Disclosed is a tactile sensing and integrated vision system that surmounts problems of existing systems. The tactile sensing skin can be formed into any shape, size, or form factor, including large areas. Computer-implemented algorithms can detect position-orientation and force-torque at landmark points for a given object set. The result is a modular sensing system that is highly scalable in terms of price, quantity, size and applications. Such skin technology and associated software can comprise a sensing package that integrates tactile and visual data with accompanying software for state estimation, situational awareness, and automatic control of machinery. The addition of tactile data can serve to constrain and/or augment visual pose estimation methods as well as provide pose estimation to visually occluded objects.

An automatic truck unloader for unloading/unpacking product, such as boxes or cases, from trailers and containers is disclosed. In one embodiment, a mobile base structure provides a support framework for a drive subassembly, conveyance subassembly, an industrial robot, a distance measurement subassembly, and a control subassembly. Under the operation of the control subassembly, an industrial robot having a suction cup-based gripper arm selectively removes boxes from the trailer and places the boxes on a powered transportation path. The control subassembly coordinates the selective articulated movement of the industrial robot and the activation of the drive subassembly based upon the distance measurement subassembly detecting objects, including boxes, within a detection space, and dimensions of the trailer provided to the control subassembly.

An operating device and a method for compensating a spacing between two workpieces in relative movement, and relate to the fields of measurement, control and precision machining technology are disclosed. In the operating device, a control system controls a first workpiece assembly and a second workpiece assembly to move relative to each other in a first direction and drives a first sensor to move to a target measurement position, and measures a first distance between the first workpiece assembly and the second workpiece assembly by the first sensor; the control system controls the first workpiece assembly and the second workpiece assembly to move relative to each other in a first direction and drives the second sensor to move to the target measurement position, and measures a second distance between the first workpiece assembly and the second workpiece assembly by the second sensor.

A method of machining an elongate workpiece extending along a longitudinal axis and shaped to be supported rotationally instably about the longitudinal axis includes sensing a rotation of the workpiece about the longitudinal axis, thereby yielding a sensing result; and machining the workpiece at the machining station at least partly in dependence of the sensing result.