Method and apparatus for picking/packing applications

A method comprising the steps of:

• providing a system including a plurality of robots, a plurality of robot controllers, and a conveyor, each of the robot controllers having a load re-balance subsystem, the load re-balance subsystem active on only one of the robot controllers, a load balance subsystem, a robot state change detector subsystem, a communicator subsystem, each of the robot controllers interconnected and in communication with one another via the communicator subsystems, and a motion control subsystem, each of the robots further having a workload;
• monitoring the state of the robots with at least one of the robot state change detector subsystems;
• communicating from the robot controller of the robot having had a change in state to the other robot controllers that the robot having had the change in state is ready to return to an original state;
• communicating an encoder value with global time for each of the other robots from each of the other robot controllers to the robot controller of the robot ready to return to the original state;
• comparing the encoder value with global time for each of the other robots to an encoder value with global time for the robot ready to return to the original state;
• and
• synchronizing the encoder count with global time for the robot ready to return to the original state with the encoder value with global time for each of the robots, whereby the robot ready to return to the original state may return to the original state without interrupting the operation of the other robots.

A robot system for picking and placing parts comprising:

• a plurality of robots each having an associated workload involving picking and placing selected ones of the parts;
• a plurality of robot controllers, each of the robots being connected to one of the robot controllers for operating the robots in accordance with the associated workloads;
• each of the robot controllers having a load re-balance subsystem, a load balance subsystem, a robot state change detector subsystem, a communicator subsystem, and a motion control subsystem, the subsystems being in communication within the robot controller and the robot controllers being interconnected and in communication via the communicator subsystems;
• and
• whereby when the robot state change detector subsystem of one of the robot controllers detects a change in state of one of the robots connected thereto, the one robot controller robot state change detector subsystem communicates the change in state to the load re-balance subsystem of the one robot controller, the one robot controller load re-balance subsystem responds to the change in state by recomputing workloads for all of the robots, the recomputing occurring on the one robot controller, and the one robot controller communicates the recomputed workloads from the one robot controller load re-balance subsystem to the load balance subsystems of all of the robot controllers.

A method for picking and placing parts comprising the steps of:

• providing a system including a plurality of robots connected with a plurality of robot controllers for operating the robots, each of the robot controllers having a load re-balance subsystem, a load balance subsystem, a robot state change detector subsystem, a communicator subsystem, and a motion control subsystem, the subsystems being in communication within the robot controller and the robot controllers being interconnected and in communication via the communicator subsystems, each of the robots further having an associated workload involving picking and placing selected ones of the parts;
• monitoring the state of the robots with at least one of the robot state change detector subsystems;
• communicating a change in state of one of the robots from the at least one robot state change detector subsystem to at least one of the load re-balance subsystems when the change in state of the one robot is detected;
• recomputing the workloads of the robots with the at least one load re-balance subsystem to adjust for the change in state of the one robot, the recomputing occurring on the robot controller of the one robot;
• and
• communicating the recomputed workloads from the at least one load re-balance subsystem to the load balance subsystem of each of the robot controllers, each of the load balance subsystems executing the recomputed workloads on the robots.

A method for picking and placing parts comprising the steps of:

• providing a system including a plurality of robot controllers each being connected to at least one robot of a plurality of robots, each of the robot controllers having a load re-balance subsystem, the load re-balance subsystem active on only one of the robot controllers, a load balance subsystem, a robot state change detector subsystem, a communicator subsystem, and a motion control subsystem, the subsystems being in communication within the robot controller and the robot controllers being interconnected and in communication via the communicator subsystems, each of the robots further having an associated workload involving picking and placing selected ones of the parts;
• monitoring the state of the robots with at least one of the robot state change detector subsystems;
• communicating a change in state of one of the robots from at least one of the robot state change detector subsystems to at least one of the load re-balance subsystems when the change in state of the one robot is detected;
• and
• causing the active load re-balance subsystem to migrate from the one robot controller to another of the robot controllers when the robot having the robot controller with the active load re-balance system has the change in state, a recomputing of workloads of the robots occurring on the another of the robot controllers to which the active load re-balance subsystem migrates.