A method of operating a robot includes driving a robot to approach a reach point, extending a manipulator arm forward of the reach point, and maintaining a drive wheel and a center of mass of the robot rearward of the reach point by moving a counter-balance body relative to an inverted pendulum body while extending the manipulator arm forward of the reach point. The robot includes the inverted pendulum body, the counter-balance body deposed on the inverted pendulum body, the manipulator arm connected to the inverted pendulum body, at least one leg having a first end prismatically coupled to the inverted pendulum body, and the drive wheel rotatably coupled to a second end of the at least one leg.

In a robot system, a control section causes a first gripping section to grip a connector of a cable, at one end of which the connector is provided and the other end of which is fixed, causes an imaging section to image the connector, causes, based on a result of the imaging by the imaging section, a second gripping section to grip the connector in a state in which the position of the first gripping section is maintained, causes the first gripping section to release the gripping of the connector, causes, based on the imaging result, the second gripping section to adjust a posture of the connector, and causes the first gripping section to grip the connector, the posture of which is adjusted, again.

An electromechanical system operates through physical interaction with an operator, and includes a plurality of joints providing multiple degrees of freedom (DOF), including actuated joints and unactuated joints. The unactuated joints are distal with respect to the actuated joints and are in redundant DOF to the actuated joints. The system includes a plurality of actuators each configured to actuate one or more of the actuated joints, and a plurality of sensors each positioned with respect to a respective one of the actuated and unactuated joints. Each sensor is configured to measure corresponding joint data indicative of a position or angle of the respective actuated or unactuated joints. A controller in communication with the sensors receives the measured joint data as feedback signals, generates control signals using the feedback signals, and transmits the control signals to the actuators to thereby control an actuation state of the actuators.

A service robot includes a robot body, a main post vertically mounted on the robot body, and at least one service unit provided on the main post to be movable vertically and to be rotatable, and including a service tool. The service unit includes a main plate that is disposed in an inner space of the main post, and a mounting member that is provided to be rotatable along an outer circumferential surface of the main post, and coupled to the main plate. The service tool is mounted on the mounting member, a vertical driving device is disposed in the inner space of the main post to move the main plate vertically, and a rotation driving device is installed on the main plate to rotate the mounting member.

A control system for an exoskeleton for a limb of a user wherein the limb has an upper portion connected to the body of a user and a lower limb portion is provided. The control system controls operation of one or more drive motors that rotate one or more joints of the exoskeleton. Input signals from pressure sensors and positional sensors are monitored and, when the input signals fall within expected values, one or more control actions may be implemented.

A system has a virtual-world (VW) controller and a physical-world (PW) controller. The pairing of a PW element with a VW element establishes them as corresponding physical and virtual twins. The VW controller and/or the PW controller receives measurements from one or more sensors characterizing aspects of the physical world, the VW controller generates the virtual twin, and the VW controller and/or the PW controller generates commands for one or more actuators affecting aspects of the physical world. To coordinate the corresponding virtual and physical twins, (i) the VW controller controls the virtual twin based on the physical twin or (ii) the PW controller controls the physical twin based on the virtual twin. Depending on the operating mode, one of the VW and PW controllers is a master controller, and the other is a slave controller, where the virtual and physical twins are both controlled based on one of VW or PW forces.

A robot device includes an arm mechanism that includes links and joints. A hand is mounted to a tip of the arm. A motor driver drives motors of the joints. A processor outputs, to the motor driver, a command value for moving a reference point of the hand to a target position. A storage device stores a first thermal displacement amount temporal variation representing a variation with respect to a continuous operation time period in a thermal displacement amount by which the hand reference point is displaced from a cool position to a heat balance position due to heat generation accompanying operation of the arm mechanism, and a second thermal displacement amount temporal variation representing a variation with respect to a continuous stopped time period in a thermal displacement amount by which the hand reference point returns from the heat balance position to the cool position accompanying stopping of operation of the arm mechanism. The processor refers to the first and second thermal displacement amount temporal variations to estimate a thermal displacement amount of the hand reference point based on the continuous operation time period and continuous stopped time period of the arm mechanism, and corrects the target position based on the estimated thermal displacement amount.

A method of operating a robot includes assuming a resting pose of the robot on a surface. The robot includes an inverted pendulum body, a counter-balance body disposed on the inverted pendulum body and configured to move relative to the inverted pendulum body, at least one arm connected to the inverted pendulum body and configured to move relative to the inverted pendulum body, at least one leg prismatically coupled to the inverted pendulum body, and a drive wheel rotatably coupled to the at least one leg. The method also includes moving from the resting pose to a sitting pose by moving the counter-balance body relative to the inverted pendulum body away from the ground surface to position a center of mass of the robot substantially over the drive wheel. The method also includes moving from the sitting pose to a standing pose by altering a length of the at least one leg.

A processing system for processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The processing system includes a plurality of supply bins providing supply of a plurality of objects, with the plurality of supply bins being provided with a bin conveyance system, a programmable motion device in communication with the bin conveyance system, where the programmable motion device includes an end effector for grasping and moving a selected object out of a selected supply bin, and a movable carriage for receiving the selected object from the end effector of the programmable motion device, and for carrying the selected object to one of a plurality of destination containers.

A processing system for processing objects using a programmable motion device is disclosed. The processing system includes a perception unit for perceiving identifying indicia representative of an identity of a plurality of objects received from an input conveyance system, and an acquisition system for acquiring an object from the plurality of objects at an input area using an end effector of the programmable motion device. The programmable motion device is adapted for assisting in the delivery of the object to an identified processing location. The identified processing location is associated with the identifying indicia and the identified processing location is provided as one of a plurality of processing locations. The system also includes a delivery system for receiving the object in a carrier and for delivering the object toward the identified processing location.