The invention relates to a method and device for controlling and regulating motors, MOT.sub.m, of a robot, with m=1, 2, . . . M, wherein the robot has robot components that are interconnected via a number, N, of articulated connections GEL.sub.n, the joint angles of the articulated connections GEL.sub.n can be adjusted by means of associated motors MOT.sub.m; Z(t.sub.k) is a state of the robot components in an interval, t.sub.k; and a first system of coupled motion equations BGG is predetermined and describes rigid-body dynamics or flexible-body dynamics of the connected robot components.

A control apparatus for controlling operation of a work robot for performing work inside a target region using a manipulator includes a trajectory information acquiring unit for acquiring N1 or N pieces of trajectory information respectively indicating N1 or N trajectories connecting N work regions where the work robot performs a series of work operations in order of a series of work operations; a classifying unit for classifying the N1 or N trajectories as (i) trajectories that need correction or (ii) trajectories that do not need correction; and a trajectory planning unit for planning a trajectory of a tip of the manipulator between two work regions relating to the each of the one or more trajectories, for each of the one or more trajectories classified as a trajectory that needs correction by the classifying unit.

A machine vision-based method and system for measuring 3D pose of a part or subassembly of parts having an unknown pose are disclosed. A number of different applications of the method and system are disclosed including applications which utilize a reprogrammable industrial automation machine such as a robot. The method includes providing a reference cloud of 3D voxels which represent a reference surface of a reference part or subassembly having a known reference pose. Using at least one 2D/3D hybrid sensor, a sample cloud of 3D voxels which represent a corresponding surface of a sample part or subassembly of the same type as the reference part or subassembly is acquired. The sample part or subassembly has an actual pose different from the reference pose. The voxels of the sample and reference clouds are processed utilizing a matching algorithm to determine the pose of the sample part or subassembly.

An offline teaching device includes: a storage unit that stores a program; a display control unit that causes a monitor to display four or more coordinate points P1 to P6 based on teaching point data described in the program and one line connecting the four or more coordinate points P1 to P6 successively; and a correction amount generation unit that, after two coordinate points P2 and P5 are selected on the monitor from remaining coordinate points P2 to P5 except the coordinate points P1 and P6 serving as a starting point and an ending point of the line and one coordinate system is selected among a plurality of coordinate systems, generates correction amounts of the coordinate points P2 to P5 without changing the teaching point data on the basis of dragging of a segment between the selected two coordinate points P2 and P5 according to the selected coordinate system.

A coordination system for a handling device including a plurality of kinematic chains is provided. Each of the kinematic chains being movable in a workspace. At least two of the workspaces having an overlap, the kinematic chains being designed to carry out a work movement based on a work command. The coordination system includes a trajectory planning module and a control module. The control module is designed to activate the kinematic chains to carry out the work movement based on trajectory data. The trajectory planning module is designed to determine the trajectory data to carry out the work movement and to provide the trajectory data to the control module. The trajectory planning module is designed, if a further work command is provided while the work movement is being carried out, to replan the trajectory data into replanned trajectory data and provide these data to the control module.

A control apparatus for controlling operation of a work robot for performing work inside a target region using a manipulator includes a trajectory information acquiring unit for acquiring N?1 or N pieces of trajectory information respectively indicating N?1 or N trajectories connecting N work regions where the work robot performs a series of work operations in order of a series of work operations; a classifying unit for classifying the N?1 or N trajectories as (i) trajectories that need correction or (ii) trajectories that do not need correction; and a trajectory planning unit for planning a trajectory of a tip of the manipulator between two work regions relating to the each of the one or more trajectories, for each of the one or more trajectories classified as a trajectory that needs correction by the classifying unit.

A robot system includes a robot; a peripheral device disposed around the robot; a control unit configured to operate at least the robot based on a program; a suspension unit configured to suspend a plurality of sequential operations performed by the robot in conjunction with the peripheral device based on an operation program if an irregular state occurs in the peripheral device; and a simulator. The simulator is configured to generate a recovery program based at least on a robot state information of the robot at the time of suspending the operation due to an occurrence of the irregular state, in which the control unit is further configured to cause the robot to operate with respect to the peripheral device based on the recovery program so that an operation by the suspended operation program becomes resumable.

An offline teaching device includes: a storage unit that stores a program; a display control unit that causes a monitor to display four or more coordinate points P1 to P6 based on teaching point data described in the program and one line connecting the four or more coordinate points P1 to P6 successively; and a correction amount generation unit that, after two coordinate points P2 and P5 are selected on the monitor from remaining coordinate points P2 to P5 except the coordinate points P1 and P6 serving as a starting point and an ending point of the line and one coordinate system is selected among a plurality of coordinate systems, generates correction amounts of the coordinate points P2 to P5 without changing the teaching point data on the basis of dragging of a segment between the selected two coordinate points P2 and P5 according to the selected coordinate system.

A system comprising a robotic arm and a robotic arm controller. The robotic arm receives instructions from the robotic arm controller and moves along a path. The robotic arm controller comprises an interface, a memory, and a processor. The interface communicates with the robotic arm. The memory stores a first path and a second path. The processor applies a decreasing weight to the waypoints of the first path and an increasing weight to the waypoints of the second path. The processor combines the weighted waypoints of the first path and the second path to generate a third path wherein the third path defines a transition path from the first path to the second path. The processor further instructs the robotic arm to transition from the first path to the second path by traversing the third path.

A trajectory generation device includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of trajectories; a trajectory acquisition unit that acquires a trajectory, corresponding to an environment similar to a current environment, from the plurality of trajectories stored in the storage unit; and a trajectory generation unit that calculates a longest trajectory part, which is present in a moving object moving area in the trajectory acquired by the trajectory acquisition unit, and generates a trajectory by connecting both ends of the calculated longest trajectory part to a predetermined start point and a predetermined end point respectively.