A horizontal articulated robot in which an arm moves in the horizontal direction for use with objects to be transferred may include a hand on which the objects are to be mounted. The arm may have at least two arm portions including a hand-side arm portion to which the hand is rotatably joined to the front end thereof; and a second hand-side arm portion to which the base end of the hand-side arm portion is rotatably joined to the front end thereof; and a main body portion to which the base end of the arm is rotatably joined. A level which may be attached to the hand, the arm or the main body portion after an inclination of a center axis of rotation of the hand-side arm portion with respect to the second hand-side arm portion is adjusted relative to the vertical direction.

A horizontal articulated robot in which an arm moves in the horizontal direction for use with objects to be transferred may include a hand on which the objects are to be mounted. The arm may have at least two arm portions including a hand-side arm portion to which the hand is rotatably joined to the front end thereof; and a second hand-side arm portion to which the base end of the hand-side arm portion is rotatably joined to the front end thereof; and a main body portion to which the base end of the arm is rotatably joined. A level which may be attached to the hand, the arm or the main body portion after an inclination of a center axis of rotation of the hand-side arm portion with respect to the second hand-side arm portion is adjusted relative to the vertical direction.

The invention relates to an articulated arm robot for handling a payload, comprising a robot arm (R), which is attached to a base (1) that can be rotated about a first axis (A1), and at least two arm elements (2 and 3), which are arranged to form a kinematic chain and a first arm element (2) is mounted on the base (1) to pivot about a second axis (A2) that is oriented orthogonally relative to the first axis and a second arm element (3) which is attached to the first arm to be pivotal manner about a third axis (A3) that is oriented parallel to the second axis (A2).

An apparatus comprises a continuously flexible device and an actuation mechanism that acts to bend and straighten the continuously flexible device. The apparatus also includes a sensor apparatus that generates bend information about at least a portion of the continuously flexible device. The apparatus also includes an electronic data processor. The electronic data processor generates (i) external force information about at least one of a magnitude or a direction of an external force applied to the continuously flexible device, or (ii) both the external force information and internal force information about a bending force applied to the continuously flexible device by the actuation mechanism from (a) the generated bend information and (b) information representing at least one mechanical property of the continuously flexible device.

A robotic surgery system comprises a mounting base, a plurality of surgical instruments, and an articulate support assembly. Each instrument is insertable into a patient through an associated minimally invasive aperture to a desired internal surgical site. The articulate support assembly movably supports the instruments relative to the base. The support generally comprises an orienting platform, a platform linkage movably supporting the orienting platform relative to the base, and a plurality of manipulators mounted to the orienting platform, wherein each manipulator movably supports an associated instrument.

A robot assembly for transporting a substrate is presented. The robot assembly having a first arm and a second arm supported by a column, the first arm further having a first limb, the first limb having a first set of revolute joint/line pairs configured to provide translation and rotation of the distal most link of the first limb in the horizontal plane. The assembly further having a second arm further having a second limb, the second limb comprising a second set of revolute joint/link pairs configured to provide translation and rotation of a distalmost link of the second limb in the horizontal plane. The first limb and second limb further having proximal revolute joints having a common vertical axis of rotation and a proximal inner joint housed in a common housing. The assembly further having an actuator assembly coupled to the first set of revolute joint/link pairs and to the second set of revolute joint/link pairs to effect rotation and translation of the distalmost links of the first limb and the second limb, each of the first limb and the second limb defining, in conjunction with the actuator assembly, at least three degrees of freedom per limb, whereby the distalmost links of the first limb and the second limb are independently horizontally translatable for extension and retraction.

Aspects of the present disclosure describe a robot which has a controller, actuators, encoders, and mechanical components. The robot may produce motion about an X, Z, R.sub.U, R.sub.L, and Theta axes. Movements of the robot are controlled by the controller. The repeatability of the robot is improved by designing the robot such that a control cycle frequency of the controller is 50 times or more greater than a vibrational frequency of one or more of the mechanical components. In order to reduce the release of particulates, a baffled enclosure may be used. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. This abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

A parallel-type micro robot capable of precise control while minimizing size thereof and a surgical robot system having the same are disclosed. The parallel-type micro robot includes a base plate, a work plate, a main fixing shaft module, a horizontal movement module and at least one angle-controlling module. The base plate includes a base body portion and at least one base connecting portion connected to the base body portion. The work plate includes a work body portion corresponding to the base body portion and at least one work connecting portion connecting to the work body portion to correspond to the base connecting portion. The main fixing shaft module is disposed between the base body portion and the work body portion, and coupled to the work body portion such that the work body portion is rotatable. The horizontal movement module is disposed between the main fixing shaft module and the base body portion, and moves the main fixing shaft module along first and second directions intersecting each other. The angle-controlling module is coupled to the base connecting portion such that the base connecting portion is rotatable, is coupled to the work connecting portion such that the work connecting portion is rotatable, and allows translational motion between the base connecting portion and the work connecting portion. Thus, a size of a robot may be minimized while improving the structural stability and precise control.

A horizontal articulated robot includes: a first link; a second link whose proximal end portion is coupled to one of an upper side and a lower side of a distal end portion of the first link; a third link whose proximal end portion is coupled to the other upper or lower side of a distal end portion of the second link; and a spacer disposed at a coupling position where the second link and one of the first link and the third link are coupled together, the spacer spacing the second link and the one link apart from each other in an up-down direction, such that a motion trajectory of the third link does not interfere with the first link.

A wafer transfer system for use in a photolithography system including a wafer storage apparatus, a pre-alignment apparatus, a buffer stage and a wafer stage is disclosed, which includes: a dual-arm robot, configured to take a wafer to be exposed from the wafer storage apparatus and transfer it onto the pre-alignment apparatus and further configured to remove an exposed wafer from the buffer stage and place it back into the wafer storage apparatus; a wafer-loading linear robot, configured to transfer a pre-aligned wafer onto the wafer stage; and a wafer-unloading linear robot, configured to transfer the exposed wafer onto the buffer stage. The dual-arm robot, the wafer-loading linear robot and the wafer-unloading linear robot can operate in parallel so as to achieve time savings in the wafer transfers.