WO2024032578A1 - Control module, control apparatus and robot - Google Patents

Abstract

A control module (30), comprising: a central control assembly (12), at least one sensing management driving assembly (15), at least one execution management driving assembly (14), and at least one control logic assembly (11); the sensing management driving assembly (15) is used to drive a sensing management module; the execution management driving assembly (14) is used to drive an execution management module; the control logic assembly (11) is connected to the central control assembly (12); and the control logic assembly (11) is separately connected to the sensing management driving assembly (15) and the execution management driving assembly (14). Also provided are a control apparatus and a robot. For each joint of the robot, a control loop may be formed by one control logic assembly (11). When the robot has many degrees of freedom/joints, the control logic assemblies (11) may enable the respective control loops of multiple joints to perform parallel computing, with relatively high response efficiency. Each control module (30) may be used to control one multi-degree-of-freedom limb or multi-degree-of-freedom part structure, and one upper computer (40) of the robot may control the whole body of the robot in a coordinated manner by means of controlling multiple control modules (30).

Description

Control modules, control devices and robots Technical field

This application belongs to the field of robot technology, and more specifically, relates to a control module, a control device and a robot.

Background technique

Robots such as bionic robots, humanoid robots, operating robots, collaborative robots, and dexterous hand systems have many joints/degrees of freedom and a large number of sensing elements and actuators. The robot control system needs to control multiple joints/degrees of freedom. Perform parallel control. The design of a robot control system has the following challenges: the design of the control part needs to consider computing efficiency, and needs to support the solution of multiple control loops with coupling relationships. In addition, it also needs to ensure response efficiency and communication efficiency.

Contents of the invention

The embodiments of this application provide a control module, a control device and a robot to solve problems existing in related technologies. The technical solutions are as follows:

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a control module.

In one embodiment of the present application, a control module includes: a central control component, at least one sensing management driver component, at least one execution management driver component, and at least one control logic component;

The sensing management driving component is used to drive the sensing management module; the execution management driving component is used to drive the execution management module;

The central control component is connected to the control logic component;

The control logic component is connected to the sensing management drive component and the execution management drive component respectively.

Each of the control modules of this application can be used to control a multi-degree-of-freedom limb or a multi-degree-of-freedom partial structure. A host computer of the robot can control multiple control modules to coordinately control the entire robot body. The control module can include multiple control logic components; each joint of the robot can form a control loop by a control logic component. When the robot has many degrees of freedom/joints, multiple control logic components can make each control loop of multiple joints The path can be calculated in parallel and the response efficiency is high.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module further includes at least one communication component that communicates with peripheral devices; the communication component is connected with the central control component.

In one embodiment of the present application, the communication component transmits the received message to the central control component; the control logic component receives instructions from the central control component. The control module of this application can be fully controlled by peripheral devices (including host computers).

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module includes a plurality of control logic components, wherein one control logic component can communicate with at least another control logic component. If the robot has a large number of degrees of freedom/joints, and there is coupling between the control models or control loops involved in each degree of freedom/joint, information exchange between control logic components can enable each control loop to complete the solution, which is especially suitable for neural-based systems. Network control algorithm, control algorithm based on computational moment method, control algorithm based on state space method, observer-based control algorithm, and state machine-based control algorithm.

In one embodiment of the present application, the communication component communicates with at least one of a sensing management driver component, an execution management driver component, and a control logic component. The information from the host computer can be directly transmitted to the corresponding target component through the routing of the communication component without having to go through the central control component, which is highly efficient.

The central control component is connected to at least one of the sensing management drive component and the execution management drive component.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module is configured to include a reconfigurable unit and a general-purpose computing unit; the reconfigurable unit communicates with the general-purpose computing unit;

The reconfigurable unit includes at least one of the sensing management driver components, at least one of the execution management driver components, at least one of the control logic components, and the central control component as described above.

The general-purpose computing unit communicates with peripheral devices to exchange first messages; the general-purpose computing unit decodes and encodes the first message to obtain the second message, and communicates with the reconfigurable unit using the second message;

The reconfigurable unit encodes and decodes the second message, and transmits the instruction to the corresponding component according to the second message.

Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present application, the reconfigurable unit may also be configured to include at least one of the communication components according to the complexity of the communication.

In one embodiment of the present application, the general computing unit is ARM or DSP, and the reconfigurable unit is FPGA or reconfigurable hardware. The advantage of using FPGA as a reconfigurable unit in the control module is that the components it carries can be executed in parallel, which is especially suitable for solving the situation of multiple sensing elements, multiple execution elements, and multiple control targets, and can respond at high speed and in real time. The advantage of using ARM or DSP for communication management is that because of the high efficiency of ARM or DSP encoding and decoding, software (compared to firmware) can more flexibly implement and upgrade communication protocols and routing rules, making development easier. In particular, ARM can be used to carry embedded systems and better support WiFi/Ethernet protocol stacks.

