The present disclosure provides a prosthetic thumb. The prosthetic thumb employs a specialized thumb rotating rack for matched mounting of the prosthetic thumb; the thumb rotating rack is connected between the thumb front support and the thumb back support through the coaxially arranged thumb front supporting shaft and thumb back supporting shaft; and the lead connected with the motor in the prosthetic thumb passes through the lead through hole through the thumb rotating rack open slot and no longer passes through a side face as in the prior art, so that when the thumb rotating rack is rotated due to opposite palm and side palm operation of the prosthetic thumb, the lead is not pulled and bent due to the rotation of the thumb rotating rack, and the service life of the lead is prolonged.

Medical instrument (60, 160, 260, 360) comprising at least one first, second and third joint member (71, 72, 73), at least two pairs of tendons (90, 190, 191, 192) connected with the same joint member and adapted to move said third member (73) with respect to said second member (72), pulling it; and wherein each of said joint member (71, 72, 73) comprises a main structural body comprising in a single piece one or more convex contact surfaces (40, 80, 86, 140, 180), all said convex contact surfaces (40, 80, 86, 140, 180) defining with their prolongations thereof at least partially a single convex volume for each joint member; and wherein the main portion of each tendon is in contact with said jointed device (70, 170, 270) only on said convex contact surfaces; and wherein at least two tendons of said at least two pairs of tendons (90, 190, 191, 192) are in contact with a same convex contact surface.

A device having at least two grippers (102) for the form-fitting gripping of a bevel gear (1) having a cone face, a heel region, and an axis of rotation (RA). The at least two grippers (102) can be infed radially in relation to the axis of rotation (RA), and each of the grippers (102) has at least one inner region (104) for interacting with the cone face, and a counter holder (103) for interacting with the heel region. Each gripper (102) can have a holder (101) having a changeable angle of attack on an inner region (104) of the holder, and the holder (101) can be movably mounted on the gripper (102) so that it adapts its effective angle of attack in relation to the inclination of the cone face of the bevel gear (1) during radial infeed in the direction of the bevel gear (1).

Compliant end effectors, robots that include compliant end effectors, and methods of utilizing the same. The robots include a robotic arm and the compliant end effector. The compliant end effector includes a base, a jaw fixedly coupled to the base, a part-engaging surface, and a pivot structure. The pivot structure extends between the part-engaging surface and the jaw and is configured to permit limited rotation of the part-engaging surface relative to the jaw about a single pivot axis. The methods include locating an apparatus with a vision system of the robot, locating a part with the vision system, gripping the part with the compliant end effector, positioning the part relative to the apparatus, and operatively attaching the part to the apparatus. The positioning includes deliberately contacting a toe end of a flange of the part with the apparatus prior to contacting a heel end of the flange with the apparatus.

Provided herein is a robotic gripper comprising two gripping components, where each component may comprise a rotatable axle oriented along a longitudinal axis, and where the respective axles may be oriented substantially perpendicular to each other. Each component may further comprise a pair of opposing gripping fingers with each gripping finger of the pair being coupled to a respective end of the axle. Each axle may be independently operable to rotate the respective pair of gripping fingers about the longitudinal axis of the respective axle, and each pair of gripping fingers may be independently operable to move the gripping fingers of the respective pair toward and away from each other. A control system for the robotic gripper may thus actuate one or both pairs of gripping fingers to grasp one or more objects.

Telerobotic, telesurgical, and surgical robotic devices, systems, and methods selectively calibrate end effector jaws by bringing the jaw elements into engagement with each other. Commanded torque signals may bring the end effector elements into engagement while monitoring the resulting position of a drive system, optionally using a second derivative of the torque/position relationship so as to identify an end effector engagement position. Calibration can allow the end effector engagement position to correspond to a nominal closed position of an input handle by compensating for wear on the end effector, the end effector drive system, then manipulator, the manipulator drive system, the manipulator/end effector interfacing, and manufacturing tolerances.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated manner. A material handling system suitable for use in an automated shoe-manufacturing process has a guide rail and first and second moveable holding elements, each of the holding elements having gripping elements for engaging a part or part stack during the manufacturing process.

A surgical system uses a single entry port in a wide variety of surgeries. To insert multiple surgical instruments into a patient through a single entry port requires that the shaft of at least one of the surgical instruments be bent between the base of the surgical instrument and the point where the shaft contacts a channel in an entry guide. Each surgical instrument is positioned by an instrument manipulator positioning system so that when the shaft is inserted in a channel of the entry guide, any bending of the shaft does not damage the surgical instrument and does not inhibit proper operation of the surgical instrument.

An apparatus including a robot arm comprising a wrist, and an end effector. The wrist includes a frame member. The frame member includes a first material having a first coefficient of thermal expansion. The end effector is connected to the wrist at a connection. The end effector is configured to support a substrate thereon. The end effector includes a first member and a second member. At least one of the first and second members has a different second material with a different second coefficient of thermal expansion. The connection includes the first and second members being stationarily attached to each other with a portion of the frame member sandwiched therebetween. The connection is configured to substantially prevent the different respective coefficients of thermal expansion to deflect the end effector relative to the wrist when the end effector and wrist are heated and/or cooled.

A gripper finger for grasping objects includes a gripper jaw and a gripper tip which extends with a gripper axis along a longitudinal direction. The gripper tip is detachably connected to the gripper jaw by a connecting element. The connecting element can be locked with a connecting socket extending in the longitudinal direction in the form of a plug-in connection in such a manner that in the locked state it is impossible for the gripper tip to tilt away in relation to the gripper axis and simultaneously the gripper tip is locked against the gripper jaw in relation to the longitudinal direction by a predefinable longitudinal locking force.