Telemanufacturing workcell over the Internet

Abstract

A workcell environment consisting of a robot and image acquisition system is set up for control over the Internet. The first phase of the project explores supervisory control of the workcell through the use of CGI, a standard for external gateway programs to interface with HTTP servers. Robot motion consists of movement to preprogrammed points and limited fine motion in 3 axes. Supervisory control is also extended to programming a series of motions for a robot to follow through. The current phase of the project abandons the use of CGI and the batch oriented regime of workcell control. A protocol is developed for the end-user interface program to communicate with a workcell server directly. Commands are sent to the server which in turn directs the robot to perform the associated motion. The workcell server also provides information for end-user interface programs to generate a 3D model of the robot setup. A separate HTTP-based video feedback system dispatches images to workcell supervisors. The work here provides basis on which to build a more general protocol for Internet control of not only robots but also other devices. A component approach towards building the workcell allows for hardware independence and the ease of integration of other elements of feedback.