The control module of this application, from communicating with peripheral equipment (such as a host computer) to obtain the first message to decoding and encoding the first message to obtain the machine code of the second message, the upgrade and transformation mainly occurs in the general-purpose computing unit, so the upgrade At this time, only the general-purpose computing unit is needed; it is convenient for upgrading and transformation.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module supports one or more control modes through control logic components. The control module can implement different control modes and control algorithms through control logic components. Different control modes and control algorithms can be controlled by different control logic Edit component implementation. Multiple control modes and control algorithms can also be implemented by the same control logic component.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control logic component is controlled by a central control component, and the central control component issues instructions to the control logic component to switch between different control modes; or,

The control logic component is controlled by a peripheral device and switches between different control modes according to instructions from the peripheral device.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module supports the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer; in the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer, target instructions are provided by peripheral devices, and the control module performs closed-loop control as the lower computer. The advantage of the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer is that the lower computer responds quickly and has good parallelism; it can reduce the computing pressure of the upper computer.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module supports the open-loop control mode of the lower computer; in the open-loop control mode of the lower computer, target instructions are provided by peripheral devices, and the control module performs open-loop control as the lower computer. . The advantages of the open-loop control mode of the slave computer are:

(1) The host computer can directly control the actuating components for easy debugging;

(2) Supports all-round control by the host computer. For example, the host computer adopts a brain-like computing control method. The brain-like neural network can run on the host computer, and the computing power is stronger than that of the host computer;

(3) In the open-loop control mode of the lower computer, the lower computer can still respond to emergencies.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module can make a judgment based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements and switch between different control modes.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module includes a signal processing component, and the signal processing component has at least one filtering method;

The signal processing component is connected to the sensing management driving component, or the signal processing component is arranged in the sensing management driving component.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module can switch between different filtering modes according to instructions from peripheral devices; or, the control module can perform operations based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements. Make a judgment and switch between different filtering methods.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module can adjust the signal sampling mode of the sensing management module.

In one embodiment of the present application, the central control component determines the signal sampling mode based on information from the sensing element and/or the actuating element, and instructs the sensing management driving component to adjust the signal sampling mode.

In one embodiment of the present application, the peripheral device transmits the control information to the central control component, and the central control component instructs the sensing management driving component to adjust the signal sampling mode according to the control information.

In one embodiment of the present application, the information upload mode of the control module includes one or more of the following:

In the regular upload mode, the control module uploads information according to a given frequency;

Event-triggered upload mode, the control module (central control component) uploads specific information according to given trigger conditions;

In the adaptive upload mode, the control module determines whether to upload any information and the upload frequency based on the change rate of the information.

Conventional upload mode, that is, continuous upload of information; the control module uploads information (including sensor information, monitoring information, actuator information, internal status information, etc.) according to a given frequency. The conventional upload mode uses continuous communication. The advantage of this method is that the host computer can continuously and intensively monitor whether the lower computer and even the entire system are working normally, and the data is reliable and stable; if there is communication packet loss, it can be discovered and corrected in time. The disadvantage of this method is that when the number of sensors is large, it will occupy too much communication bandwidth and put too much computing pressure on the central processing module.

The event-triggered upload mode means that the central control component adopts corresponding processing procedures to upload given information based on given trigger conditions. The event-triggered upload mode uses intermittent communication. The advantage is that it does not have to upload all information in real time, which can save bandwidth.

Adaptive upload mode means that the control module determines whether to upload any information and how often it should be uploaded based on the change rate of the information. The adaptive upload mode communicates only when information changes, further saving bandwidth.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module also includes an emergency response control component, capable of emergency response.

In one embodiment of the present application, the emergency response control component includes a neural network subcomponent; the neural network subcomponent is used for emergency processing, and controls the execution management driver component during emergency processing;

The neural network subcomponent encodes motion trajectories through connection relationships and weights between neurons.

The control module of this application is preferably controlled by a host computer in all directions. For example, the host computer adopts a brain-like computing control method. The brain-like neural network can run on the host computer and has stronger computing power than the host computer. However, in the event of an emergency, the neural network subcomponent of the slave computer can perform emergency response; the slave computer has a faster emergency response speed and can respond faster.

In one embodiment of the present application, the neural network subcomponent is connected to an execution management drive component and a sensing management drive component; the neural network subcomponent receives information from the execution management drive component and/or the sensing management drive component. , and issue instructions to the corresponding execution management driver component and/or sensing management driver component.

In a second aspect, this application also provides a control device, including the control module as described above.

In a third aspect, this application also provides a robot, including a sensing element, an actuator, a plurality of joints, and a control module as described above. The robot can further include a host computer,

In one embodiment of the present application, the robot includes a host computer, and the control module is connected to the host computer; each controlled joint is connected to a control logic component of the control module to form a control loop; one of the control logic The component communicates with at least one other control logic component.

The beneficial effects of the control module, control device and robot provided by this application are:

Each control module can be used to control a multi-degree-of-freedom limb or a multi-degree-of-freedom partial structure. A host computer of the robot can control multiple control modules to coordinately control the entire robot body. The control module can include multiple control logic components; each joint of the robot can form a control loop by a control logic component. When the robot has many degrees of freedom/joints, multiple control logic components can make each control loop of multiple joints The path can be calculated in parallel and the response efficiency is high.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only for the purpose of the present application. For some embodiments, for those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without exerting creative efforts.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a reconfigurable unit of a control module provided by this application;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a control module provided by this application;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of information exchange between control logic components of each control loop of a control module provided by this application;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a neural network subcomponent of a control module provided by this application;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the topology structure of a recurrent neural network (RNN) of a control module provided by this application.

Among them, each figure in the figure is marked with:

10-reconfigurable unit, 20-general computing unit, 30-control module, 11-control logic component, 12-central control component, 13-communication component, 14-execution management drive component, 15-sensor management drive component , 40-Host computer, 50-Controlled joints, 16-Neural network subcomponent, 161-Recurrent neural network, 162-Input layer, 163-Hidden layer, 164-Output layer.

Detailed ways

In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects to be solved by this application more clear, this application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to explain the present application and are not used to limit the present application.

In the following description, for the purpose of explanation rather than limitation, specific details such as specific system structures and technologies are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present application. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present application may be practiced in other embodiments without these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known prior art are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present application with unnecessary detail.

It will be understood that, when used in this specification and the appended claims, the term "comprising" indicates the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components but does not exclude one or more other The presence or addition of features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or collections thereof.

