A control system may receive a first plurality of measurements indicative of respective joint angles corresponding to a plurality of sensors connected to a robot. The robot may include a body and a plurality of jointed limbs connected to the body associated with respective properties. The control system may also receive a body orientation measurement indicative of an orientation of the body of the robot. The control system may further determine a relationship between the first plurality of measurements and the body orientation measurement based on the properties associated with the jointed limbs of the robot. Additionally, the control system may estimate an aggregate orientation of the robot based on the first plurality of measurements, the body orientation measurement, and the determined relationship. Further, the control system may provide instructions to control at least one jointed limb of the robot based on the estimated aggregate orientation of the robot.

A device and method for monitoring a motion of a robot manipulator, including operations of: defining a forbidden position for the robot manipulator, defining a curve running along the robot manipulator with a one-dimensional running coordinate s, wherein at least a subset of all locations of the curve is moved together with a current pose of the robot manipulator, and determining a distance d between a location of a current curve and/or a predicted curve and the forbidden position.

A robot control device includes a robot control section that controls a robot. The robot control device outputs, to another device, second information associated with first information indicating operation being executed by the robot control section, the operation being operation for causing the robot to perform work.

A surgical robotic system is provided for use in a surgical procedure. The surgical robotic system comprises a surgical arm (080) comprising a movable arm part (082) for mounting of a surgical instrument (119), the movable arm part having at least one degree-of-freedom to enable longitudinal movement (109) of the surgical instrument towards a surgical target (123). A human machine interface (020) is provided for receiving positioning commands (022) from a human operator for controlling the longitudinal movement of the surgical instrument, and an actuator (060) is configured and arranged for actuating the movable arm part to effect the longitudinal movement of the surgical instrument. The actuator is controlled by a processor in accordance with the positioning commands and a virtual bound (132-135). The virtual bound establishes a transition in the control of the longitudinal movement of the surgical instrument in a direction towards the surgical target. The virtual bound is determined, during use of the surgical robotic system, based on the positioning commands.

Advantageously, the human operator is provided with safer and/or more accurate control over the surgical instrument in the vicinity of a surgical target.

A method for the protection of a work area of a mobile logistics robot in changing work environments, the method including controlling the mobile logistics robot using a control system, scanning the current work environment using a sensor system, monitoring the current work environment using a safety system, in which the control system autonomously defines a planned safe work area in a new work environment, and the safety system autonomously verifies and monitors the defined work area as a clear protection zone, and in the event of a breach of the clear protection zone by the entry of an object into the clear protection zone, the mobile logistics robot is automatically placed in a safe status.

A medical safety-system for dynamic 3D healthcare environments, a medical examination system with motorized equipment, an image acquisition arrangement, and a method for providing safe movements in dynamic 3D healthcare environments. The medical safety-system for dynamic 3D healthcare environments includes a detection system, a processing unit, and an interface unit. The detection system includes at least one sensor arrangement to provide depth information of at least a part of an observed scene. The processing unit includes a correlation unit to assign the depth information and a generation unit to generate a 3D free space model to provide the 3D free space model.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for controlling robotic movements. One of the methods includes receiving, for a robot, a definition of a plurality of sensor-based skills to be executed in sequence, wherein each skill is associated with an entry point and an exit point; generating a motion plan for the robot, including: generating, for a first skill of the plurality of sensor-based skills, a first path from a first entry point of the first skill to a second point at which a sensor-based interaction of the first skill begins, and generating, for the first skill of the plurality of sensor-based skills, a second path from a third point at which the sensor-based interaction of the first skill ends to a first exit point of the first skill; and executing the motion plan for the robot.

A flexible manipulator apparatus includes an elongate flexible manipulator having a sensor, a user output device configured to provide sensory outputs to the user, and processing circuitry. The flexible manipulator may be movable to form a curve in the flexible manipulator. The processing circuitry may be configured to receive captured sensor data from the sensor during movement of the flexible manipulator, and determine a collision likelihood score based on application of the captured sensor data to a collision detection model used for position estimation. The collision detection model may be based on an empirical data training for the flexible manipulator that includes training sensor data from the sensor and training image data of positions of the flexible manipulator. The processing circuitry may be configured to control the user output device based on the collision likelihood score to provide a collision alert sensory output to the user.

Elements of a machine are moved relative to one another along several axes. A monitoring device receives groups of position values of the axes which specify the relative position of the elements to one another. The surfaces and/or volumes of the elements taking up working space are determined therefrom. The monitoring device checks whether a collision risk between the elements exists. The monitoring device models at least parts of the surfaces of the elements with two-dimensional splines defined by nodes and checkpoints. The monitoring device further determines from the checkpoints of the splines for sections envelopes which envelop respective element in the respective section, and uses the respective envelope as a surface that is taken up by the respective element in the respective section. Boundary lines of faces of the envelopes are straight connecting lines of the checkpoints.

Provided is a method for detecting an imminent collision between an object and a component of an autonomous system in the real environment including at least one real, decentralized autonomous component, whereby of at least a part of the autonomous system a virtual image is available, emulating at least one aspect of the autonomous system.