For humans, long-term practice will give birth to an instinctive and intuitive control of force and direction, that is, "feel".
However, as far as robots are concerned, whether they are humanoid robots that look like humans or industrial robots used in industrial production, they all coordinate the movement of each joint through "robot control", so as to achieve the smoothness of the overall movement.
For a long time, it has been a relentless pursuit in the field of robotics research to create human-like human-like robots. So, can robot control evolve to have a "feel" like a human being, so that the power and direction of control can be naturally controlled?
▍The world's first? The SCIMC controller enables the convergence of motion and motor control
In the traditional architecture, robot control is mainly composed of two parts: one is the servo control of the joint, which may be realized by servo motors or electro-hydraulic servo actuators, which are responsible for controlling the movement of a single dimension; The other part is the overall control, for example, in industrial robots, the motion controller is responsible for giving motion instructions to each joint, ensuring that the movement of the entire robotic arm is as expected.
Early industrial robots or multi-axis industrial equipment control architectures
In early industrial robot or multi-axis industrial equipment control architectures, the motion controller communicated with the servo controller via pulse signals. The number and frequency of pulses determine the distance and speed of the movement, respectively. However, with the increasing requirements of users for robot motion speed and accuracy, this control architecture can no longer meet the increasingly complex data interaction needs.
As a result, most modern industrial robots have moved to a bus architecture. In this architecture, the motion controller is able to obtain global information, including the force on the robotic arm, to predict the output of the motor, and feed this information forward to the servo controller via the bus. This improvement significantly improves the dynamic performance of industrial robots, and the more comprehensive and timely the information, the more conducive to decision-making.
The current mainstream control architecture of industrial robots
However, even though the bus architecture brings significant performance gains, it still faces technical bottlenecks such as "bus communication bandwidth" and "bus absolute latency". These problems not only affect the motion performance of the robot, but also pose a challenge to the control engineer.
By examining the evolution process, a clear development trend can be identified: robot motion control technology is gradually moving towards the integration of multi-sensor and multi-motor integrated control from a single motor based on a simple PID to a single motor control based on a motion physical model, and then to a multi-motor integrated control that meets the motion needs of the whole machine.
In this context, JEBT Robot has brought a technological revolution to the industrial robot industry by relying on the single-chip multi-axis drive and control integrated motion controller SCIMC with completely independent intellectual property rights. The controller innovatively integrates motion control and motor control functions into a single chip, resulting in higher processing performance and real-time responsiveness. With the addition of FPGA coprocessors, the platform's responsiveness has been significantly improved.
JBT robot single-chip drive control integrated core board (only the size of a business card)
According to JEBT Robotics, its world's first single-chip multi-core heterogeneous drive and control integrated motion controller technology (SCIMC) has been authorized by invention patents in China, the United States, the European Union and Japan. The underlying technology of SCIMC architecture deeply integrates motion control algorithms, motor control algorithms and electromechanical design technologies to build a high-performance industrial robot development platform. At present, this technology has been innovatively applied to large-scale industrial robots by Geebt Robotics.
▍5KHz refresh rate? HyperRing technology enables precise closed-loop control and human-like operation
JBT Robotics has also launched the "HyperRing" technology to achieve global force control and precise teaching of industrial robots.
This technology is based on the integrated architecture of single-chip drive and control, and realizes the precise closed-loop control of the end of the arm in Cartesian space through the unified control of multiple sensors and multiple joints, bringing unprecedented overall force control and drag teaching function with Cartesian space constraints to industrial robots.
Closed-loop control of traditional servo controllers
With the unique SCIMC architecture, HyperRing technology enables closed-loop control of the entire arm. This process not only integrates a variety of sensor information of all joints, but also embeds the system dynamics and kinematic algorithms of the whole machine for comprehensive calculation, ensuring that the output of each joint is updated in real time at a refresh rate of 5KHz. This innovative technology enables the arm to achieve force perception and action restraint on a global scale, so as to exhibit different stiffness characteristics in different degrees of freedom, providing more possibilities for the application of industrial robots.
Ultra-closed-loop architecture of N-joint robots
According to relevant technicians, the introduction of HyperRing technology is equivalent to giving industrial robots a more natural and intuitive way of control. Analogous to the action of a human picking up a pen and drawing a straight line, people focus on the trajectory of the pen rather than the specific rotation of each joint on the arm. Similarly, HyperRing technology enables the robot to control the entire arm as a whole, rather than being limited to individual joints. Compared with traditional servo control, HyperRing technology not only forms a closed-loop control on a single motor, but also realizes the combination of high-frequency adjustment and predicted output on a global scale. This control method is closer to the natural movement habits of humans, allowing the robot to be more flexible and accurate when performing tasks.
"Wipe the table" style free drag | It can be dragged horizontally, and maintains high rigidity in the vertical direction
"Fixed Point" free drag | The end point of the tool does not move, and the pose can be changed by dragging
With the support of the SCIMC architecture, Gebtech Robotics applied HyperRing technology to its C series robots and successfully achieved full-arm closed-loop control of up to 5KHz. With this technology, the end of the robot arm can exhibit compliance in specific degrees of freedom while maintaining high rigidity in other degrees of freedom to meet the needs of different application scenarios.
In the future, HyperRing technology is expected to be combined with visual and tactile sensing information to further improve the intelligence and human-like level of industrial robots.
▍With both technology and strength, we will extend and develop a diversified robot product line
With the innovative single-chip multi-axis drive and control integrated controller SCIMC and advanced HyperRing technology, JB Robotics has successfully extended and developed a diverse robot product line, including industrial six-axis robots, SCARA robots, collaborative robots, and launched supporting robot control cabinets and software packages.
It is worth noting that Gebot Robot not only provides customers with high-performance, high-quality, cost-effective, and easy-to-use robot products and functional software, but also provides comprehensive service support, including training and maintenance, technical support and program consulting. Its products have been widely used in consumer electronics, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, semiconductors, auto parts, food, medicine, beauty, FMCG, machine tools and other fields, helping customers achieve production automation and standardization, effectively reducing production costs, and significantly improving production efficiency.