2 allow the tool to be retracted while avoiding interfering with other members.

Executable format data resulting from decoding of a positioning block (retraction block) prior to start of cutting and an end point coordinate position P1 for command for the retraction block are stored. When machining is interrupted and a request for retraction of a tool is input, a retracting operation 1 is performed to retract the tool from a machining interruption position P2 to the stored end point coordinate position P1 of the retraction block. Subsequently, the stored executable format data of the retraction block is executed, with a moving direction for the executable format data being reversed to move the tool. The tool performs a retracting operation 2 of moving in the opposite direction along a moving path for in the retraction block. The retracting operations 1, 2 allow the tool to be retracted while avoiding interfering with other members.

A method and apparatus for failure handling of a robot having at least a first and a second movement axis are disclosed. In one embodiment the method includes receiving a first position information of the first movement axis for a first point of time and a first position information of the second movement axis for the first point of time and storing the received first position information as a motion data set, receiving a second position information of the first movement axis for a second point of time and a second position information of the second movement axis for the second point of time and storing the received second position information in the motion data set and controlling the robot according to a failure procedure.