A conveying apparatus includes: an article detection device; a gripping device with base portion and palm portion, a suction portion, fingers, and a driving mechanism; a negative pressure supplying device; a moving device; a recognition device that measures the shape, the posture, and the size of the article; an operation plan generation device that selects a suction surface of the article, and plans a gripping posture; and a control device that controls an operation of the gripping device and an operation of the moving device to obtain a gripping posture planned by the operation plan generation device.

A holding position determination device includes a control unit that determines the position where an end effector adapted to hold a holding target contacts the holding target as a holding position. The control unit acquires an end effector model that identifies an area where a holding portion of the end effector can exist. The control unit acquires a rule map that includes a map defining the position of the holding target to be held by the end effector based on an image of holding target obtained by photographing the holding target. The control unit determines the holding position based on the end effector model and the rule map.

A sortation system is disclosed that includes a programmable motion device including an end effector, a perception system for recognizing any of the identity, location, and orientation of an object presented in a plurality of objects, a grasp selection system for selecting a grasp location on the object, the grasp location being chosen to provide a secure grasp of the object by the end effector to permit the object to be moved from the plurality of objects to one of a plurality of destination locations, and a motion planning system for providing a motion path for the transport of the object when grasped by the end effector from the plurality of objects to the one of the plurality of destination locations, wherein the motion path is chosen to provide a path from the plurality of objects to the one of the plurality of destination locations.

A grasp management system is described. The grasp management system may be configured to determine a grasp strategy for a robotic manipulator. Information about an initial state of an object may be accessed. Information about a final state of the object may also be accessed. The final state may enable a subsequent interaction with the object. An anticipated pose space may be determined that enables the subsequent interaction with the object. An initial pose for the robotic manipulator may be determined based at least in part on the anticipated pose space. The initial pose may be used by the robotic manipulator to grasp the object.

Provided is an article retrieval system including: a sensor that measures the states of articles stored in a storage container; an article detection part for detecting the articles on the basis of the states of the articles measured by the sensor; handling part for retrieving the articles or changing the positions and/or orientations of the articles detected by the article detection part; and a controller that controls the sensor, the article detection part, and the handling part. The controller includes: a space dividing part for dividing the space in which the articles exist according to the states of the articles measured by the sensor; and a switching part for switching at least one of a method of measurement with the sensor, a method of detection with the article detection part, and a method of retrieval with the handling part in each of the spaces divided by the space dividing part.

An information processor calculates, for a robot hand including a plurality of fingers, a gripping pose at which the robot hand grips a target object. The information processor includes a candidate single-finger placement position detector that detects, based on three-dimensional measurement data obtained through three-dimensional measurement of the target object and hand shape data about a shape of the robot hand, candidate placement positions for each of the plurality of fingers of the robot hand, a multi-finger combination searcher that searches for, among the candidate placement positions for each of the plurality of fingers, a combination of candidate placement positions to allow gripping of the target object, and a gripping pose calculator that calculates, based on the combination of candidate placement positions for each of the plurality of fingers, a gripping pose at which the robot hand grips the target object.

A sortation system is disclosed that includes a programmable motion device including an end effector, a perception system for recognizing any of the identity, location, and orientation of an object presented in a plurality of objects, a grasp selection system for selecting a grasp location on the object, the grasp location being chosen to provide a secure grasp of the object by the end effector to permit the object to be moved from the plurality of objects to one of a plurality of destination locations, and a motion planning system for providing a motion path for the transport of the object when grasped by the end effector from the plurality of objects to the one of the plurality of destination locations, wherein the motion path is chosen to provide a path from the plurality of objects to the one of the plurality of destination locations.

A grasp management system and corresponding methods are described. In some examples, information about a grasp by which an end of arm tool of a robotic manipulator successfully grasped an item is accessed. The grasp may be associated with contact points on the item. Other contact points may be simulated based on the contact points in order to define a grasping surface that includes at least a portion of the other contact points. Information about the grasping surface may be accessed to determine a primitive shape that represents a feature of the item. The primitive shape may be used determine other features on the item or other features on other items that may also be graspable by the end of arm tool or other end of arm tools.

The invention relates to a method and a system for determining gripping regions on an object. The object is to be gripped, based on the determined gripping regions, by means of a robot. At least one first gripping pose of the robot is taught at the object, and additional gripping poses are determined at the object. Based on these gripping poses, a first gripping region is configured.

An orientation designated in advance as an orientation that a grip unit is to take to grip an object having a shape of rotational symmetry with respect to at least one axis is acquired as a reference orientation. The relative position and orientation of the object and grip unit when the grip unit grips the object is acquired as a taught position and orientation. The position and orientation of the object is recognized from an image, and an initial position and initial orientation in which the grip unit grips the object are derived based on the recognized and taught positions and orientations. A grip orientation to grip the object is decided based on the reference and the initial orientation, and a grip position and orientation in which the grip unit grips the object is decided based on the grip orientation and the initial position.