It will also be understood that the term "and/or" as used in this specification and the appended claims refers to and includes any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term "if" may be interpreted as "when" or "once" or "in response to determining" or "in response to detecting" depending on the context. ". Similarly, the phrase "if determined" or "if [the described condition or event] is detected" may be interpreted, depending on the context, to mean "once determined" or "in response to a determination" or "once the [described condition or event] is detected ]" or "in response to detection of [the described condition or event]".

In addition, in the description of this application and the appended claims, the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. are only used to distinguish the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

Reference in this specification to "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" or the like means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in one or more embodiments of the application. Therefore, the phrases "in one embodiment", "in some embodiments", "in other embodiments", "in other embodiments", etc. appearing in different places in this specification are not necessarily References are made to the same embodiment, but rather to "one or more but not all embodiments" unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms “including,” “includes,” “having,” and variations thereof all mean “including but not limited to,” unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

Embodiment 1

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 5 , the control module 30 provided in the embodiment of the present application will now be described.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the control module 30 provided by this application includes: a central control component 12 , at least one sensing management driver component 15 , at least one execution management driver component 14 , and at least one control logic component 11 .

Among them, the execution management driver component 14 is used to drive the execution management module under its jurisdiction. There may be a one-to-many correspondence relationship between the execution management driver component 14 and the execution management module. The execution management module connects to and controls at least one execution element.

The sensor management driver component 15 is used to drive the sensor management module under its jurisdiction. The sensor management module connects and controls at least one sensor element.

In one embodiment, the sensor management module can be configured as a signal sampling circuit; further, the sensor management module can perform signal processing on the output signal of the signal sampling circuit to convert the analog signal into a digital signal. The control module 30 may include an independent signal processing component unit connected to the sensor management drive component 15, and is suitable for situations where the signal volume is particularly large and the processing algorithm is particularly complex. There may be a one-to-many correspondence relationship between the sensor management drive component 15 and the sensor management module.

The actuator may include one or more of motors, hydraulic components, pneumatic components, and artificial muscles. The execution components are controlled by the execution management module. In one embodiment, the execution management module is configured as a driving circuit for an actuator, such as a motor driving circuit. The execution management driver component 14 may be configured to include a firmware program, a software program, or hardware for driving the execution management module. In one of the tasks of the execution management drive component 14, the execution management drive component 14 can accept the binary code of the target steering, target speed, target current, and target voltage of the target execution element (such as a motor), and convert it into the binary code required by the execution management module. input signal (such as PWM waveform).

The sensing management module can supply power to the sensing element by applying constant power or applying power in a periodic scanning manner. The sensing management module can amplify, filter, sample and convert the output signals of these sensing elements, and monitor whether any sensing elements are missing or working abnormally. and upload the monitoring results to the sensing management drive component 15. The sensing management module can use analog-to-digital conversion devices, control devices, communication protocol chips, power management chips and other components to form circuits, and be equipped with programs to achieve the above functions. The sensing management driving component 15 may be configured to include a firmware program, a software program, or hardware for driving the sensing management module. The sensing management drive component 15 can accept the binary encoding of the target sampling frequency and target signal transmission baud rate of the target sensing element, and convert it into the input signal required by the sensing management module (such as SPI protocol and modulus conversion chip communication).

The execution management module generally only monitors the current, voltage, temperature, etc. of the actuator, forming a current loop, voltage loop, temperature loop, etc. The execution management module also monitors the actuating components such as the motor's own encoder to measure rotation speed and angle. The execution management module controls the execution elements, monitors whether the execution elements are missing or works abnormally, and uploads the current, voltage, speed and monitoring results of the execution elements to the execution management drive component 14 .

The control logic component 11 and the central control component 12 are connected to each other and exchange information. The control logic component 11 is connected to each other and exchanges information with the sensing management driving component 15 and the execution management driving component 14 respectively.

The control logic component 11 can perform calculations according to the received instructions, and pass the calculated information to the execution management driver component 14 and/or the sensing management driver component 15 .

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 further includes at least one communication component 13 . The communication component 13 communicates with peripheral devices. Peripheral devices may include the host computer 40 and input and output devices, etc. The communication component 13 is connected with the central control component 12 .

The control module 30 of the present application can be fully controlled by peripheral devices (including the host computer 40 ): the communication component 13 transmits the received messages from the peripheral devices to the central control component 12 . The control logic component 11 receives instructions from the central control component 12 .

For example, the target instruction received by the central control component 12 from the host computer 40 includes the target angle of the relevant joint, and is solved by the control logic component 11 to obtain the execution parameters (such as direction, speed, current, voltage) of the actuator corresponding to the relevant joint; The execution management driver component 14 further translates the execution parameters into signals required by the execution management module (such as direction signals, PWM frequency and duty cycle signals); and then the execution management driver component 14 drives the execution management module.

In one embodiment, the control module 30 includes a plurality of control logic components 11 . In actual use, one host computer 40 of the robot can control multiple control modules 30 . Each control module 30 can be used to control a limb with multiple degrees of freedom. For example, a humanoid robot can be equipped with a control module 30 for each arm, torso, and leg. The central processing module located on the head of the robot serves as the host computer 40 to manage all control modules 30 to coordinately control the entire body of the robot. .

Furthermore, any control logic component 11 can be connected with at least one other control logic component 11 to perform one-way or two-way communication and exchange information. The beneficial effect of this design is that if the robot has a large number of degrees of freedom/joints, the control model involved in each degree of freedom/joint or When there is coupling between control loops, the information exchange between the control logic components 11 can enable each control loop to complete the solution, which is especially suitable for control algorithms based on neural networks, control algorithms based on computational torque methods, and control based on state space methods. Algorithms, observer-based control algorithms, state machine-based control algorithms. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 , the control module 30 is connected to the host computer 40 . Each controlled joint 50 is connected to a control logic component 11 to form a control loop (the drive circuit and sampling circuit have been omitted). Each controlled joint 50 needs to exchange status information, that is, through communication between different control logic components 11 To achieve decoupling or coupling between the control variables of each joint.

