Control System and Methods for a Workpiece Transfer System Having Multiple Arms Coupled to a Moveable Rail

A system comprising:

• a workpiece transfer subsystem configured to transfer a workpiece between successive workstations, wherein the workpiece transfer subsystem comprises a rail and a plurality of arms coupled to the rail, wherein each arm comprises (i) a plurality of arm linkages coupled at respective joints, (ii) an arm controller, and (iii) respective joint controllers in communication with the arm controller and configured to actuate respective rotary actuators at the respective joints to move the plurality of arm linkages relative to each other;
• a system controller having access to a task and workpiece database comprising task identification information for a variety of manufacturing tasks to be performed on a variety of workpieces;
• and
• a supervisory controller in communication with the system controller and respective arm controllers of the plurality of arms, wherein the supervisory controller has access to a motion plans database comprising respective motion plans corresponding to the variety of manufacturing tasks, wherein each motion plan comprises a sequence of movements for each arm of the plurality of arms and the respective joints indicating when a respective rotary actuator is to be actuated and an order in which respective rotary actuators are actuated to achieve a final desired configuration for the plurality of arms, wherein the supervisory controller comprises one or more processors, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the supervisory controller to perform operations comprising:
• receiving task identification information from the system controller,
• retrieving a motion plan corresponding to the task identification information,
• sending command signals to respective arm controllers of the plurality of arms to communicate respective command signals to the respective joint controllers and execute the motion plan, and
• once the final desired configuration is achieved, commanding the respective arm controllers to lock the respective joints.