An apparatus for collision avoidance by surface proximity detection includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed adjacent to a surface of an object, a memory storing instructions, and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to control a first one among the piezoelectric elements to generate an acoustic wave along the surface of the object, and receive, via a second one among the piezoelectric elements, an acoustic wave signal corresponding to the generated acoustic wave. The at least one processor is further configured to execute the instructions to filter the received acoustic wave signal, using a band-pass filter for reducing noise of the received acoustic wave signal, obtain a proximity signal for proximity detection, from the filtered acoustic wave signal, using a linear time-invariant filter, and detect whether an obstacle is proximate to the surface of the object by inputting the obtained proximity signal into a neural network.

A device for indicating appropriate social distancing includes the ability to project light (in various forms and in a various ways) onto the ground in a manner visible by the user and those around them. A boundary of the projected light can be set to an acceptable social distance and can include different colors to indicated varying social distances for varying levels of trusted individuals. Proximity sensors set to appropriate distancing requirements, along with the varying levels of trust can be implemented into multiple devices being used in a group setting.

A device for indicating appropriate social distancing includes the ability to project light (in various forms and in a various ways) onto the ground in a manner visible by the user and those around them. A boundary of the projected light can be set to an acceptable social distance and can include different colors to indicated varying social distances for varying levels of trusted individuals. Proximity sensors set to appropriate distancing requirements, along with the varying levels of trust can be implemented into multiple devices being used in a group setting.

A device for indicating appropriate social distancing includes the ability to project light (in various forms and in a various ways) onto the ground in a manner visible by the user and those around them. A boundary of the projected light can be set to an acceptable social distance and can include different colors to indicated varying social distances for varying levels of trusted individuals. Proximity sensors set to appropriate distancing requirements, along with the varying levels of trust can be implemented into multiple devices being used in a group setting.

The present teaching relates to method, system, medium, and implementations for robot path planning. Depth data of obstacles, acquired by depth sensors deployed in a 3D robot workspace and represented with respect to a sensor coordinate system, is transformed into depth data with respect to a robot coordinate system. The 3D robot workspace is discretized to generate 3D grid points representing a discretized 3D robot workspace. Based on the depth data with respect to the robot coordinate system, binarized values are assigned to at least some of 3D grid points to generate a binarized representation for the obstacles present in the 3D robot workspace. With respect to one or more sensing points associated with a part of a robot, it is determined whether the part is to collide with any obstacle. Based on the determining, a path is planned for the robot to move along while avoiding any obstacle.

The present teaching relates to a method and system for path planning. A target is tracked via one or more sensors. Information of a desired pose of an end-effector with respect to the target and a current pose of the end-effector is obtained. Also, a minimum distance permitted between an arm including the end-effector and each of at least one obstacle identified between the current pose of the end-effector and the target is obtained. A weighting factor previously learned is retrieved and a cost based on a cost function is computed in accordance with a weighted smallest distance between the arm including the end-effector and the at least one obstacle, wherein the smallest distance is weighted by the weighting factor. A trajectory is computed from the current pose to the desired pose by minimizing the cost function.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating paths for a robot based on optimizing multiple objectives. One of the methods includes: receiving, by a motion planner, request to generate a path for a robot between a start point and an end point in a workcell of the robot, wherein the workcell is associated with one or more soft margin values that define spaces in which the robot should avoid when transitioning between points in the workcell; classifying path segments within the workcell as being inside the soft margin or outside the soft margin; generating a respective cost for each of the plurality of path segments within the workcell; generating a plurality of alternative paths; evaluating the plurality of alternative paths according to the respective costs; and selecting an alternative path based on respective total costs of the plurality of alternative paths.

Provided is an obstacle search device of a robot system, capable of creating a robot operation path in which it is not necessary to input information manually, human errors are eliminated, and the robot does not interfere with an obstacle efficiently and accurately. An obstacle search device of a robot system, for automatically specifying a region where an obstacle is present so that an operation path in which a robot does not interfere with an obstacle can be generated automatically includes: a non-contact three-dimensional measuring unit attached to the robot; and an obstacle search unit that searches for an obstacle in a search space using the three-dimensional measuring unit.

The invention relates to a method and a device for handling of disturbances in a filling and/or closing and/or post-processing installation for the pharmaceutical industry using a manipulator (14), wherein a path along which the manipulator (14) is moved for collision-free handle of the disturbance is planned in such a way that travel paths of the manipulator (14) which influence a primary air supply (5) of primary packaging means and/or of components of the filling and/or closing and/or post-processing installation which are in contact with the primary packaging means are minimized. The invention further relates to a filling and/or closing and/or post-processing installation and a computer program for a filling and/or closing and/or post-processing installation.

A trajectory plan generation device executes a first search process for searching for a plurality of position candidates which are movement destinations of the tip portion within a predetermined distance from first trajectory information indicating positions and postures of the tip portion between the start point and the end point, a second search process for searching for a plurality of posture candidates of the tip portion that change within an allowable range by spherical interpolation based on postures of the tip portion at the start point and the end point, a determination process for determining second trajectory information indicating positions and postures of movement destinations of the tip portion from the first trajectory information based on the plurality of position candidates searched for by the first search process and the plurality of posture candidates searched for by the second search process, and an output process.