Further, in this application, the communication component 13 communicates with at least one of the sensing management driving component 15, the execution management driving component 14, and the control logic component 11. The message sent from the host computer 40, after being decoded, can be directly transmitted to the corresponding target component through the routing of the communication component 13 without having to go through the central control component 12, which is highly efficient.

In one embodiment, the communication component 13 communicates with the control logic component 11 , and the communication component 13 directly transmits the decoded message sent from the host computer 40 to the corresponding control logic component 11 .

In one embodiment, the communication component 13 communicates with the execution management drive component 14, and the communication component 13 directly transmits instructions from the host computer 40 to the corresponding execution management drive component 14.

In one embodiment, the communication component 13 communicates with the sensor management drive component 15 , and the communication component 13 directly transmits instructions from the host computer 40 to the corresponding sensor management drive component 15 .

The central control component 12 may be connected to at least one of the sensing management driving component 15 and the execution management driving component 14 . In this way, the central control component 12 can receive the status information of the sensing management driving component 15 and the execution management driving component 14 and make better decisions. For example, the central control component 12 can receive the status information of the sensing management driving component 15, make a decision based on the change rate of the sensing information, and instruct the sensing management driving component 15 to adjust the sampling frequency.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the control module 30 of the present application can be configured as an embedded circuit including a reconfigurable unit 10 and a general-purpose computing unit 20 . The reconfigurable unit 10 communicates with the general computing unit 20 . For example, the reconfigurable unit 10 and the general computing unit 20 can communicate in full duplex.

The reconfigurable unit 10 can be configured as an FPGA, and the general computing unit 20 can be configured as an ARM. The FPGA and the ARM as the general computing unit 20 can be independent chips; they can also be bound to the same chip; the ARM firmware can also be embedded in the FPGA of the reconfigurable unit 10 . In a preferred solution, the FPGA and ARM of the reconfigurable unit 10 are bound in the same chip to increase the communication bandwidth between them.

Alternatively, the ARM of the general-purpose computing unit 20 can also be replaced by a DSP circuit/chip, which can achieve the same function. The former is more flexible and can support any communication protocol stack; the latter is simple, reliable and cheap.

In another embodiment, the general-purpose computing unit 20 (ARM or DSP) can be used as a part of the reconfigurable unit 10 , that is, the firmware of the general-purpose computing unit 20 (ARM or DSP) is embedded in the reconfigurable unit 10 (FPGA). .

The advantage of using FPGA as the reconfigurable unit 10 in the control module 30 is that its various components can be executed in parallel, which is especially suitable for solving the situation of multiple sensing elements, multiple execution elements, and multiple control targets, and can respond at high speed and in real time. The advantage of using ARM or DSP for communication management is that because of the high efficiency of ARM or DSP encoding and decoding, software (compared to firmware) can more flexibly implement and upgrade communication protocols and routing rules, making development easier. In particular, ARM can be used to carry embedded systems and better support WiFi/Ethernet protocol stacks.

As an alternative, the reconfigurable unit 10 may also be configured as reconfigurable hardware. Reconfigurable hardware refers to hardware devices whose hardware circuits and functions can be reconstructed according to software at runtime.

The general computing unit 20 (such as ARM) communicates with peripheral devices (such as the host computer 40). For example, the general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM) communicates with a peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) in full-duplex, exchanges first messages (such as Ethernet data packets), and transmits the first message (such as an Ethernet data packet) from the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) to the general-purpose computing unit 20. Unit 20 (such as ARM) sends the first message. The general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM) decodes and encodes the first message to obtain the second message (machine code), and communicates with the reconfigurable unit 10 using the second message.

If the first message is encrypted, the general computing unit 20 (such as ARM) can decrypt the first message. The general computing unit 20 (such as ARM) can encrypt the second message sent from the reconfigurable unit 10 to obtain the first message, and then sends it to the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40).

The communication component 13 of the reconfigurable unit 10 can communicate with the general computing unit 20 (such as ARM). In one embodiment, the communication component 13 of the reconfigurable unit 10 is capable of full-duplex communication with the general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM), and full-duplex communication with peripheral devices through the general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM). The general computing unit 20 (such as ARM) transmits the second message to the reconfigurable unit 10 (such as FPGA). The reconfigurable unit 10 encodes and decodes the second message; reassembles the second message into an appropriate control instruction (format) according to the target in the second message, and transmits it to the corresponding component (i.e., the target component); This control instruction (format) can contain target number, instruction (i.e. machine code), and parameters. Parameters can include: angle values, speed values, torque values, importance coefficients, etc.

The reconfigurable unit 10 includes the above-mentioned central control component 12, at least one of the sensing management driver components 15, at least one of the execution management driver components 14, and at least one of the control logic components 11; in addition, the reconfigurable unit 10 includes: The reconfigurable unit 10 may also include at least one of the communication components 13 (depending on the complexity of the communication); if the communication is more complex, the reconfigurable unit 10 uses the communication component 13 to encode and decode the second message. , and route to the corresponding component. Within the control module 30, the central control component 12 can perform unified coordination and control.

The control module 30 of the present application obtains the first message by communicating with the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) to decoding and encoding the first message. The code obtains the machine code of the second message. The upgrading and transformation of the communication protocol mainly occurs in the general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM). Therefore, only the general-purpose computing unit 20 (such as ARM) is needed during the upgrade; it is convenient for upgrading and reforming.

The control module 30 supports one or more control modes. The control module 30 can implement different control modes and control algorithms through the control logic component 11 .

