REAL TIME CONTROL METHOD FOR A ROBOT CONTROLLER

A robot controller and its control method use a generic personal computer and a PC operating system. The controller 10 comprises the following: a task-switching unit 30 that switches tasks on a pre-emptive basis; an external interrupt generator 50 that uses an external timer to generate interrupts at specified fixed time intervals; an event drive unit 40 that performs event drive processing in synchronization with the interrupts generated by the external interrupt generator 50; an event registration unit 60 that registers the fact that the application program which performs processing in response to the occurrence of the event is waiting for the occurrence of the event; an event resource state storage unit 70 that stores event resource states in order to keep track of and recall the occurrence of events; an event resource state update unit 80 that updates the conditions of event resources stored in the event resource state storage unit 70; and a swap-out prevention unit 90 that prevents the swapping out of programs for which real time processing is required.