US 11,953,888 B2
Production cell
Alfons Riek, Weilheim (DE); Curt-Michael Stoll, Esslingen (DE); Hans Klingel, Stuttgart (DE); Marcel Aeschlimann, Ligerz (CH); Samuel Malzach, Evilard (CH); Christian Schmid, Feusisberg (CH); Christoph Berger, Oberburg (CH); Judith Wimmer, Biel (CH); Ivo Aschwanden, Zürich (CH); Kilian Iannucci, Bern (CH); Alexandra Krause, Zürich (CH); Markus Andreas Müller, Zürich (CH); Martin Helmer, Zürich (CH); and Peter Barmettler, Bern (CH)
Assigned to Festo SE & Co. KG, Esslingen (DE)
Appl. No. 16/759,621
Filed by Festo SE & Co. KG, Esslingen (DE)
PCT Filed Oct. 25, 2018, PCT No. PCT/EP2018/079326
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 27, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/081663, PCT Pub. Date May 2, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 17198995 (EP), filed on Oct. 27, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2021/0370497 A1, Dec. 2, 2021
Int. Cl. G05B 19/418 (2006.01); B23P 21/00 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01); B25J 9/16 (2006.01); G05B 19/18 (2006.01)
CPC G05B 19/41845 (2013.01) [B23P 21/004 (2013.01); B25J 9/0096 (2013.01); B25J 9/1682 (2013.01); B25J 9/1697 (2013.01); G05B 19/18 (2013.01); G05B 19/41815 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A production cell comprising:
at least one robot or manipulator arranged to handle products;
at least one buffer area for intermediate storage of products inside the production cell;
a vision system arranged to determine the identity and/or the location of objects in the production cell;
a plurality of production modules, each production module comprising at least one Hardware Module configured to process products, wherein each of the plurality of production modules is associated with a respective procedural component that defines actions that can be performed by the production module plugged in the production cell and by the at least one robot or manipulator of the production cell; and
a plurality of module attachment locations, each module attachment location being configured to connect with an interface section of a production module through a power connection and optionally a physical connection, allowing the production cell to be reconfigured by interchanging production modules,
wherein a data processing system controlling the production cell determines the identity and location of the production modules and generates from these identities and the locations a computer-based representation of the current state of the production cell, and
wherein the data processing system retrieves information describing the Hardware Module and software associated with the Hardware Module, and
wherein the data processing system stores information about a status of the Hardware Module in association with an identity of the Hardware Module, wherein the respective procedural components are stored by the data processing system, and wherein the status and the respective procedural component, together with actions performed by the Hardware Module, are retrieved in the case of failure and used to determine other Hardware Modules that can take over all or part of the tasks of the failed Hardware Module.