The control logic component 11 may be configured to include a control algorithm, which may be configured as a neural network-based control algorithm, a computational moment method-based control algorithm, a state space method-based control algorithm, an observer-based control algorithm, or a state machine-based control algorithm. control algorithm, etc.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control logic component 11 may be controlled by the central control component 12 . The central control component 12 issues instructions to the corresponding control logic component 11 to switch between different control modes.

Different control modes and control algorithms can be implemented by different control logic components 11; when switching control modes and control algorithms, the central control component 12 can enable the corresponding control logic component 11. For example, one control logic component 11 may provide a control algorithm based on a neural network, and another control logic component 11 may provide a control algorithm based on a state space method.

Multiple control modes and control algorithms can also be implemented by the same control logic component 11; when switching control modes and control algorithms, the central control component 12 issues instructions to the control logic component 11, and the control logic component 11 internally switches to the corresponding control mode, control algorithm.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 can switch between different control modes according to instructions from peripheral devices.

For example, the peripheral device (host computer 40) transmits the first message, and the general-purpose computing unit 20 (ARM) decodes and encodes the first message to obtain the second message (machine code), which is then transmitted to the reconfigurable unit 10 ( FPGA). The reconfigurable unit 10 (FPGA) receives the second message, which includes control mode instructions, targets, and parameters. If the control mode instruction specifies that some execution components (ie, target components) adopt the open-loop control mode of the lower computer, the central control component 12 disables the corresponding control logic component 11 . The second message can be directly delivered to the execution management driver component 14 through the routing of the communication component 13 . In other embodiments, the second message can also be directly delivered to the sensing management driver component 15 or the control logic component 11 through the routing of the communication component 13 .

The control module 30 of the present application can support the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer, that is, the peripheral device (such as the upper computer 40) provides target instructions, and the control module 30 acts as the lower computer to perform closed-loop control.

In the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer, according to the target instructions provided by the peripheral device, the control logic component 11 performs calculations and passes the calculated information to the execution management drive component 14 and/or the sensing management drive component 15 .

For example, in the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer, the target instruction specifies the target angle of any joint. After calculation by the control logic component 11, the target voltage and/or target current that should be applied to the corresponding execution element is obtained, and then the execution management drive component 14 The drive execution management module provides voltage and/or current to the actuator. Feedback value information such as voltage and/or current of the actuator is uploaded to the control module 30 through the execution management module to form a feedback closed loop.

The advantage of the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer is that the lower computer responds quickly and has good parallelism; it can reduce the computing pressure of the upper computer 40 .

The control module 30 of the present application can also support the slave computer open-loop control mode, that is, the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) provides target instructions, and the control module 30 acts as the slave computer to perform open-loop control.

In the open-loop control mode of the lower computer: the execution management driving component 14 can control the execution management driving component 14 according to the target instructions provided by the peripheral device, and/or the sensing management driving component 15 can control the execution management driving component 14 according to the target instructions provided by the peripheral device. The target instructions provided by the device control the sensing management driving component 15 . For example, in the open-loop control mode of the host computer, the target instruction specifies the target voltage and/or target current of any actuator, and the execution management drive component 14 drives the execution management module to provide voltage and/or current for the actuator. There is no need to go through the control logic component 11 to form a closed loop.

The advantages of the open-loop control mode of the slave computer are:

(1) The host computer 40 can directly control the actuating components, which facilitates debugging;

(2) Support all-round control by the upper computer 40. For example, the upper computer 40 adopts a brain-like computing control method. The brain-like neural network can run on the upper computer 40, and the computing power is stronger than that of the lower computer;

(3) In the open-loop control mode of the lower computer, the lower computer can still respond to emergencies.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 can make a judgment based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements, and switch between different control modes.

The sensing management driving component 15 and/or the execution management driving component 14 uploads information to the central control component 12 . The central control component 12 determines which control mode to adopt based on the uploaded information, and controls (or enables the corresponding) control logic component 11 to switch between different control modes.

For example, if a sensor is missing, the sensing management driver component 15 determines that the sensor is missing and transmits this information to the central control component 12. The central control component 12 decides to adopt the state space method for control in the involved control loop, that is, using the preset The model estimates the missing sensor information and enables corresponding control logic components 11 .

For another example, if the temperature of an actuator reaches the preset temperature upper limit, the sensing management drive component 15 determines that the temperature of the actuator is too high, and transmits this information to the central control component 12, and the central control component 12 decides to take action on the actuator. For protection measures, reduce the supply voltage/current, or even cut off the power, the central control component 12 controls the execution management drive component 14, which is further executed by the execution management drive component 14.

As a further improvement solution, the control module 30 may include a signal processing component. The signal processing component has at least one filtering method.

The signal processing component is connected to the sensing management driving component 15 , or the signal processing component is arranged within the sensing management driving component 15 .

The control module 30 can switch between different filtering modes according to instructions from peripheral devices.

In one embodiment, different filtering methods are implemented by different sensing management driving components 15 . For example, when the central control component 12 receives a second message, the second message includes a filter mode instruction, a target, and parameters. The filter mode instruction specifies that some sensing elements (i.e., targets) adopt an average filtering method, then the central control component 12 responds accordingly. The sensing element enables the corresponding sensing management drive component 15 (that is, the average filtering method is adopted), and assigns a value (filter parameter) to the corresponding sensing management drive component 15.

Alternatively, the same sensor management driving component 15 can support multiple filtering modes, and the central control component 12 controls the sensor management driving component 15 to switch among different filtering modes according to the second message, which will not be described again.

The control module 30 can also make judgments based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements, and switch between different filtering modes.

The control module 30 of the present application can adjust the signal sampling mode of the sensing management module.

