The invention disclosed herein describes a supervised autonomy system designed to precisely model, inspect and process the surfaces of complex three-dimensional objects. The current application context for this system is laser coating removal of aircraft, but this invention is suitable for use in a wide variety of applications that require close, precise positioning and maneuvering of an inspection or processing tool over the entire surface of a physical object. For example, this system, in addition to laser coating removal, could also apply new coatings, perform fine-grained or gross inspection tasks, deliver and/or use manufacturing process tools or instruments, and/or verify the results of other manufacturing processes such as but not limited to welding, riveting, or the placement of various surface markings or fixtures.

A method for determining a shape of a lumen in an anatomical structure comprises reading information from a plurality of strain sensors disposed substantially along a length of a flexible medical device when the flexible medical device is positioned in the lumen. When the flexible medical device is positioned in the lumen, the flexible medical device conforms to the shape of the lumen. The method further comprises computationally determining, by a processing system, the shape of the lumen based on the information from the plurality of strain sensors.

Provided is a robot pivot shaft structure that includes a revolving drum rotatably supported at an upper portion of a base and that has a hollow portion, a drive motor rotating the revolving drum, and a speed reduction mechanism reducing the rotational speed of the drive motor. The speed reduction mechanism has a small gear fixed to a shaft of the drive motor, a large gear meshed with the small gear, an input hypoid gear fixed to the large gear, and an output hypoid gear meshed with the input hypoid gear. The output hypoid gear is fixed to the revolving drum and is disposed in the base. The input hypoid gear and the large gear are rotatably supported at the base. The drive motor is fixed to the base and disposed below the revolving drum, the position being horizontally shifted from vertically below the hollow portion.

The various embodiments disclosed herein relate to improved robotic surgical systems, including robotic surgical devices having improved arm components and/or biometric sensors, contact detection systems for robotic surgical devices, gross positioning systems and devices for use in robotic surgical systems, and improved external controllers and consoles.

The invention relates to a joint arrangement having at least one driven axis, in particular for activating a movement of a component of a robot, wherein a first base element (15) receives a first rotary element (16), and the first rotary element (16) is rotatable about a first axis of rotation (14), the first rotary element (16) receives a second axis of rotation (18), separate from the first axis of rotation (14) and about which a second rotary element (22) is pivotably mounted on the first rotary element (16), the second rotary element (22) has a third axis of rotation (25) separate from the second axis of rotation (18) and about which a second base element (26) is rotatable with respect to the second rotary element (22), the second axis of rotation (18) has an axial offset (19) in relation to the first axis of rotation (14), and the second axis of rotation (18) is inclined with respect to the first axis of rotation (14), and the first and second axes of rotation (14, 18) have a point of intersection (29) which lies outside the joint arrangement (11).

A substrate transport apparatus having a frame, a drive section and an articulated arm. The drive section has at least one motor module that is selectable for placement in the drive section from a number of different interchangeable motor modules. Each having a different predetermined characteristic. The articulated arm has articulated joints. The arm is connected to the drive section for articulation. The arm has a selectable configuration selectable from a number of different arm configurations each having a predetermined configuration characteristic. The selection of the arm configuration is effected by selection of the at least one motor module for placement in the drive section.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods, computer program products, and computer systems of a robotic apparatus with robotic instructions replicating a food preparation recipe. In one embodiment, a robotic control platform, comprises one or more sensors; a mechanical robotic structure including one or more end effectors, and one or more robotic arms; an electronic library database of minimanipulations; a robotic planning module configured for real-time planning and adjustment based at least in part on the sensor data received from the one or more sensors in an electronic multi-stage process file, the electronic multi-stage process recipe file including a sequence of minimanipulations and associated timing data; a robotic interpreter module configured for reading the minimanipulation steps from the minimanipulation library and converting to a machine code; and a robotic execution module configured for executing the minimanipulation steps by the robotic platform to accomplish a functional result.

A method for monitoring a kinematically redundant robot includes detecting joint forces acting in the joints of the robot, determining an external work force between a robot-permanent reference point and an environment based on the detected joint forces, determining a further monitoring variable that is at least substantially independent of an external force acting on the robot-permanent reference point based on the detected joint forces, and monitoring the determined external work force and the determined further monitoring variable.

A robot includes a joint and a drive mechanism disposed in the joint. A reducer includes an output shaft and a fixed portion. A first seal seals a gap between the output shaft and the fixed portion. A first cover is fixed to the fixed portion and covers an outer surface of the fixed portion. An intermediate portion is fixed to an output-side portion of the output shaft. A second cover is fixed to an output-side portion of the intermediate portion and covers an outer surface and an output-side edge of the first cover. A second seal seals a gap between the first cover and the intermediate portion. A groove extends approximately over a circumference of the outer surface of the first cover.

A method for controlling a multiaxial jointed-arm robot. A plurality of reference data sets are recorded during a previous monitored reference travel. During an operational travel, a trajectory progress variable is established and is used to monitor the movement of the manipulator on the basis of the reference data sets.