Programming and control of multiple robotic devices in coordinated motion

An approach and an architecture for programming and control of multiple robotic devices are presented. The system allows multiple multiaxis devices to be controlled simultaneously by a single controller (up to a total of 12 axes in the current implementation). The devices can be moved synchronously or asynchronously. The motion of a device can be explicitly expressed as a Cartesian path in a moving reference frame attached to another moving device for fully coordinated motion with minimum teaching requirements. The kinematics of coordinated motion and the multidevice programming/control schemes are reviewed. The underlying multitasking motion control software architecture which makes these options possible is highlighted. Necessary extensions to the RAIL robot programming language for multirobot coordinated motion, motion multitasking, and tight integration with end-of-tool processes (such as welding) are covered. The modular software architecture of the overall robot programming and control system, the multiple levels of user access and interfacing, and the options for application and system-level software development are also highlighted. Implementations of the architecture on multiprocessing computer systems and recent representative applications are outlined