In teaching of a robot, a control device controls a movable unit in a first control mode in which the movable unit continuously moves according to a force detected by a force detector and a second control mode in which the movable unit moves by a predetermined movement amount according to the force detected by the force detector. A controller selects a first control mode or a second control mode according to a temporal change in the force detected by the force detector and a magnitude of the force.

An action teaching method is provided for teaching a robotic arm of a robotic arm system through a gesture teaching device. In a step (a), a touch condition of a user's finger is sensed by the touch sensing unit. In a step (b), a sensing result of the touch sensing unit is transmitted to an identification unit, so that a touch information is identified by the identification unit. In a step (c), the touch information is transmitted to a teaching unit, so that the teaching unit actuates a corresponding operation of the robotic arm system according to the touch information. In a step (d), an operating result of the robotic arm system is shown on a display unit, so that the user judges whether the operating result of the robotic arm system is successful through the display unit.

A method of setting a boundary plane includes: obtaining pose data of a robot; calculating the boundary plane in a preset relationship with a reference part of the robot based on the obtained pose data; and displaying the calculated boundary plane.

One aspect of the present invention provides a robot controller for end portion control of a multi-degree-of-freedom robot. The robot controller comprises: a first control interface, which is positioned at a first position around the robot end portion and receives a first control input for at least for directions; a second control interface, which is positioned at a second position around the robot end portion and receives a second control input for at least four directions; and an encoder, which interprets the combination of the first and second control inputs as a third control input about the robot end portion and provides the robot with a signal according to the third control input.

The invention concerns a robotic arm (1) with at least two arm modules (41, 42) which are moveable relative to one another and at least one manually operable input module (11) for generating control signals for the control of the robotic arm (1) on the basis of a user input. Both arm modules (41, 42) have a first interface (38, 40) onto which the input module (11) can be selectively mounted.

A teaching apparatus configured to include a display device and perform a teaching operation for a robot includes a template storage section configured to store a plurality of templates corresponding to a plurality of programs of the robot, a program explanatory content storage section configured to store plural pieces of explanatory content for explaining the respective plurality of programs, a template display section configured to display the plurality of templates stored in the template storage section on the display device, a template selection section configured to select one template from the plurality of templates displayed on the template display section, and a program explanatory content display section configured to read out the explanatory content of the program corresponding to the one template selected by the template selection section from the program explanatory content storage section and configured to display the explanatory content on the display device.

A method for handling an object comprises the steps: a) connecting the object (1) with a manipulator (5) and with an input tool (7) by means of which a direction ({right arrow over (d)}) within an internal coordinate system (K) relating to the input tool (7) can be entered, d) initiating a test movement of the manipulator (5) on the basis of a direction ({right arrow over (r)}) known in the external coordinate system (K); e) determining the direction ({right arrow over (r)}) of a movement of the input tool (7) in the internal coordinate system (K) resulting from the test movement of the manipulator (5); f) determining a coordinate transformation (T) which transforms the direction of the resulting movement ({right arrow over (r)}) in the internal coordinate system into the known direction ({right arrow over (r)}) in the external coordinate system; g) detecting an internal direction ({right arrow over (d)}) within the internal coordinate system (K) entered by a user using the input tool (7); h) applying the coordinate transformation (T) to the detected internal direction ({right arrow over (d)}) in order to obtain an external direction ({right arrow over (d)}); and i) controlling a movement of the manipulator (5) on the basis of the external direction ({right arrow over (d)}).

There is provided a method and computer program product for programming a robot by manually operating it in gravity-compensation kinesthetic-guidance mode. More specifically there is provided method and computer program product that uses kinesthetic teaching as a demonstration input modality and does not require the installation or use of any external sensing or data-capturing modules. It requires a single user demonstration to extract a representation of the program, and presents the user with a series of easily-controllable parameters that allow them to modify or constrain the parameters of the extracted program representation of the task.

The invention relates to a robot, a robot control system, and a method for controlling a robot. The robot comprises a movable, multi-membered robot structure (102) that can be driven by means of actuators (101), at least one marked structural element S being defined on the movable robot structure (102), with at least one point P.sub.S marked on the structural element S. The robot is designed such that, in an input mode, it learns positions POS.sub.PS of the point PS and/or poses of the structural element S in a work space of the robot, the user exerting an input force F.sub.EING on the movable robot structure in order to move the structural element S, which is conveyed to the point P.sub.S as F.sub.EING,PS, and/or to the structural element S as torque M.sub.EING,S. A control device (103) of the robot is designed such that, in the input mode, the actuators (101) are controlled on the basis of a pre-defined space-fixed virtual 3D grid that at least partially fills the work space, such that the structural element S is moved with a pre-defined force F.sub.GRID (POS.sub.PS), according to the current position POS.sub.PS of the point P.sub.S in the 3D grid, to the adjacent grid point of the 3D grid or in a grid point space defined around the adjacent grid point of the 3D grid, the point P.sub.S of the structural element S remaining on said adjacent grid point or in said grid point space in the event of the following holding true: |F.sub.EING,PS|<|F.sub.GRID(POS.sub.PS) and/or, in the input mode, the actuators (101) are controlled on the basis of a pre-defined virtual discrete 3D orientation space O, where the 3D orientation space O=: (.sub.i, .sub.j, .sub.k) where i=1, 2, . . . , I, j=1, 2, . . . J, k=1, 2, . . . , K is defined or can be defined by a pre-defined angle .sub.i, .sub.j, .sub.k, in such a way that the structural element S is moved with a pre-defined torque)(SO ROM according to the current orientation OR.sub.S of the structural element, towards the adjacent discrete orientation of the 3D orientation space O=: (.sub.i, .sub.j, .sub.k), S, the structural element remaining in said adjacent discrete orientation of the 3D orientation space O in the event that the following holds true: |M.sub.EING,S|<|M.sub.O(OR.sub.S).

The articulated-arm robot has a robot arm with an arm element movable via a joint and a sensor for continuously measuring a status parameter of the joint. The articulated-arm robot also has an optical signaling device arranged on the robot arm in spatial assignment to the joint and an assessment device for continuously assessing the measured status parameter in a joint-specific manner and for controlling the signaling device on the basis of the assessment result.