Systems and methods that facilitate motion control through coordinate system transformations

• US 8,000,838 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Rockwell Automation, Inc.)
• Inventors: Milosevic, Slobodan, Schwarz, William C., Piatka, Michael, Brooks, Jeffrey W., Malaspina, Fabio, Bhatt, Jatin P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black; Thomas G
• Assistant Examiner(s): OLSEN, LIN B
• Application Number:
  US11/848,926
• Publication Number:
  US 20080051938A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 700/251
• US Class Current: 700/251
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1658 characterised by programming language
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 9/1669 characterised by special application, e.g. multi-arm co-operation, assembly, grasping
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/056 Programming the PLC
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4086 Coordinate conversions; Other special calculations
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/13106 Natural language, use simple words like move, rotate,
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33263 Conversion, transformation of coordinates, cartesian or polar
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33269 Convert cartesian to machine coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/36038 Ladder program for plc, using functions and motion data
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/39139 Produce program of slave from path of master and desired relative position

Abstract

The subject invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate motion between different coordinate systems in an industrial control environment. The systems and methods accept data in one coordinate system and transform the data to a different coordinate system. Suitable transformations include instructions that transform between Cartesian, pre-defined non-Cartesian, and user-defined non-Cartesian coordinate systems, including transformations between a non-Cartesian coordinate system to another non-Cartesian coordinate system. Such transformations can be programmed in essentially any industrial control language and can be seamlessly integrated with the control environment. The systems and methods can be utilized to generate a motion instruction that includes, among other information, source and target coordinate systems and the transformation between them. The subject invention provides for connecting various systems together through respective motion instructions, wherein a motion of a source system is mapped to a coordinate system of a target system and the target system is moved accordingly.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates motion control in an industrial control environment, comprising:

a transformation component that transforms a position from a first coordinate system to a second coordinate system of disparate type, the position relates to effectuating a motion of an industrial control device, the transformation component transforms the position into the second coordinate system by employing a user-defined transform written in an industrial control language; and

an industrial controller that controls the industrial control device based on the transformed position.

2. The system of claim 1, the motion effectuated by the position of the first coordinate system is transformed to a movement in the second coordinate system, control of the industrial device is facilitated by utilizing the movement.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface component that receives the first coordinate system position.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the interface component receives the first coordinate system position from control software or a graphical user interface.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or the second coordinate systems are a Cartesian coordinate system, a pre-defined non-Cartesian coordinate system, or a user-defined non-Cartesian coordinate system.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprises a user interface that allows a user to at least one of add, modify, or remove a transform in a transformation bank.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the transformation bank comprises a plurality of transforms available for use by the transformation component.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the user-defined transform is employed by a motion control instruction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the motion control instruction is a Motion Coordinated Transform (MCT) instruction or a Motion Calculate Transform Position (MCTP) instruction.

10. A method that facilitates motion control in an industrial control environment, comprising:

one or more processes executing on a processor to implement the following acts;

receiving a position coordinate from a source system;

transforming the position coordinate to a target system of disparate type than the source system;

wherein the position is transformed into the target system by employing a user-defined transformation written in an industrial control language; and

generating a movement instruction in the industrial control language based on the transformed position coordinate.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising effectuating motion of an industrial device based on the movement instruction.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the source system is motion control software or a graphical user interface.

13. The method of claim 10, providing a user interface that allows a user to at least one of add, modify, or remove a transform in a transformation bank.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the transformation bank comprises a plurality of transforms available for utilization in the transforming.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the position coordinate of the target system or the position coordinate of the source system correspond to a Cartesian coordinate system, a pre-defined non-Cartesian coordinate system;

or a user-defined non-Cartesian coordinate system.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the position coordinate of the target system and the position coordinate of the source system are defined in a joint space.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the movement instruction is a Motion Coordinated Transform (MCT) instruction or a Motion Calculate Transform Position (MCTP) instruction.

18. The system of claim 10, further comprising a transform that defines transformation of a position from the second coordinate system to the first coordinate system.

19. A system that facilitates motion control in an industrial control environment, comprising:

means for transforming a position from a first coordinate system to a second coordinate system based on a user-defined transformation;

wherein the user defined transformation is written in an industrial control language; and

means for moving an industrial device based at least in part on the transformed position.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the position transformed from the first coordinate system to the second coordinate system is based on a movement in the first coordinate system.