Signal sampling mode includes: signal sampling frequency, signal sampling baud rate, signal sampling bits, number of signal sampling channels, signal sampling channel switching, etc.

Sensing management modules generally include ADC and auxiliary circuits. The ADC's signal sampling frequency, signal sampling baud rate, signal sampling bits, number of signal sampling channels, signal sampling channel switching speed, etc. can be adjusted by communication between the control module 30 and the sensing management module.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 can adjust the signal sampling mode according to the information of the sensing element and/or the actuating element.

The central control component 12 may include a signal sampling control sub-component, which determines the signal sampling mode based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements, and instructs the sensing management driving component 15 to adjust the signal sampling mode.

For example, if the output signal of a certain sensing element does not change for a long time, the control module 30 can reduce the sampling frequency of the sensing element, or temporarily skip sampling of the sensing element when the signal sampling channel is switched.

The sensing management driving component 15 monitors the change rate of the output signal of the sensing element and transmits the monitoring information to the central control component 12; the central control component 12 decides which sampling mode to adjust to and instructs the sensing management driving component 15 to drive Sensing management module implementation.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 can adjust the signal sampling mode according to instructions from peripheral devices. The peripheral device transmits the control information to the central control component 12; the central control component 12 includes a signal sampling control sub-component, which instructs the sensing management driving component 15 to adjust the signal sampling mode according to the control information.

For example, when the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) needs to increase the sampling frequency of the tactile signal, it sends a first message to the control module 30 (the host computer), and decodes the first message through the general-purpose computing unit 20 (ARM). Encoding, the second message (machine code) is obtained, and the second message (machine code) is passed to the reconfigurable unit 10 (FPGA); routed through the communication component 13, the central control component 12 receives the second message, and the second message includes The target (sensor number), instruction (adjustment of sampling frequency), and parameters (sampling frequency) further instruct the central control component 12 to instruct the sensing management drive component 15 to adjust the sampling mode.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 can adjust the information upload mode to save upload communication bandwidth. The information upload mode of the control module 30 includes one or more of the following:

In the conventional upload mode, the control module 30 uploads information according to a given frequency;

In the event-triggered upload mode, the control module 30 (central control component 12) uploads specific information according to given trigger conditions;

In the adaptive upload mode, the control module 30 determines whether to upload any information and the frequency of uploading based on the change rate of relevant information.

The conventional upload mode is to continuously upload information; the control module 30 uploads information (including sensor information, monitoring information, actuator information, internal status information, etc.) according to a given frequency. The conventional upload mode uses a continuous communication method. The advantage of this method is that the upper computer 40 can continuously and intensively monitor whether the lower computer and even the entire system are working normally, and the data is reliable and stable; if there is communication packet loss, it can be discovered and corrected in time. The disadvantage of this method is that when the number of sensors is large, it will occupy too much communication bandwidth and put too much computing pressure on the central processing module.

The event-triggered upload mode means that the central control component 12 adopts corresponding processing procedures to upload given information based on given trigger conditions. The event-triggered upload mode uses intermittent communication. The advantage is that it does not have to upload all information in real time, which can save bandwidth.

In the adaptive upload mode, the control module 30 determines whether to upload any information and the upload frequency based on the change rate of the information. The adaptive upload mode communicates only when information changes, further saving communication bandwidth. For example, if the sensing management driver component 15 determines that the tactile sensing element information has not changed for a long time (below a given change rate threshold), or the amplitude has been lower than a given amplitude threshold for a long time, it will coordinate the communication component 13 to reduce the upload frequency. Even stops uploading tactile sensing element information and vice versa.

In one embodiment of the present application, the control module 30 is capable of emergency response. The control module 30 may include an emergency response control component.

In one embodiment. The emergency response control component includes a neural network subcomponent 16. The neural network subcomponent 16 is used for emergency response management, and controls and executes the management driver component 14 during emergency processing.

The control module 30 of the present application is preferably controlled in all directions by the host computer 40. For example, the host computer 40 adopts a brain-like computing control method. The brain-like neural network can run on the host computer 40, and the computing power is stronger than that of the host computer. However, in the event of an emergency, the neural network subcomponent 16 of the slave computer can perform emergency response; the slave computer has a faster emergency response speed and can perform response processing faster.

The neural network subcomponent 16 may include a neural network such as a recurrent neural network (RNN). An algorithm or program that simulates spinal cord neural circuits through recurrent neural networks (RNN). The spinal cord neural circuit can be used when emergency handling actions have complex trajectories, and the motion trajectories can be encoded by neural networks. Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of the topology of a recurrent neural network (RNN), including an input layer 162, a hidden layer 163, and an output layer 164.

The neural network subcomponent 16 can encode motion trajectories through connection relationships and weights between neurons. The motion trajectory includes a combination of one or more action sequences; each action sequence is composed of one or more meta-actions arranged in the time dimension; each meta-action represents the action of a corresponding execution element.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the neural network subcomponent 16 can be connected to the execution management driver component 14 and the sensing management driver component 15 . For example, the neural network subcomponent 16 is connected to the execution management drive component 14, and can control the execution management drive component 14 according to the encoded motion trajectory to control the execution elements.

For example, when pressure overload, joint position exceeds limits, etc., in order to avoid damaging the robot, the central control component 12 activates a motion control algorithm based on a neural network to enable the robot to execute the encoded motion trajectory to achieve emergency response.

A recurrent neural network (RNN) can be embedded in a reconfigurable unit 10 (such as an FPGA), and the neural network subcomponent 16 including the recurrent neural network (RNN) is independent of other components of the FPGA.

