Distributed control architectures for multi-axis positioning systems

The past evolutions of manufacturing processes demand more flexible automation systems. The solution, for the multi-axis positioning systems, is to replace the traditional architectures with distributed motion control architecture based on local intelligent drives. This paper presents the control of an articulated arm robot with two local intelligent drives connected on a CAN network to a motion controller which receives the trajectory of the robot from a computer. The control structure is based on a single CAN network where are connected the local intelligent servo drives, the motion controller and the computer.