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US 2018/0321671 A1Published application
Verification system for manufacturing processes
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsJohn Matthew Pistorius, Michael Bodach, Jonathan Fulton, Shibin Mathew, Nathan Lee Petty
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems, methods, and software products that provide enhanced efficiency in automated and semi-automated manufacturing processes by employing process intelligence to verify that a user-selected manufacturing process to be applied to a workpiece corresponds to the manufacturing process actually designated for that workpiece, thereby avoiding potentially costly manufacturing errors.
Claims20
A manufacturing system, comprising:
- a manufacturing apparatus configured to perform a manufacturing process on a workpiece in a workspace;
- a scanner configured to identify the workpiece in the workspace;
- a robotic controller configured to control the manufacturing apparatus to perform a desired manufacturing process by executing a corresponding control program;
- a user interface configured to permit a user to identify, from a plurality of control programs, a desired control program for execution by the robotic controller;
- a process controller that is in communication with the robotic controller, the user interface, a data server that contains a plurality of control programs, and a manufacturing database that contains a plurality of work orders;
- wherein the process controller is configured to:
- receive the identification of the user-identified control program;
- identify the workpiece in the workspace using the scanner;
- retrieve a work order for the identified workpiece from the manufacturing database that specifies a designated control program for an appropriate manufacturing process for the identified workpiece;
- and
- validate whether or not the desired control program matches the designated control program.
8 more elements
A method for validating a control program for a manufacturing apparatus, comprising:
- receiving at a process controller user-input of an identification of a desired control program for a robotic controller of a manufacturing apparatus;
- receiving at the process controller an identification of a workpiece positioned within a workspace of the manufacturing apparatus;
- retrieving by the process controller from a database containing a plurality of work orders a work order for the identified workpiece that specifies a designated control program for an appropriate manufacturing process;
- and
- validating by the process controller whether or not the desired control program matches the designated control program.
2 more elements
A computer program product, comprising:
- at least one computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions embodied therewith, the computer readable program instructions, when read by a processor, being configured to:
- receive user-input of an identification of a desired control program for a robotic controller of a manufacturing apparatus;
- receive a scanner input of an identification of a workpiece positioned within a workspace of the manufacturing apparatus;
- retrieve from a database containing a plurality of work orders a work order for the identified workpiece that designates a control program for an appropriate manufacturing process;
- and
- determine whether or not the desired control program matches the designated control program, and responsive to a match generate an output for transmitting the desired control program to the robotic controller for execution, to thereby cause the robotic controller to control the manufacturing apparatus to perform a desired manufacturing process on the identified workpiece.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.