Generalized kinematics system
AssigneeHurco Companies, Inc.
InventorsPaul J. Gray, Jiang Lu, Kishore Lankalapalli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure includes a generalized kinematics library which may be used to control the motion of a machine tool system and to process data for other applications, such as simulation graphics. Methods are disclosed to interpolate the movement of various axes of a machine tool system through a machine singularity point.
Claims16
A method for controlling the movement of a machine tool system to machine a part, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a machine configuration corresponding to the machine tool system, the machine configuration identifying a plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool system and a plurality of interdependencies therebetween;
- automatically self-configuring with a software controller a virtual kinematics machine based on the machine configuration and a generalized kinematics library, the virtual kinematics machine including a plurality of virtual axes, the plurality of virtual axes corresponding to the plurality of moveable axes identified in the machine configuration, the plurality of virtual axes being interrelated based on the plurality of interdependencies identified in the machine configuration;
- and
- receiving input data corresponding to a shape of the part;
- wherein the virtual kinematics machine generates positions for the plurality of moveable axes of the machine tool system based on the input data.
A method of programming multiple machine tool systems with a software controller, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a generalized kinematics library accessible by the software controller;
- automatically self-configuring with the software controller a first virtual kinematics machine based on (1) a first machine configuration corresponding to a first machine tool system, and (2) the generalized kinematics library, the first virtual kinematics machine including a plurality of virtual axes being interrelated based on a plurality of interdependencies identified in the first machine configuration;
- and
- automatically self-configuring with the software controller a second virtual kinematics machine based on (1) a second machine configuration corresponding to a second machine tool system, and (2) the generalized kinematics library, the second virtual kinematics machine including a plurality of virtual axes being interrelated based on a plurality of interdependencies identified in the second machine configuration,
- wherein the second machine configuration is different from the first machine configuration such that the second virtual kinematics machine has different kinematics than the first virtual kinematics machine.
A method of configuring a software controller of a machine tool system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a generalized kinematics library accessible by the software controller;
- receiving information regarding a configuration of the machine tool system, the configuration identifying a plurality of orthogonal moveable axes of the machine tool system and a plurality of interdependencies therebetween;
- automatically self-configuring with the software controller an instance of the generalized kinematics library which corresponds to the machine tool system based on the received information regarding the configuration of the machine tool system;
- and
- controlling a movement of the plurality of orthogonal moveable axes through the instance of the generalized kinematics library.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.