Intelligent system for generating and executing a sheet metal bending plan
First Claim
1. 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, 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; 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.
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Abstract
An intelligent sheet metal bending system is disclosed, having a cooperative generative planning system. A planning module interacts with several expert modules to develop a bending plan. The planning module utilizes a state-space search algorithm. Computerized methods are provided for selecting a robot gripper and a repo gripper, and for determining the optimal placement of such grippers as they are holding a workpiece being formed by the bending apparatus. Computerized methods are provided for selecting tooling to be used by the bending apparatus, and for determining a tooling stage layout. An operations planning method is provided which allows the bending apparatus to be set up concurrently while time-consuming calculations, such as motion planning, are performed. An additional method or system is provided for positioning tooling stages by using a backgage guide member which guides placement of a tooling stage along the die rail the bending apparatus. A method is provided for learning motion control offset values, and for eliminating the need for superfluous sensor-based control operations once the motion control offset values are known. The planning system may be used for facilitating functions such as design and assembly system, which may perform designing, costing, scheduling and/or manufacture and assembly.
108 Citations
79 Claims
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1. 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, 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:
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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; 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.
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2. 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, 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:
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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;
estimating means for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend; and
generating means for generating 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 and the estimated cost associated with each proposed bend. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. 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:
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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 said 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 repositions of the gripper needed to complete a set 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 bends 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 bends chosen by the generating means.
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34. 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:
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a proposing system 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;
a subplan system for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend, said proposed subplan comprising setup and control information for said bending apparatus;
an estimating system for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend; and
generating system for generating 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. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. 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:
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a setup planning system 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 a manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
a forwarding system for forwarding said setup subplan, to a signaling system for signaling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan; and
a finalizing system 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 signaling system, wherein said setup subplan comprises positions of tooling stages along a die rail of said bending apparatus.
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65. 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:
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a setup planning system 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 a manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
a forwarding system for forwarding said setup subplan, to a signaling system for signaling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan; and
a finalizing system 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 signaling system, wherein said setup subplan comprises information regarding a type of gripper to use for manipulating the workpiece through the bend sequence.
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66. 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:
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a setup planning system 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 a manner in which the bending apparatus is to be setup before commencing the first bend in said sequence of bends;
a forwarding system for forwarding said setup subplan, to a signaling system for signaling commencement of setup operations to be performed in accordance with said setup subplan; and
a finalizing system 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 signaling system, wherein said setup subplan comprises information regarding a type of repo gripper to use for holding the workpiece while a gripper changes a grip on the workpiece between bends of the bend sequence.
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67. A system for performing setup operations on a bending apparatus so that the bending apparatus can be utilized to perform bending operations on workpieces comprising sheets of malleable material, the bending apparatus comprising a die rail, a tool punch holding mechanism, and one or more tooling stages, each tooling stage comprising a die mounted on said die rail and a tool punch held by said punch holding mechanism, said system comprising:
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a system for receiving information regarding a location of each of said one or more tooling stages along said die rail; and
a control system for controlling a position of a guide member along at least one of said die rail and said tool punch holding mechanism based upon the received information so that at least one of said die and said tool punch can be aligned with reference to said guide member so that the resulting tooling stage will be at a desired location along said die rail. - View Dependent Claims (68)
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69. 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:
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a sensor-based control system for performing an operation, including movement of a workpiece from one position to another position, said bending apparatus utilizing a sensor output to modify movement of the workpiece;
a measuring system for measuring an amount by which movement of the workpiece was modified due to the sensor output; and
a learned control system for performing said operation, including moving the workpiece from one position to another position, without modifying movement of the workpiece utilizing a sensor output, said learned control system controlling performance of said operation based upon the amount measured by said measuring system.
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70. 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, 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:
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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 bending apparatus;
prioritizing means for prioritizing proposed bends in accordance with bend heuristics determined based upon the geometry of the workpiece; 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. - View Dependent Claims (71)
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72. 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:
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a proposing system 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;
a subplan system for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
a generating system 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
an estimating system for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend, wherein said generating system 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 cost k calculated based upon an estimated amount of time it will take the bending apparatus to complete one or more operations of the bend. - View Dependent Claims (74, 75, 76, 77)
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73. 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:
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a proposing system 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;
a subplan system for providing a proposed subplan that accompanies each proposed bend;
a generating system 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
a estimating system for estimating a cost to be associated with each proposed bend, wherein said generating system 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 cost h 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. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79)
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Specification