There is provided a spherical mechanism robot assembly for accessing a confined space in a vehicle, to perform confined space operation(s) in the vehicle. The assembly includes a base structure configured for attachment to the vehicle. The assembly includes a spherical mechanism structure having a first end attached to the base structure, and having a second end. The spherical mechanism structure includes a plurality of mechanical links, joints coupling the plurality of mechanical links together, and a plurality of actuators having one or more actuators coupled at each joint of the plurality of joints. The assembly includes an end effector attached to the second end of the spherical mechanism structure. The assembly is configured such that a majority portion remains outside of the confined space, while a remaining portion of the assembly accesses and occupies the confined space in the vehicle, to perform the confined space operation(s) in the vehicle.

A processor may receive environment data associated with one or more robotic devices and an environment. The one or more robotic devices may be configured to perform one or more activities in the environment. The processor may analyze the environment data and the one or more activities in the environment. The processor may identify one or more performance factors associated with the environment. The processor may generate one or more simulations associated with the one or more performance factors and the one or more robotic devices in the environment. The processor may apply one or more protective components to the one or more robotic devices. Applying the one or more protective components to the one or more robotic devices may be based, at least in part, on the one or more simulations.

A base for a parallel kinematics robot including a plurality of gear cavities. Each gear cavity having a first bearing seat configured to receive an output shaft bearing. The base consists of one piece in homogeneous material, and thereby interfaces negatively affecting the accuracy of the robot are omitted.

A method of facilitating switching of a quasi-passive elastic actuator of a tunable actuator joint module of a robotic system between an inelastic state and an elastic state comprising configuring a quasi-passive elastic actuator to be operable with a primary actuator of the tunable actuator joint module to selectively apply an augmented torque to assist the primary actuator in rotation of a joint of the tunable actuator joint module. The method further comprises configuring an elastic component of the quasi-passive actuator to comprise a first vane device and second vane device rotatable relative to each other within a housing, supporting a valve assembly about the axis of rotation of the joint through the first vane device, and configuring a shunt circuit to facilitate fluid flow between compression and expansion chambers through the valve assembly. The method can further comprise configuring the valve assembly with a valve device disposed in an opening of a shaft of the first vane device, the valve device being actuatable between an open position to open the shunt circuit and a closed position to close the shunt circuit.

A robotic system for a robotic limb configured to recover energy for minimizing power consumption of the robotic system, comprising a first support member, a second support member, and a quasi-passive elastic actuator rotatably coupling the first and second support members to define a joint of the robotic system rotatable about an axis of rotation defining a degree of freedom. The quasi-passive elastic actuator can comprise a first vane device and a second vane device, the first vane device and second vane device being rotatable relative to each other within the housing and defining, at least in part, a compression chamber and an expansion chamber. The system can further comprise a valve assembly, the valve assembly comprising a valve device disposed through an opening of the first vane device along the axis of rotation, and a shunt circuit facilitating fluid flow between the compression and expansion chambers through the valve assembly. The valve assembly is operable to position the valve device in an open position to open the shunt circuit to place the quasi-passive elastic actuator in an inelastic state, and to position the valve device in a closed position to close the shunt circuit to place the quasi-passive elastic actuator in an elastic state.

A horizontal articulated robot including a base; one or more arms, attached to the base so as to be capable of rotating horizontally; a ball screw spline shaft that is disposed at an end of the one or more arms and that supports a workpiece at one end of the ball screw spline shaft; a ball screw nut through which the ball screw spline shaft passes and which is driven; and two ball spline nuts configured to support the ball screw spline shaft passing through the ball spline nuts, respectively, on both sides of the ball screw nut interposed therebetween in a longitudinal axis direction. At least one of the ball spline nuts drives the ball screw spline shaft about the longitudinal axis with respect to the arms.

Apparatus and methods for providing a robotic arm cart for transporting, delivering, and securing robotic arms to a surgical table having a tabletop on which a patient can be disposed are described herein. In some embodiments described herein an arm cart can contain multiple robotic arms. A robotic arm can be selected and moved from a storage position within the arm cart to a deployment position in which at least a portion of that robotic arm protrudes from the arm cart. A robotic arm in a deployment position can be coupled to a surgical table and decoupled from the arm cart.

A support frame for a handling device comprising a base body and at least two structural elements extending away from the base body, at least two structural elements being constructed similarly to each other in that they have at east the following common characteristics: a radial beam which is elongated and has a first end and a second end, the second end having a connecting section for connection to a pneumatically actuatable gripping element, a lattice wing which is integrally connected with the radial beam and runs between the first end of the radial beam and the second end of the radial beam, the lattice wing extending flatly away from the radial beam, wherein for each of the at least two structural elements the first end of the radial beam is integrally connected with the base body in a manner that the radial beam extends away from the base body.

For kinetic sizing, the dynamic torque to be provided by a robotic system may be based off of, in part, a maximum acceleration. Rather than trying to extract maximum acceleration from many samples, a relationship of velocity to acceleration from repetitive user inputs relative to a non-surgical target in different situations (e.g., accurate, fast, or balance tracing of the target movement) is established. The velocity for any given situation may be used to estimate the acceleration from the relationship. Rather than using many trajectory samples from many users, a synthetic trajectory may be used. The synthetic trajectory may be fit to user data while maintaining high-coverage properties for direction of movement for any given pose of the robot. Alternatively, a virtual trajectory decoupled from time is used. The virtual trajectory samples the directions at any given pose in a global high-coverage manner, without specifically using a time-dependent sequence of poses.

A device includes a plurality of slots arranged in a pattern, a plurality of hinge portions, a pair of opposing jaw portions, and a pair of opposing actuation tabs. The pair of opposing actuation tabs are configured to move in generally opposite directions from a first position towards a second position in response to an input to aid in causing the pair of opposing jaw portions to grip an object.