A robot system includes a motor provided at a joint, a regenerative resistor that consumes a back electromotive force generated by rotation of the motor as heat, and a controller configured or programmed to predict a life of the regenerative resistor based on a period of time during which the regenerative resistor is consuming heat.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a sealing structure for a robot joint. The sealing structure comprise a first sealing member adapted to be connected to a first part of the robot joint and a second sealing member adapted to be arranged between the first sealing member and a second part of the robot joint and in contact with the first sealing member. The first part is rotatable with respect to the second part. A material of the first sealing member is harder than the material of the second sealing member. With such a sealing structure, the reducer is closely sealed from the ambient environment. In this way, the leakage of the reducer can be prevented for an extended period even in harsh conditions and thereby the service life of the robot joint can be prolonged.

A robot system includes a motor provided at a joint, a regenerative resistor that consumes a back electromotive force generated by rotation of the motor as heat, and a controller configured or programmed to predict a life of the regenerative resistor based on a period of time during which the regenerative resistor is consuming heat.

The invention relates to an apparatus (10) and a method for handling articles (11). The apparatus (10) comprises a gripping device (14) with a suction surface (16) that can be subjected to negative pressure for grasping the articles (11) by suction. The suction surface (16) is covered with a layer (24) that is elastically deformable and air-permeable, at least in certain regions.

The apparatus (10) is also equipped with a drying device (32), which drying device can interact with the layer (24) that is attached to the suction surface (16) or forms the suction surface (16), in order to remove moisture that is bound or adhering therein.

A gripper for a handling assembly grasps an object. The gripper includes: a coupler for mounting to the object; and a base body mountable to the handling assembly. The base body includes: a housing; a clamping bracket at an outside of the housing; and a clamping mechanism in the housing, connected to the clamping bracket. The clamping bracket has latched and unlatched states. In the latched state, the clamping bracket is drawn close to the housing. In the unlatched state, the clamping bracket is pushed away from the housing to receive the coupler between the clamping bracket and the housing. The clamping mechanism is activated by pneumatic/hydraulic driving to force the clamping bracket to change from the latched to the unlatched state, and deactivated such that the clamping bracket returns to the latched state, thereby clamping the coupler to the housing.

A robotic system includes a robotic manipulator having one or more contact pads. The contact pads have features therein that are detectable to determine or measure a degree to which they have worn down. Such features may include fluorescent materials, colorful materials, and/or RFID tags. A robotic environment may include one or more sensors to detect such features, and may be configured to generate a signal indicating that one or more contact pads are in need of maintenance.

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for supplying and recovering collets and ejector hoods. According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus includes a cabinet unit configured to accommodate a collet and an ejector hood, a mounting robot configured to withdraw the ejector hood accommodated in the cabinet unit and mount the withdrawn ejector hood on an ejector, and a replacement robot configured to withdraw the collet accommodated in the cabinet unit and replace the withdrawn collet.

A method and system for monitoring the usage of interchangeable end-of-arm tools across multiple robots. Each tool is assigned a unique identifier maintained in a database. At each facility where robots are installed, a data collection device communicates with all robot controllers and provides centralized storage and monitoring of usage and maintenance data for each end-of-arm tool. Each time a tool is attached to a robot, the controller downloads the current data for the tool from the data collection device. Likewise, each time a tool is detached from a robot, the controller uploads updated data for the tool to the data collection device. The data collection device maintains cumulative usage data for each tool, provides a user interface to the data to allow monitoring by personnel, and sends notifications of important pending maintenance requirements and any performance issues. The data is also stored on a cloud server for global access.

Disclosed are an automatic battery replacement system of a transfer robot which includes a transfer robot which autonomously moves and includes a lifting module which supports and lifts a cargo, a battery which is detachably mounted on the transfer robot and is provided as a power source to supply a power required for an operation of the transfer robot, and a battery replacement robot which sucks and handles the battery and performs an operation of sucking the battery previously mounted on the transfer robot to be removed or mounting a new fully-charged battery on the transfer robot and an automatic battery replacement method of a transfer robot using the same.

The disclosed solution comprises a device for changing abrading products (30), the device (1) comprising a detacher (2) comprising a table (10), a blade (14) adapted to penetrate into between an abrading product (30) and the gripping means (34) of the abrading tool (4), and means (16, 18, 19) to co-planarly adjust the mutual distance (d) between the table (10) and the blade (14) to correspond to the thickness (t) of the abrading product (30) in the absence of the abrading product (30).