A device for coordinated movement and/or orientation of a tracking tool relative to a portable tool handled by an operator on a production station allows a tracking tool to track the movements of a portable tool handled by an operator, without the intervention of an additional operator. Also described is a smoothing method using the device, as well as a smoothing station for implementing the method.

In robot teaching programming, a robot teaching programming method, apparatus and system, and a computer-readable medium, can realize the programming of a robot simply, and are not restricted in terms of robot types. A robot teaching programming system includes a movable apparatus for imitating movement of an end effector of a robot in a working space of the robot; a robot teaching programming apparatus for recording first movement information of the movable apparatus in a first coordinate system and converting the same to second movement information in a second coordinate system of the robot, and then programming the robot according to the second movement information. Using a movable apparatus to simulate an end effector of a robot has the advantages of ease of operation, and no restrictions in terms of robot types. Teaching programming is accomplished through simple coordinate transformation, and there is no need for advanced programming skills.

A data collection system that performs data collection of human-driven robot actions for robot learning. The data collection system includes: i) a wearable computation subsystem that is worn by a human data collector and that controls the data collection process and ii) a human-machine operation interface subsystem that allows the human data collector to use the human-machine operation interface to operate an attached robotic gripper to perform one or more actions. A user interface subsystem receives instructions from the wearable computation subsystem that direct the human data collector to perform the one or more actions using the human-machine operation interface subsystem. A visual sensing subsystem includes one or more cameras that collect raw visual data related to the pose and movement of the robotic gripper while performing the one or more actions. A data collection subsystem receives collected data related to the one or more actions.

A system that uses 3D scanning, movable devices, and pose selecting means, either in or outside the robot workspace, in order to create a robot program.

The invention relates to a method for controlling the movements of articulated arms (21, 22, 23) of an industrial robot (2) using a movement setting means (3) to be guided by hand by an operator, the movements of which are provided for generating at least a portion of the movement control data for the industrial robot (2) to be controlled. At least one of a plurality of reference marks (19, 19, 19) is arranged or formed at least on individual articulated arms (21, 22, 23) adjustable by the operator. The movement setting means (3) comprises at least one imaging and/or at least one distance-sensitive sensor (16, 17) which at least one sensor (16, 17) can be set with at least one of the plurality of reference marks (19, 19, 19) into a relative spatial position selected by the operator. During a movement of the movement setting means (3) at least the articulated arm (21, 22, 23) bearing the respectively selected reference mark (19, 19, 19) follows the movements of the movement setting means by control technology. In addition, a corresponding control system (1) and movement setting means (3) are specified.

A method of programming at least one robot by demonstration comprising: performing at least one demonstration of at least one task in the Held of view of at least one fixed camera to obtain at least one observed task trajectory of at least one manipulated object, preferably at least one set of observed task trajectories; generating a generalized task trajectory from said at least one observed task trajectory, preferably from said at least one set of observed task trajectories; and executing said at least one task by said at least one robot in the field of view of said at least one fixed camera, preferably using image-based visual servoing to minimize the difference between the executed trajectory during said execution and the generalized task trajectory.

Provided is a control system that controls an imaging condition of a camera equipped on a robot to capture an image in which a blur is suppressed.

The control system includes a robot control unit that controls a motion of the robot equipped with the camera, and a camera control unit that controls an imaging operation of the camera. The camera control unit determines an exposure time for suppressing a blur that occurs in a captured image of the camera within an allowable pixel number for the moving speed of the camera, and in a case where the camera control unit cannot set the exposure time, the camera control unit instructs the robot control unit to update a speed limit value of the robot.

A system and method for controlling a humanoid robot from a remote location are provided. One or more sensing devices are used to sense positions and movements of a user at an inhabiter station. A computing device generates a virtual character based upon the sensed positions and movements of the user and provides a plurality of outputs for controlling the humanoid robot based upon motion of the virtual character. The computing device includes a master controller to generate the virtual character and its behaviors and to transmit instructions to control motion of the humanoid robot to a slave controller located at the humanoid robot, providing smooth and natural motion of the humanoid robot. The method permits switching between multiple virtual characters in a single scene to control and alter the behavior of one or more humanoid robots located in several geographic locations.

Disclosed herein is a method, system, and non-volatile storage medium for simplifying the automation of a process of flow. The method may include determining a machine-independent process model based on data representing a handling of a work tool for performing a process flow. The process flow may include a plurality of sub-processes and the process model may link a process activity with spatial information for each sub-process. The method may also include mapping the machine-independent process model to a machine-specific control model of a machine using a model of the machine. The machine-specific control model may define an operating point of the machine for each sub-process, and the operating point may correspond to the process activity and to the spatial information.