The present disclosure relates to a method for driving on the basis of characteristics of a driving surface, and a robot for implementing the same, and a method for driving on the basis of characteristics of a driving surface, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, comprises the steps in which: a sensing module of the robot senses an adjacent driving surface to generate characteristic information of the driving surface, and a control unit of the robot stores position and characteristic information of the driving surface in a map storage of the robot; the controller of the robot sets a function to be applied to the driving surface in response to the characteristic information of the driving surface, or generates a movement path selectively including the driving surface corresponding to start and end points of the robot; and the controller controls a moving unit and a functional unit of the robot according to the set function or the movement path.

End effectors and systems including end effectors including embedded batteries and auxiliary components powered by the batteries are described. In an example, the end effector includes a base portion coupleable to a motor carried by an appliance that is separate from the end effector; and a battery disposed in the base portion configured to power an auxiliary component of the end effector.

A sterile interface for a surgical platform is provided, optionally to be used with a mechanical telemanipulator. The sterile interface is configured to allow for transmission of motion without dimensional inconsistencies between a non-sterile surgical platform and a sterile surgical instrument that are related to one another in a master-slave configuration. The sterile interface is configured to allow for multiple changes of sterile surgical instruments during a surgical procedure without contaminating the sterile field. The sterile interface allows for interchangeable sterile articulated surgical instruments to be attached to the surgical platform without coming into contact with non-sterile portions of the surgical platform.

A control device configured to control a robot including an articulated arm having a plurality of joints each provided with a motor and turned by driving of the motor and a base supporting the articulated arm includes: a temperature information obtaining unit configured to obtain temperature information about the plurality of joints; a joint specifying unit configured to specify one of the joints that requires cooling, based on the obtained temperature information about the plurality of joints; and a motor control unit configured to control the motor of each of the plurality of joints, wherein, when the joint specifying unit specifies one of the joints, the motor control unit controls the motor of at least one of the joints that is located on a side closer to the base from the specified joint so as to turn the joint on the base side for a given time.

A rotary axis module includes an actuator that includes a first member and a second member, the actuator relatively driving the second member so as to rotate about a predetermined axis with respect to the first member, a DC power source, and a switch. The actuator includes a brake that is releasable by supplying a DC voltage. A first brake circuit that is connected to a control device that controls the actuator, and a second brake circuit that is provided in parallel with the first brake circuit and connected to the DC power source via the switch, are connected to the brake.

A robotic system comprising an upper robotic assembly and a base platform rotatable relative to one another in at least one degree of freedom via one or more joints. The robotic system further comprises a joint position restoration assembly coupled to at least one of the upper robotic assembly or the base platform, and having a first spring coupled between the upper robotic assembly and the base platform, the joint position restoration assembly being operable to apply a restoring torque to the first joint, wherein the joint position restoration assembly is configured to provide a restoring torque versus joint position profile relative to the first joint that corresponds to mass properties of at least a portion of the robotic assembly associated with the first joint, such that the joint position restoration assembly operates to apply the restoring torque to position and to support the first joint in a stable support position.

A spreader tool is provided for spreading viscous material on the surface, for example an edge, of a wind turbine blade. The spreader tool comprises at least one bendable spreader wing, for example provided as a fin-ray construction, for pressing a flexible band against a curved section of the blade and for dragging viscous material along it by the flexible band during movement of the spreader tool along the blade surface. The spreader tool is advantageously part of a robot system used to work the surface of the blade.

A spreader tool is provided for spreading viscous material on the surface, for example an edge, of a wind turbine blade. The spreader tool comprises at least one bendable spreader wing, for example provided as a fin-ray construction, for pressing a flexible band against a curved section of the blade and for dragging viscous material along it by the flexible band during movement of the spreader tool along the blade surface. The spreader tool is advantageously part of a robot system used to work the surface of the blade.

A robot fleet management platform includes a resources data store that maintains a robot inventory indicating robots that can be assigned to a robot fleet and, for each respective robot, a set of baseline features of the robot and a respective status. The resources data store maintains a components inventory indicating different components that can be provisioned to one or more multi-purpose robots and, for each component, a respective set of extended capabilities corresponding to the component and a respective status. The robot fleet management platform receives a request for a robotic fleet to perform a job, determines a job definition data structure based on the request, determines a robot fleet configuration data structure corresponding to the job based on the set of tasks and the robot inventory, determines a respective configuration for each assigned robot based on the components inventory, configures the assigned robots, and deploys the robotic fleet.

A method of inductively coupling a first body and a second body is provided, wherein the first body rotates relative to the second body. During rotation, alignment is maintained between a first and second coil. Signals are sent and received between the coils.