System, method, and apparatus for refurbishment of robotically controlled devices

摘要

A device for extending the life of a detachable robotically controlled device that has an electrical interface for communicating between a control system and a robotically controlled device-based circuit mounted within the robotically controlled device includes a circuit that is connected to the electrical interface. The circuit has logic that intercepts requests from the electrical interface such that the logic array recognizes at least one request from the control system and the logic array responds to the at least one request by sending a response to the control system over the electrical interface. At least one other request is forwarded by the logic array to the robotically controlled device-based circuit of which a response from the robotically controlled device-based circuit is received by the logic array and the response is forwarded by the logic array to the control system over the electrical interface.

主权项

1. A device for extending the life of a robotically controlled device, the robotically controlled device connectable to a control system through an interface, the interface including an electrical interface for connecting the system to a robotically controlled device-based circuit, the device for extending the life of a robotically controlled device comprising:
a circuit inserted in the electrical interface for communicating with the control system, the circuit intercepts requests from the control system such that the circuit recognizes at least one of the requests and the circuit responds to the at least one of the requests; and requests other than the at least one of the requests are received by the robotically controlled device-based circuit of which a response from the robotically controlled device-based circuit is received by the control system; whereas the control system properly recognizes the robotically controlled device after the circuit is inserted; wherein the circuit includes memory for maintaining internal usage data; a first one of the at least one of the requests is a request to read usage data from the robotically controlled device-based circuit; and whereas after the circuit recognizes the request to read the usage data, the circuit reads the internal usage data from the memory and the circuit responds to the control system with a response that includes the internal usage data that was read from the memory.