A system and method of assisting operator engagement with input devices includes an input device, a hand detection system, and a control unit. The control unit is configured to detect the hand of the operator using the hand detection system; in response to a trigger condition, command the input device to move from a first to a second position; and in response to a signal indicating an input provided by the operator to the input device, command a motion of an end effector associated with the input device. The second position is closer to a grasping position for the hand than the first position. In some embodiments, the control unit is further configured to, in response to the trigger condition, command the input device to move from a first to a second orientation. The second orientation is closer to a grasping orientation for the hand than the first orientation.

Certain aspects relate to systems and techniques for driving axial motion of a shaft of a medical instrument using a drive device. A robotic medical system can include a drive device comprising a pair of rollers configured to engage a shaft of a medical instrument and a processor configured to operate the rollers to drive insertion of the shaft at a first rate during a first insertion period when a distal tip of the shaft is positioned within an access sheath inserted into the patient, and operate the rollers to transition to driving insertion of the shaft at a second rate that is slower than the first rate during a second insertion period when the distal tip of the shaft is positioned beyond a distal tip of the access sheath.

A robot control device includes manual pulse generation units that generate pulses having a pulse number depending on an operation amount of an operator, command signal calculation units that calculate an operation command signal to a robot based on a pulse number to be input, and a pulse number limiting unit that limits, to a threshold, the pulse number to be input into the command signal calculation units, in a case or cases where the pulse number generated by the manual pulse generation units is larger than the predetermined threshold, where, in a case or cases where the pulse number generated by the manual pulse generation units is equal to or less than the threshold, the pulse number is output as it is.

A chemical mechanical polishing system includes a metrology station having a sensor configured to measure a thickness profile of a substrate, a robotic arm configured to transfer the substrate from the metrology station to a polishing station having, a platen to support a polishing pad having a polishing surface, a carrier head on the polishing surface, the carrier head having a membrane configured to apply pressure to the substrate in the carrier head, and a controller configured to receive measurements from the sensor and configured to control the robotic arm to orient the substrate in the carrier head according to substrate profile and a removal profile for the carrier head.

A human pilot controls a robotic arm and gripper by simulating a set of desired motions with the human hand. In at least one embodiment, one or more images of the pilot's hand are captured and analyzed to determine a set of hand poses. In at least one embodiment, the set of hand poses is translated to a corresponding set of robotic-gripper poses. In at least one embodiment, a set of motions is determined that perform the set of robotic-gripper poses, and the robot is directed to perform the set of motions.

A method of operating a robot includes detecting the occurrence of an abnormal operating condition of the robot during operation from hardware state data relating to the operation of the robot system. In response, current hardware state data of the robot at the time of the detection is captured, including robot positional information. A counter corresponding to the abnormal operating condition may then be incremented and, if the counter exceeds a threshold value or exceeds a threshold value in a certain time, a report may be generated including the captured hardware state data. The abnormal condition may for example be a fluctuation in vacuum level or a data transmission error.

A remote control robot system is provided, which includes robotic arm configured to perform a given work, remote control device for an operator to remotely manipulate operation of robotic arm, plurality of cameras configured to image the work of robotic arm, monitor configured to display a captured image that is sent, camera selecting device configured to generate, in response to receiving an operator's selection of one camera from the plurality of cameras, camera selection information for switching captured image displayed on monitor to captured image from selected camera, storage device configured to store information where operational information related to operation of robotic arm in work is associated with camera selection information, as automatic switching information, and an image processor configured to send to monitor the captured image from camera selected from plurality of cameras based on automatic switching information stored in storage device.

The present disclosure provides a joint limit detection method, apparatus, and robot with the same. The method includes: (a) determining a servo corresponding to a joint to be detected; (b) controlling an output shaft of the servo to rotate in a preset first direction; (c) measuring a rotational angle of the output shaft within a preset first duration; (d) determining whether the rotational angle of the output shaft is greater than a preset angle threshold; (e) repealing the steps (c) and (d) until the rotational angle of the output shaft is less than or equal to the preset angle threshold, if the rotational angle of the output shaft is greater than the angle threshold; and (f) determining a current rotational position of the output shaft as a first extreme position, if the rotational angle of the output shall is less than or equal to the angle threshold.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for logging real-time data of a robot control system. One of the systems comprises a real-time robotic control system comprising one or more computers, programmed to perform operations comprising i) software module loops and ii) real-time data logging, wherein each software module loop comprises a plurality of software modules executed repeatedly in a predetermined sequence, each software module executes within a predetermined time window, and the real-time data logging comprises copying segments of real-time data used by a particular software module to a buffer accessible by a non-real-time downstream system, wherein each segment of real-time data is copied at a respective predetermined time relative to execution of the software modules in the software module loop; and the non-real-time downstream system comprising one or more computers, the non-real-time downstream system programmed to perform operations that consume the real-time messages.

A method and system for programming picking and placing of a workpiece is provided. Embodiments may include associating a workpiece with an end effector that is attached to a robot and scanning the workpiece while the workpiece is associated with the end effector. Embodiments may also include determining a pose of the workpiece relative to the robot, based upon, at least in part, the scanning.