The neural network sub-component 16 can communicate with the execution management drive component 14 and the sensor management drive component 15 one-way or two-way at the same time, that is, it accepts information from the execution management drive component 14 and/or the sensor management drive component 15 and sends it to the corresponding The execution management driving component 14 and/or the sensing management driving component 15 issue instructions. As shown in Figure 4, the neural network sub-component 16 can be connected to the central control component 12 and accept unified coordinated control.

In one embodiment, the central control component 12 may be implemented as a state machine, or a collection of logic, implemented through firmware programming.

Embodiment 2

On the other hand, the present application also provides a control device. The control device includes a control module 30 as described in Embodiment 1.

Embodiment 3

This application also provides a robot. The robot includes a control module 30 as described in Embodiment 1. Robots include but are not limited to bionic robots, humanoid robots, operating robots, collaborative robots, manipulators or dexterous hand systems with multiple degrees of freedom, bionic mechanical feet with multiple degrees of freedom, other types of multi-jointed machines, etc. .

The robot includes a plurality of joints, and also includes a sensing element, an actuator element, an execution management module, and a sensing management module as described in Embodiment 1.

The robot may further include a host computer 40 . The control module 30 can be used to control a multi-degree-of-freedom limb or a multi-degree-of-freedom partial structure. A host computer 40 of the robot can control multiple control modules 30 to coordinately control the entire robot body.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the control module 30 is connected to the host computer 40 . Each controlled joint 50 is connected to a control logic component 11 of the control module 30 to form a control loop (the driving circuit and sampling circuit are omitted); one of the control logic components 11 communicates with at least another control logic component 11 . Each controlled joint 50 needs to exchange status information, which is achieved through communication between different control logic components 11 to decouple or couple the control variables of each joint. Other components of the control module 30 are not shown in FIG. 3 .

The beneficial effects of the control module 30, control device and robot provided by this application are:

Each control module 30 can be used to control a multi-degree-of-freedom limb or a multi-degree-of-freedom partial structure. A host computer 40 of the robot can control multiple control modules 30 to coordinately control the entire robot body. The control module 30 may include multiple control logic components 11; each joint of the robot may form a control loop by a control logic component 11. When the robot has many degrees of freedom/joints, the control logic component 11 may make each joint of the multiple joints The control loop can be calculated in parallel and has high response efficiency.

Any control logic component 11 can perform one-way or two-way communication and exchange information with at least one other control logic component 11 . The any control logic component 11 completes control calculation according to the received information. The beneficial effect of this design is that if the robot has a large number of degrees of freedom/joints and there is coupling between the control models or control loops involved in each degree of freedom/joint, the information exchange between the control logic components 11 can make each control loop Complete the solution and realize the decoupling or coupling between the control quantities of each joint.

In the control module 30 of the present application, each control loop can be calculated in parallel and has high response efficiency. As the FPGA or reconfigurable hardware of the reconfigurable unit 10, each component it carries can be executed in parallel, which is especially suitable for solving the situation of multiple sensing elements, multiple execution elements, and multiple control targets, and can respond in real time at high speed; when the robot is free When there are many degrees/joints, the control logic component 11 can enable the control loops of multiple joints to be calculated in parallel, resulting in high response efficiency.

The control module 30 of the present application has high communication efficiency. The general-purpose computing unit 20 communicates with the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) to exchange the first message; the general-purpose computing unit 20 decodes and encodes the first message to obtain the second message (machine code), and uses the second message with the repeatable structure Unit 10 Communication. The general computing unit 20 is configured as ARM or DSP. ARM or DSP encoding and decoding are more efficient, can more flexibly implement and upgrade communication protocols and routing rules, and facilitate development. In particular, ARM can be used to carry embedded systems and better support WiFi/Ethernet protocol stacks. The communication component 13 can communicate with the general computing unit 20, encode and decode the second message, and transmit instructions to the corresponding components according to the second message, such as the central control component 12, the control logic component 11, the sensor management driver component 15, At least one of the management driver components 14 is executed. In addition, one-way or two-way communication can be performed between different control logic components 11 .

The control module 30 of the present application, from communicating with the peripheral device (such as the host computer 40) to obtain the first message to decoding and encoding the first message to obtain the machine code of the second message, the upgrade and transformation of the communication protocol mainly occurs in the general computing unit 20, so only the general-purpose computing unit 20 needs to be upgraded during upgrading; it is convenient for upgrading and transformation.

The control module 30 of the present application has multiple control modes: it can be fully controlled by peripheral devices (including the host computer 40), and can also be coordinated and controlled by the central control component 12 (the host computer autonomously controls it); in the former, The peripheral device can directly communicate with at least one of the sensing management driver component 15, the execution management driver component 14, and the control logic component 11 through the communication component 13 without having to go through the central control component 12, so the response efficiency is high.

The control module 30 of this application supports switching between different control modes: the control module 30 can switch between different control modes according to instructions from peripheral devices; the control module 30 can also switch between different control modes according to the sensing elements and/or execution The component's information switches between different control modes.

The control module 30 can support the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer; the advantage of the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer is that the lower computer responds quickly and has good parallelism; it can reduce the computing pressure of the upper computer 40 .

The control module 30 can support the open-loop control mode of the lower computer; the advantage of the open-loop control mode of the lower computer is that the upper computer 40 can directly control the actuating components, which is convenient for debugging; it supports all-round control by the upper computer 40, For example, the upper computer 40 adopts a brain-like computing control method. The brain-like neural network can run on the upper computer 40 and has stronger computing power than the lower computer. In the open-loop control mode of the lower computer, the lower computer can still respond to emergencies.

The control module 30 may include signal processing components. The signal processing component can have multiple filtering modes, and the control module 30 can switch between different filtering modes according to instructions from peripheral devices.

The control module 30 of the present application can adjust the signal sampling mode of the sensing management module. The control module 30 can adjust the signal sampling mode according to information from the sensing element and/or the actuating element. Alternatively, the control module 30 can adjust the signal sampling mode according to instructions from the peripheral device.

