A method includes receiving sensor data representative of surfaces in a physical environment containing an interaction point for a robotic device and determining, based on the sensor data, a height map of the surfaces in the physical environment. The method also includes determining, by inputting the height map and the interaction point into a pre-trained model, one or more candidate positions for a base of the robotic device to allow a manipulator of the robotic device to reach the interaction point. The method additionally includes determining a collision-free trajectory to be followed by the manipulator of the robotic device to reach the interaction point when the base of the robotic device is positioned at a selected candidate position of the one or more candidate positions and, based on determining the collision-free trajectory, causing the base of the robotic device to move to the selected candidate position within the physical environment.

A software compensated robotic system makes use of recurrent neural networks and image processing to control operation and/or movement of an end effector. Images are used to compensate for variations in the response of the robotic system to command signals. This compensation allows for the use of components having lower reproducibility, precision and/or accuracy that would otherwise be practical.

An imaging unit, a control parameter generation unit, a control unit, and a drive unit are provided. The imaging unit captures an image including two objects. The control parameter generation unit feeds information of the captured image including the two objects into an input layer of a neural network, and outputs a position control amount for controlling the positional relation of between the two objects as an output layer of the neural network. The control unit controls current or voltage to control the positional relation between the two objects by using the outputted position control amount. The drive unit changes a position of one of the two objects by using the current or the voltage. Here, the control parameter generation unit selects the neural network from a plurality of neural networks. Therefore, even if there are differences between objects or errors in the positional relationship between the two objects, alignment can be performed more accurately.

A method for human-robot collaboration including: acquiring visual temporal data of a human partner to a robot; determining, using a generative module, predicted future visual temporal data in response to the visual temporal data, the visual temporal data including current visual temporal data and previous visual temporal data; and determining, using a discriminative module, a vector of probabilities indicating the likelihood that a future action of the human partner belongs to each class among a set of classes being considered in response to at least the future visual temporal data and the visual temporal data.

A mobile robot of the present disclosure includes: a traveling unit configured to move a main body; a lidar sensor configured to acquire terrain information outside the main body; a camera sensor configured to acquire an image outside the main body; and a controller configured to fuse the image and a detection signal of the lidar sensor to select a front edge for the next movement and set a target location of the next movement at the front edge to perform mapping travelling. Therefore, in a situation where there is no map, the mobile robot can provide an accurate map with a minimum speed change when travelling while drawing the map.

Anatomical feature tracking involves advancing a medical instrument to a treatment site of a patient, the medical instrument comprising an imaging device, generating a first image of at least a portion of the treatment site using the imaging device of the medical instrument when a distal end of the medical instrument is in a first position, generating a first silhouette of a first target anatomical feature represented in the first image, generating a second image of at least a portion of the treatment site using the imaging device of the medical instrument when the distal end of the medical instrument is in a second position, generating a second silhouette of a second target anatomical feature represented in the second image, and determining a target position at the treatment site based at least in part on the first silhouette and the second silhouette.

Robotic devices may be trained by a user guiding the robot along target action trajectory using an input signal. A robotic device may comprise an adaptive controller configured to generate control signal based on one or more of the user guidance, sensory input, performance measure, and/or other information. Training may comprise a plurality of trials, wherein for a given context the user and the robot's controller may collaborate to develop an association between the context and the target action. Upon developing the association, the adaptive controller may be capable of generating the control signal and/or an action indication prior and/or in lieu of user input. The predictive control functionality attained by the controller may enable autonomous operation of robotic devices obviating a need for continuing user guidance.

A method is presented for programming a repeating motion of a redundant robotic arm on the basis of a variable parameter convergence differential neural network. The method may include establishing an inverse kinematics equation, creating an inverse kinematics problem, introducing a repeating motion indicator, converting a time-varying convex quadratic programming problem into a time-varying matrix equation, and integrating an optimal solution to obtain an optimal solution of a joint angle. The use of the variable parameter convergence differential neural network to solve the repeating redundant mechanical motion has the advantages of high computational efficiency, high real-time performance, and enhanced robot arm robustness.

A system is described for configuring another system, e.g., a robotics system. The other system interacts with an environment according to a deterministic policy by repeatedly obtaining, from a sensor, sensor data indicative of a state of the environment, determining a current action, and providing, to an actuator, actuator data causing the actuator to effect the current action in the environment. To configure the other system, the system optimizes a loss function based on an accumulated reward distribution with respect to a set of parameters of the policy. The accumulated reward distribution includes an action probability of an action of a previous interaction log being performed according to the current set of parameters. The action probability is approximated using a probability distribution defined by an action selected by the deterministic policy according to the current set of parameters.

A control device includes a motion controller configured to control operation of a mechanical apparatus according to an operational command, a correction controller configured to correct the operation of the mechanical apparatus according to manipulational information outputted from a manipulating device, a memory part configured to store first operational information indicative of the operation of the mechanical apparatus, and correctional information indicative of the correction made by the correction controller, and a learning part configured to carry out machine learning using the first operational information and the correctional information corresponding to the first operational information. The motion controller controls the operation of the mechanical apparatus according to the operational command based on the command of the learning part, and the manipulating device outputs the manipulational information based on second operational information indicative of motion of the manipulating device.