An apparatus for autonomous or driverless vehicles to perform pick-up and delivery of packages, parcels, or other cargo with minimal or no human intervention is disclosed. The apparatus at a minimum consists of an opening/closing mechanism for a cargo compartment (trunk, lockbox attached to the vehicle, vehicle cab, etc.), which can be accessed when an encoded electronic signal is received, and then an arm-like device that extends from the compartment to retrieve or drop off cargo activates as instructed by an appropriate signal.

The present application relates to a machining assembly comprising an effector intended to be mounted on a robot with multiple degrees of freedom, in which invention the mounting of the motor spindle relative to the intermediate supports and frame of the effector allows a numerically controlled movement along three axes X, Y, Z of a trihedron, the effector bearing on the piece to be machined or on the surrounding tools by means of a ball joint at the foot end of the effector. Since the effector bears on the piece to be machined or on the surrounding tools it is possible to create local stiffness and to obtain the precision required to guarantee the quality of the machining process.

A robot machining system including: a robot in which a hand is attached to a distal end of an arm thereof; a force sensor provided in one of the robot and the machining device and detecting a force acting therebetween when a workpiece is being machined; and a control device that controls the robot or the machining device according to the detected force, wherein one of the machining device and the hand is provided with guide surfaces that extend along a direction in which the machining device and the hand are relatively moved when the workpiece is machined; the other of the machining device and the hand is provided with guided portions that are brought into contact with the guide surfaces when the workpiece is machined; and the control device performs control for maintaining a contact state between the guide surfaces and the guided portions during machining of the workpiece.

A securing arrangement of a prosthetic hand on a forearm socket with a receiving frame that can be fixed to the forearm socket, the prosthetic hand being fixed to said receiving frame, wherein the receiving frame is designed to feature radially-directed openings, through which the securing elements protrude. The securing elements positively engage with a proximal connection section of the prosthetic hand.

An end effector system is disclosed for a robotic system that includes a primary acquisition system that includes a primary end effector, and a secondary retention system that substantially surrounds at least a portion of the primary acquisition system, wherein at least a portion of the primary acquisition system may be drawn up within at least a portion of the secondary retention system such that the primary end effector system may be used to select an object from a plurality of objects, and the secondary retention system may be used to secure the object for rapid transport to an output destination.

A holding device for foods is configured to hold the foods that are self-standable and have a front surface and a rear surface parallel to the front surface. The device includes a first holding part configured to hold the foods lined up in a first direction in a standing state where the front surfaces face in the first direction. The first holding part includes a first support member configured to support the foods at one of the front surface of the food located at a front end when seen in the first direction and the rear surface of the food 40 located at a tail end when seen in the first direction, and a pair of holding members configured to pinch the foods from both sides in the first direction.

A method for processing a drilling location in a confined area of a workpiece along a drilling axis A using an end effector is disclosed. The method comprises positioning the end effector relative to the drilling location of the workpiece, clamping the workpiece between a clamp of the end effector and a pressure foot of the end effector, wherein the pressure foot supports the clamp movable relative to the pressure foot, and drilling the workpiece with a flat angle drill of the end effector.

An end effector system is disclosed for a robotic system that includes a primary acquisition system that includes a primary end effector, and a secondary retention system that substantially surrounds at least a portion of the primary acquisition system, wherein at least a portion of the primary acquisition system may be drawn up within at least a portion of the secondary retention system such that the primary end effector system may be used to select an object from a plurality of objects, and the secondary retention system may be used to secure the object for rapid transport to an output destination.

A workpiece is quickly fixed and released without using a driving device. A workpiece fixing tool includes: a pair of grip members that are disposed so as to face each other in a substantially horizontal direction and that can open and close in an opposite direction in which the grip members face each other, the grip members gripping a workpiece therebetween in a closed state; and urging members that urge the pair of grip members in closing directions. The pair of grip members have inclined faces facing each other, the inclined faces forming an angle with respect to each other such that a distance therebetween in the opposite direction in which the inclined faces face each other gradually decreases from upper side to lower side.

This patent teaches a novel approach to deliver sufficiently high force at the end effector of a robot, without making the overall robot bulky. Instead of transferring the force at the end effector to the predecessor link, the innovative approach taught in this patent consists of transferring the end effector's force directly to ground or to a suitable frame such as conveyer frame in case of spot welding application. Many times, a ground or suitable frame may not be available to transfer the force, but many other times, there is such a frame available, and the technology described in this patent can become critical in designing a compact, lightweight robotic arm and may make a difference between having a viable product or not.