The control module 30 of the present application has multiple information upload modes and can adjust the information upload mode according to needs. Information upload modes include regular upload mode, event-triggered upload mode, and adaptive upload mode. The conventional upload mode uses a continuous communication method. The advantage of this method is that the host computer 40 can continuously and intensively monitor whether the lower computer and even the entire system are working normally, and the data is reliable and stable. The event-triggered upload mode uses intermittent communication. The advantage is that it does not have to upload all information in real time, which can save bandwidth. In the adaptive upload mode, the control module 30 determines whether to upload any information and the upload frequency based on the change rate of the information, thereby further saving bandwidth. The control module 30 of this application can be based on actual Adopt appropriate information upload mode according to actual needs.

In the above embodiments, each embodiment is described with its own emphasis. For parts that are not detailed or documented in a certain embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present application and are not intended to limit the present application. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application do not invalidate the corresponding technical solution. Anything that essentially deviates from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application shall be included in the protection scope of this application.

Claims (26)

A control module, characterized in that it includes: a central control component, at least one sensing management drive component, at least one execution management drive component, and at least one control logic component; The sensing management driving component is used to drive the sensing management module; the execution management driving component is used to drive the execution management module; The central control component is connected to the control logic component; The control logic component is connected to the sensing management drive component and the execution management drive component respectively. The control module according to claim 1, wherein the control module further includes at least one communication component, the communication component communicates with peripheral devices; the communication component is connected with the central control component. The control module of claim 2, wherein the communication component transmits received messages to a central control component; and the control logic component receives instructions from the central control component. The control module of claim 1, wherein the control module includes a plurality of control logic components, wherein one control logic component can communicate with at least another control logic component. The control module of claim 2, wherein the communication component communicates with at least one of a sensing management driver component, an execution management driver component, and a control logic component. The control module of claim 1, wherein the central control component is connected to at least one of the sensing management drive component and the execution management drive component. The control module of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to include a reconfigurable unit and a general-purpose computing unit; the reconfigurable unit communicates with the general-purpose computing unit; The reconfigurable unit includes at least one of the sensing management driver components, at least one of the execution management driver components, at least one of the control logic components, and the central control component as claimed in claim 1; The general-purpose computing unit communicates with peripheral devices to exchange first messages; the general-purpose computing unit decodes and encodes the first message to obtain the second message, and communicates with the reconfigurable unit using the second message; The reconfigurable unit encodes and decodes the second message, and transmits the instruction to the corresponding component according to the second message. The control module of claim 7, wherein the reconfigurable unit further includes at least one communication component. The control module of claim 7, wherein the general-purpose computing unit is ARM or DSP, and the reconfigurable unit For FPGA or reconfigurable hardware. The control module of claim 1, wherein the control module supports one or more control modes through a control logic component. The control module as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, The control logic component is controlled by a central control component, and the central control component issues instructions to the control logic component to switch between different control modes; or, The control logic component is controlled by a peripheral device and switches between different control modes according to instructions from the peripheral device. The control module according to claim 5, characterized in that the control module supports the closed-loop control mode of the lower machine; In the closed-loop control mode of the lower computer, target instructions are provided by peripheral devices, and the control module performs closed-loop control as the lower computer. The control module according to claim 1, characterized in that the control module supports the open-loop control mode of the lower computer; In the open-loop control mode of the slave computer, the peripheral device provides target instructions, and the control module performs open-loop control as the slave computer. The control module according to claim 1, characterized in that the control module can make judgments based on information from sensing elements and/or actuating elements and switch between different control modes. The control module according to claim 1, wherein the control module includes a signal processing component, and the signal processing component has at least one filtering method; The signal processing component is connected to the sensing management driving component, or the signal processing component is arranged in the sensing management driving component. The control module of claim 15, wherein the control module can switch between different filtering modes according to instructions from peripheral devices; or, the control module can switch between different filtering modes according to sensing elements and/or Or make a judgment based on the information of the actuator and switch between different filtering methods. The control module of claim 1, wherein the control module is capable of adjusting the signal sampling mode of the sensing management module. The control module of claim 17, wherein the central control component determines the signal sampling mode based on information from the sensing element and/or the actuating element, and instructs the sensing management driving component to adjust the signal sampling mode. The control module of claim 17, wherein the peripheral device transmits control information to the central control component, and the The central control component instructs the sensing management driving component to adjust the signal sampling mode according to the control information. The control module of claim 1, wherein the information upload mode of the control module includes one or more of the following: In the regular upload mode, the control module uploads information according to a given frequency; Event-triggered upload mode, the control module (central control component) uploads specific information according to given trigger conditions; In the adaptive upload mode, the control module determines whether to upload any information and the upload frequency based on the change rate of the information. The control module according to claim 1, wherein the control module further includes an emergency response control component. The control module according to claim 21, wherein the emergency response control component includes a neural network sub-component; the neural network sub-component is used for emergency processing and controls the execution management drive component during emergency processing; The neural network subcomponent encodes motion trajectories through connection relationships and weights between neurons. The control module of claim 22, wherein the neural network sub-component is connected to an execution management drive component and a sensing management drive component; the neural network sub-component receives an execution management drive component and/or a sensor management drive component. information from the sensing management driver component and issue instructions to the corresponding execution management driver component and/or sensing management driver component. A control device including the control module according to any one of claims 1-23. A robot includes a sensing element, an actuator, a plurality of joints, and a control module as claimed in any one of claims 1-23. The robot of claim 25, wherein the robot includes a host computer, and the control module is connected to the host computer; each controlled joint is connected to a control logic component of the control module to form a control loop; One of the control logic components communicates with at least one other control logic component.