An industrial robot includes first and second kinematic chains configured to transmit the movements of corresponding first and second actuators to respective movements of an end effector. The first kinematic chain includes a first rod which is stiff. The second kinematic chain includes elements between the second actuator and the first rod such that the actuation of the second actuator causes bending forces on the first rod. The first and second kinematic chains thereby have the first rod as a common element, which improves compactness and accessibility of the robot. This improvement assumes that the robot is provided with one or more stiff rods that can bear the bending forces resulting from the actuation of the corresponding actuators.

A quick change end effector system for use with a robot includes: a quick change end effector configured for application to a task to be completed by a robot, the quick change end effector further comprising an end effector magnet; and a robotic manipulator configured to lock to the end effector, the robotic manipulator further configured to use the end effector to complete the task, the robotic manipulator comprising a manipulator magnet, the manipulator magnet being configured to magnetically attract the end effector magnet, thereby locking the manipulator in a mechanically strong connection to the quick change end effector, wherein upon disengagement of the magnetic attraction locking the manipulator to the quick change end effector, the quick change end effector can be quickly removed from the manipulator.

A transport apparatus including a drive; a first arm connected to the drive, where the first arm includes a first link, a second link and an end effector connected in series with the drive, where the first link and the second link have different effective lengths; and a system for limiting rotation of the end effector relative to the second link to provide substantially only straight movement of the end effector relative to the drive when the first arm is extended or retracted.

An apparatus including a robot drive, a first arm having a first upper arm, a first forearm and a first end effector, where the first end effector comprises a first and second substrate support sections and a leg located between the first and second support sections which connects the substrate support sections to a wrist joint with the first forearm, and where a connection of the leg to the wrist joint is offset unequal distances relative to respective centerlines of the first and second substrate support sections, and a second arm having a second upper arm connected to the robot drive, where the first and second upper arms are connected to a first shaft of the robot drive to be rotated in unison, and where the wrist joint does not intersect the drive axis while the first arm is being extended and retracted.

A horizontal articulated robot may include a hand; an arm having at least two arm portions including a supporting-arm portion to which said hand is rotatably joined and a supported-arm portion to which the base end of said hand-side arm portion is rotatably joined; a main body portion; and a rotation mechanism structured to rotate said supported-arm portion. The rotation mechanism may include a motor which is arranged such that an axial direction of an output shaft of the motor coincides with a horizontal direction; a Harmonic Drive (registered trade mark) wave-motion gearing device structured to reduce the power of said motor; a first bevel gear coupled to said output shaft; and a second bevel gear coupled with a wave generator of said Harmonic Drive (registered trade mark) wave-motion gearing device and which meshes with said first bevel gear.

A robotic controller for autonomous calibration and inspection of two or more solar surfaces wherein the robotic controller includes a drive system to position itself near a solar surface such that onboard sensors may be utilized to gather information about the solar surface. An onboard communication unit relays information to a central processing network, this processor combines new information with stored historical data to calibrate a solar surface and/or to determine its instantaneous health.

A robot system includes a fixed camera that obtains first measurement data by detecting a plurality of features positioned within a detection range, the detection range including at least part of a range in which a robot arm is movable, a hand camera movable with the robot arm, and a control apparatus that controls the robot arm. A calibration function that relates a value obtained as part of the first measurement data to a command value provided to the robot arm at each of a plurality of positions and orientations at which the hand camera obtains second measurement data by detecting each mark.

Implementations generally relate to storage systems. In one implementation, a system includes a plurality of storage libraries that store a plurality of removable media units. The system also includes a plurality of head units for reading and writing to one or more of the removable media units. The system also includes a plurality of robots that transfer one or more of the removable media units between one or more of the storage libraries and one or more of the head units. The system also includes enabling one or more of the robots to recover a set of data from two or more of the removable media units if a failure occurs in association with at least one of the other removable media units.

An apparatus including at least one drive; a first robot arm having a first upper arm, a first forearm and a first end effector. The first upper arm is connected to the at least one drive at a first axis of rotation. A second robot arm has a second upper arm, a second forearm and a second end effector. The second upper arm is connected to the at least one drive at a second axis of rotation which is spaced from the first axis of rotation. The first and second robot arms are configured to locate the end effectors in first retracted positions for stacking substrates located on the end effectors at least partially one above the another. The first and second robot arms are configured to extend the end effectors from the first retracted positions in a first direction along parallel first paths located at least partially directly one above the other. The first and second robot arms are configured to extend the end effectors in at least one second direction along second paths spaced from one another which are not located above one another. The first upper arm and the first forearm have different effective lengths. The second upper arm and the second forearm have different effective lengths.

In certain embodiments, latency measurement related to touch screen response may be facilitated. In some embodiments, a robotic member may be moved to perform a physical contact with a touch screen of a device. Frame change rates of the touch screen may be monitored. A response end time of a response depicted on the touch screen may be determined based on the monitored frame change rates of the touch screen, where the touch-screen-depicted response is a response to. A latency of the touch screen response to the first contact may be determined based on a contact time of the physical contact and the response end time.