Piaget for the Smart Control of Complex Robotized Applications in Industry

Abstract

The control of smart robots, and now similarly smart applications in Factory Automation require programming and control capabilities at the integral level of many heterogeneous resources. Significant proposals exist for this purpose, such as ROS, yet we had to develop an original solution, "Piaget". Piaget can be deployed at a very low level, with very fast capabilities (e.g. 100 nanosecond long time slots in average), but more and more is concentrated on higher hierarchical levels, where it brings the capability to flexibly coordinate multiple, largely smart and otherwise autonomous subsystems. This perfectly reflects fundamental constraints in closed-loop control, which occurs in numerous instances for a smart system. Piaget is especially useful in three important phases of projects: development, programming, and real-time operation. An industrial case is studied, involving multiple, otherwise independent, commercially available subsystems, such as industrial robot arm, PLC, IP camera or joint controller. As always, a special endeffector, here multi-tool, had to be designed for the application. Highlight is given of selected software items, relating to the overall application, to the robot arm, or to the vision part. Experiments are reported, addressing three of the most significant process components. Outcomes are successful.