A teaching method includes imaging a teaching jig to acquire a captured image, detecting a position and a posture of the teaching jig based on the captured image, changing a position and a posture of a robot arm of a robot based on a result obtained by the detection to maintain a positional relation between the teaching jig and a control point of the robot arm, and acquiring the position and the posture of the robot arm as teaching information when a control device, which controls operation of the robot, acquires a teaching signal.

A rack includes a container holder that is fixed to a stage and holds a container that contains a liquid to be dispensed and a camera that is fixed to the stage and located in a position where the camera is capable of capturing an image of the container.

Apparatus and methods that can be used to stabilize the distal end of an arm (and an end effector attached thereto) of an automated extended-reach tool-equipped assembly. Stabilization is provided by three or more stabilizers, each comprising a stationary part and a movable part. Each stationary part has a fixed location relative to the end effector; each movable part is translatably coupled to a respective stationary part and comprises a contactor disposed at a distal end of the movable part. When the stabilizers are actuated, the contactors are translated toward and into contact with the surface of the workpiece and then locked in place to stabilize the distal end of the arm and the end effector. During tool operation, the stabilizers reduce oscillation of the end effector (and all structure fixedly coupled thereto).

A method for characterising the environment of a robot, the robot having a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, a datum carried by the arm, a plurality of drivers arranged to drive the joints to move and a plurality of position sensors for sensing the position of each of the joints, the method comprising: contacting the datum carried by the arm with a first datum on a second robot in the environment of the first robot, wherein the second robot has a flexible arm having a plurality of joints, and a plurality of drivers arranged to drive those joints to move; calculating in dependence on the outputs of the position sensors a distance between a reference location defined in a frame of reference local to the robot and the first datum; and controlling the drivers to reconfigure the first arm in dependence on at least the calculated distance.

Disclosed are systems and methods to provide a method for calibrating a touchscreen coordinate system of a touchscreen with an industrial robot coordinate system of an industrial robot for industrial robot commissioning and industrial robot system and control system using the same. In one form the systems and methods include attaching an end effector to the industrial robot; (a) moving the industrial robot in a compliant way until a stylus of the end effector touches a point on the touchscreen; (b) recording a position of the stylus of the end effector in the industrial robot coordinate system when it touches the point of the touchscreen; (c) recording a position of the touch point on the touchscreen in the touchscreen coordinate system; and calculating a relation between the industrial robot coordinate system and the touchscreen coordinate system based on the at least three positions of the end effector stylus and the at least three positions of the touch points.

An encoder includes a base portion, a scale portion that is provided to be relatively rotatable with respect to the base portion, and has a plurality of marks, an imaging element that is disposed in the base portion, and images the marks, and an estimation portion that performs template matching on a captured image in the imaging element by using a reference image, in which the plurality of marks include a first mark and a second mark, and the estimation portion counts the number of pixels of the imaging element corresponding to a rotation angle of the scale portion with respect to the base portion until a position of the second mark is detected from detection of a position of the first mark, and performs calibration on the basis of the counted number of pixels and the rotation angle.

Characteristics of surroundings are extracted from signals of sensors mounted on different of a stationary industrial robot and an absolute co-ordinate system and a map of the surroundings are determined simultaneously using a SLAM-algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping, the map of the surroundings depicting the extracted characteristics and an absolute pose of a mobile part of the industrial robot being determined in the absolute co-ordinate system. The method transfers the technique of simultaneous localization and of establishing a map of characteristics of the surroundings, from the field of mobile robotics to the orientation of a stationary industrial robot. The method is based on the measurements of sensors attached to the mobile parts. Sensors which calculate the positions of the joints are also taken into consideration, and an absolute position and orientation is calculated even for imprecise or flexible industrial robots and for different loads.

A calibration device is provided. The calibration device includes a frame, a first optical sensing device, a second optical sensing device and a third optical sensing device. The frame includes a bottom plate and at least four sidewalls, wherein the sidewalls have a first grating hole, a second grating hole, a third grating hole and a fourth grating hole at a first height. The bottom plate has an image recognition pattern, a first measurement point, a second measurement point and a third measurement point.

An apparatus for use with a robot is disclosed. The apparatus includes a reflective photoelectric sensor arranged on a gripper of the robot and a controller. The controller is configured to: cause the reflective photoelectric sensor to scan over a target object; monitor changes in an output signal from the reflective photoelectric sensor; for each detected change exceeding a threshold, determine a coordinate of a gripping component on the gripper in a robot coordinate system, to obtain a set of coordinates; determine a position of the target object in the robot coordinate system based on the set of coordinates and a predefined offset value between the reflective photoelectric sensor and the gripping component; and store the position of target object for future use in assembling objects. A method, a robot and a computer program product are also disclosed. The apparatus and the method provide a new solution for calibrating or teaching the robot.

Disclosed is a calibration device including: a position information acquiring unit (101) for acquiring position information showing the position and the posture of control target equipment; a force information acquiring unit (102) for acquiring information about a force applied to the control target equipment from a detection result of a force sensor (5) disposed in the control target equipment; a first estimating unit (104) for estimating the force applied to the control target equipment from the acquired position information by using a physical model, to acquire estimated force information; and a second estimating unit (105) for estimating a linear or nonlinear model on the basis of the acquired position information, the acquired force information, and the acquired estimated force information.