Intelligent system for generating and executing a sheet metal bending plan

A system for generating a plan which comprises a sequence of operations to be performed by a bending apparatus for bending workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the bending apparatus having a gripper for gripping a workpiece while performing a bend, said sequence of operations comprising a set of N bends for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• proposing means for proposing, for an mth operation within the sequence of operations, a plurality of proposed operations including a plurality of proposed bends to be performed by said apparatus;
• subplan means for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
• generating means for generating a plan including a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends and the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
• and
• estimating means for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend,
• wherein said generating means generates a plan including a sequence of bends from a first through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends, the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, and the estimated cost associated with each proposed bend,
• wherein the estimated cost associated with an nth bend in the sequence of N bends comprises a k cost calculated based upon an estimated amount of time it will take the bending apparatus to complete one or more operations of the bend.

A system for generating a plan which comprises a sequence of operations to be performed by a bending apparatus for bending workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the bending apparatus having a gripper for gripping a workpiece while performing a bend, said sequence of operations comprising a set of N bends for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• proposing means for proposing, for an mth operation within the sequence of operations, a plurality of proposed operations including a plurality of proposed bends to be performed by said apparatus;
• subplan means for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
• generating means for generating a plan including a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends and the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
• and
• estimating means for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend,
• wherein said generating means generates a plan including a sequence of bends from a first through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends, the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, and the estimated cost associated with each proposed bend,
• wherein the estimated cost associated with an nth bend in the sequence of N bends comprises an h cost calculated based upon an estimated total amount of time it will take the bending apparatus to complete one or more operations of each of the rest of the bends in the bend sequence that follow the nth bend.

In a computer having at least one processor and a memory, a method for selecting a gripper for holding a workpiece to be utilized by a bending apparatus for bending unfinished workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, said method comprising:

• reading information describing the geometry of a library of grippers to be chosen from;
• forming a set of available grippers excluding grippers that have certain undesigned geometric figures;
• choosing a gripper from the set of available grippers as a function of the width of the gripper, the length of the gripper, and the knuckle height of the gripper;
• predicting, for each gripper within the set of available grippers, a repo number equal to an estimated number of times the bending apparatus will need to change the position at which the gripper is holding the workpiece in order to perform a complete sequence of bending operations on the workpiece;
• determining the smallest predicted repo number;
• and
• adjusting the set of available grippers to include the available grippers having a repo number equal to the smallest predicted repo number, before choosing a gripper as a function of the grippers width, length and knuckle height.

In a computer having at least one processor and a memory, a method for selecting tooling to be used in a bending apparatus for bending a workpiece comprising a sheet of malleable material, the tooling including at least a die and a punch, the bending apparatus performing, utilizing the selected tooling, a sequence of operations comprising a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, said method comprising:

• reading information describing the geometry of a library of dies and punches;
• forming sets of feasible dies and punches by excluding dies and punches that have an insufficient force capacity to bend the workpiece and that are incapable of forming desired bends in the workpiece resulting in desired bend angles and desired inside radii;
• choosing an appropriate die and appropriate punch that most closely satisfies force, bend angle, and inside radii requirements by excluding punches that will likely collide with the workpiece as determined by failure of a geometric collision test;
• and
• generating a proposed subplan to accompany each proposed bend in the sequence of bends, said proposed subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus.

In a computer having at least one processor and a memory, a method for determining a layout of tooling stages along a die rail of a bending apparatus, said bending apparatus being adapted to bend workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, by performing a sequence of operations comprising a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, said method comprising:

• deciding on an arrangement of a plurality of stages along said die rail;
• calculating lateral limits based upon the amount by which the workpiece extends beyond a side edge of a tooling stage for the bends of said sequence of bends;
• determining a largest lateral limit for each side of each stage;
• and
• spacing adjacently arranged stages to have a gap between adjacent side edges that is greater than or equal to the larger of the determined largest lateral limits of the adjacent side edges.

A system for generating a plan and for controlling a bending apparatus, the plan comprising a sequence of operations to be performed by the bending apparatus, the bending apparatus being adapted to bend workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the sequence of operations comprising a sequence of bends, from a first bend through an Nth bend, for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• setup planning means for generating said sequence of bends and a setup subplan, said setup subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus, said setup and control information including information regarding the manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
• forwarding means for forwarding said setup subplan, once generated, to signalling means for signalling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan;
• and
• finalizing means for generating detailed subplan information to complete said plan after said setup subplan has been generated, at least part of said detailed subplan information being generated after the commencement of setup operations has been signaled by said signalling means,
• wherein said setup subplan comprises positions of tooling stages along a die rail of said bending apparatus.

A system for generating a plan and for controlling a bending apparatus, the plan comprising a sequence of operations to be performed by the bending apparatus, the bending apparatus being adapted to bend workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the sequence of operations comprising a sequence of bends, from a first bend through an Nth bend, for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• setup planning means for generating said sequence of bends and a setup subplan, said setup subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus, said setup and control information including information regarding the manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
• forwarding means for forwarding said setup subplan, once generated, to signalling means for signalling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan;
• and
• finalizing means for generating detailed subplan information to complete said plan after said setup subplan has been generated, at least part of said detailed subplan information being generated after the commencement of setup operations has been signaled by said signalling means,
• wherein said setup subplan comprises information regarding what type of gripper to use for manipulating the workpiece through the bend sequence.

A system for generating a plan and for controlling a bending apparatus, the plan comprising a sequence of operations to be performed by the bending apparatus, the bending apparatus being adapted to bend workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the sequence of operations comprising a sequence of bends, from a first bend through an Nth bend, for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• setup planning means for generating said sequence of bends and a setup subplan, said setup subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus, said setup and control information including information regarding the manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
• forwarding means for forwarding said setup subplan, once generated, to signalling means for signalling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan;
• and
• finalizing means for generating detailed subplan information to complete said plan after said setup subplan has been generated, at least part of said detailed subplan information being generated after the commencement of setup operations has been signaled by said signalling means,
• wherein said setup subplan comprises information regarding what type of repo gripper to use for holding the workpiece while a gripper changes its grasp on the workpiece in between bends of the bend sequence.

A system for executing a plan for controlling a bending apparatus for bending workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the plan comprising a sequence of operations to be performed by the bending apparatus, said system comprising:

• sensor-based control means for performing an operation, including moving a workpiece from one position to another, with said bending apparatus utilizing a sensor output to modify the movement of the workpiece;
• measuring means for measuring an amount by which the movement of the workpiece was modified due to the sensor output;
• and
• learned control means for performing said operation, including moving the workpiece from one position to another, without modifying the movement of the workpiece utilizing a sensor output, said learned control means controlling performance of said operation based upon the amount measured by said measuring means.

A system for generating a plan which comprises a sequence of operations to be performed by a bending apparatus for bending workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the bending apparatus having a gripper for gripping a workpiece while performing a bend, said sequence of operations comprising a set of N bends for forming a finished workpiece from a stock sheet of malleable material, said system comprising:

• proposing means for proposing, for an mth operation within the sequence of operations, a plurality of proposed operations including a plurality of proposed bends to be performed by said apparatus;
• subplan means for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, said proposed subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus, said proposed subplan further comprising numbers, each of said numbers representing a predicted number of repositionings of the gripper needed to complete the sequence of bends;
• and
• generating means for generating a plan including a sequence of bends from a first bend through an Nth bend, by choosing each bend in the sequence of operations based upon the proposed bends and the proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, said generated plan further comprising at least part of the proposed subplans that accompany the chosen bends.