A remote control robot system includes a slave arm, a master main body imitating the shape of an object handled by the slave arm, a manipulation receiving device configured to receive manipulation of an operator based on the position and posture of the master main body, and a control device configured to control operation of the slave arm based on the manipulation received by the manipulation receiving device so that behavior of the object corresponds to behavior of the master main body.

A remote-control manipulator system includes a manipulator configured to receive a manipulating instruction from an operator, a slave arm configured to perform a series of works comprised of a plurality of processes, a camera configured to image operation of the slave arm, a display device configured to display an image captured by the camera, a storage device configured to store information related to environment in a workspace as an environment model, and a control device. The control device is configured, while operating the slave arm manually or hybridly, to acquire circumference information that is information related to a circumference area of an area imaged by the camera based on the environment model stored in the storage device, and display on the display device so that the image captured by the camera and the circumference information are interlocked.

A remote control robot system includes a master arm, and a slave arm having a plurality of control modes of an automatic mode in which the slave arm operates based on a prestored task program and a manual mode in which the slave arm operates based on manipulation of an operator received by the master arm. The master arm includes one or more motors configured to drive joints of the master arm, and a motor actuator configured to generate a torque instruction value that operates the joints according to an external force applied to the master arm and gives drive current corresponding to the torque instruction value to the motor. The motor actuator generates, when the control mode is the manual mode, the torque instruction value so that the joints operate according to the external force while resisting a frictional force of the motor.

A remote-control manipulator system which includes a manipulator, a slave arm installed in a workspace and configured to perform a series of works comprised of a plurality of processes, a situation information acquisition device configured to acquire situation information indicating a situation of the slave arm, an environment reproducing device configured to reproduce, in a space where the manipulator is installed, environment information relating to an environment in the workspace, and a control device. The control device is configured to cause the environment reproducing device to reproduce the environment information corresponding to the situation information outputted from the situation information acquisition device.

A method for queuing robots destined for one or more processing stations in an environment includes determining when each robot of a plurality of robots destined for the one or more processing stations have entered a predefined target zone proximate the one or more processing stations. The method also includes assigning each of the robots to one of a plurality of queue positions based on an assigned priority and directing each of the robots from its assigned queue position to a processing position of one of the processing stations. Each of the processing stations includes at least two processing positions for a like number of robots to occupy for processing by an operator.

A robot for heat exchanger inspection is provided including a mobility system configured to move the robot in reference to the heat exchanger, a camera configured to capture image data including at least a portion of the heat exchanger, and processing circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to receive the image data from the camera, determine a plurality of heat exchanger characteristics in the image data, compare the heat exchanger characteristics to heat exchanger data, determine a current location and an orientation angle of the robot based on the comparison of the one or more heat exchanger characteristics to the heat exchanger data, identify the heat exchanger characteristic based on the current location, determine an orientation angle of the robot, and determine an end effector position based on the current location and the orientation angle.

A remote control robot system is provided, which includes robotic arm configured to perform a given work, remote control device for an operator to remotely manipulate operation of robotic arm, plurality of cameras configured to image the work of robotic arm, monitor configured to display a captured image that is sent, camera selecting device configured to generate, in response to receiving an operator's selection of one camera from the plurality of cameras, camera selection information for switching captured image displayed on monitor to captured image from selected camera, storage device configured to store information where operational information related to operation of robotic arm in work is associated with camera selection information, as automatic switching information, and an image processor configured to send to monitor the captured image from camera selected from plurality of cameras based on automatic switching information stored in storage device.

A system for facility monitoring and reporting to improve safety using one or more robots includes: a network; a plurality of autonomous mobile robots operating in a facility, the robots configured to monitor facility operation, the robots further configured to detect a predetermined critical condition, the robots operably connected to the network; a server operably connected to the robots over the network; and an individual robot operably connected to the server over the network, the individual robot operating in the facility, the robots not comprising the individual robot, the individual robot configured to monitor facility operation; wherein the robots are configured to regularly produce a regular report under normal operating conditions, the report displaying data received from the server, wherein the robots are further configured to produce to the server a critical condition report upon occurrence of the critical condition.

A system for facility monitoring and reporting to improve safety using one or more robots includes: a network; a plurality of autonomous mobile robots operating in a facility, the robots configured to monitor facility operation, the robots further configured to detect a predetermined critical condition, the robots operably connected to the network; a server operably connected to the robots over the network; and an individual robot operably connected to the server over the network, the individual robot operating in the facility, the robots not comprising the individual robot, the individual robot configured to monitor facility operation; wherein the robots are configured to regularly produce a regular report under normal operating conditions, the report displaying data received from the server, wherein the robots are further configured to produce to the server a critical condition report upon occurrence of the critical condition.

A system for facility monitoring and reporting to improve safety using one or more robots includes: a network; a plurality of autonomous mobile robots operating in a facility, the robots configured to monitor facility operation, the robots further configured to detect a predetermined critical condition, the robots operably connected to the network; a server operably connected to the robots over the network; and an individual robot operably connected to the server over the network, the individual robot operating in the facility, the robots not comprising the individual robot, the individual robot configured to monitor facility operation; wherein the robots are configured to regularly produce a regular report under normal operating conditions, the report displaying data received from the server, wherein the robots are further configured to produce to the server a critical condition report upon occurrence of the critical condition.