A method for annealing a wafer includes loading the wafer to a fork of a delivering robot in an annealing apparatus, wherein the wafer is in contact with a vibration-detecting sensor on the fork; rotating the fork between a heating plate and a cooling plate of the annealing apparatus; outputting, by the vibration-detecting sensor, a first signal in response to a motion of the fork of the delivering robot when the wafer is loaded on the fork; and providing, by a circuitry of the annealing apparatus, a response in response to the first signal.

A spare robot controller for replacing any one of a plurality of initial robot controllers configured to control operation of respective industrial robots includes a key storage storing a plurality of shared keys and a secure storage. The spare robot controller is configured to decrypt, using one of the shared keys, an encrypted backup copy of the initial robot controller to be replaced, and to store resulting data in the secure storage. In embodiments, the is configured to extract data from the secure storage during operation and to encrypt the extracted data, using a selected one of the shared keys, for storage as a backup copy in a backup storage available to all of the initial robot controllers.

A collision detection method, a storage medium, and a robot are provided. The method includes: calculating an external torque of a first joint of the robot based on a preset generalized momentum-based disturbance observer; calculating an external torque of a second joint of the robot based on a preset long short-term memory network; calculating an external torque of a third joint of the robot based on the external torque of the first joint and the external torque of the second joint; and determining whether the robot has collided with an external environment or not based on the external torque of the third joint and a preset collision threshold. In the present disclosure, the component of the model error in the joint external torque calculated by the disturbance observer is eliminated to obtain the accurate contact torque, thereby improving the accuracy of the collision detection.

A robot and a control method therefor are provided. The robot may include: a plurality of batteries; a first switch configured to individually supply electric energy provided from an external charger to the plurality of batteries; a second switch configured to connect the plurality of batteries; and a processor configured to: based on the external charger being connected to the robot, control the first switch such that at least one battery of the plurality of batteries is selectively charged based on respective states of charge (SOCs) of the plurality of batteries, and then remaining batteries of the plurality of batteries are charged, and based on an SOC difference between respective SOCs of at least two of the plurality of batteries reaching a difference threshold while the external charger is disconnected from the robot, control the second switch such that a source battery having a high relative SOC among the plurality of batteries charges a recipient battery having a low relative SOC among the plurality of batteries.

A method according to the present disclosure includes: (a) carrying out overexcitation of an electromagnetic brake; (b) controlling a fan cooling a control device in such a way that a power consumption of the fan becomes a first power consumption in an overexcitation period during which the overexcitation is carried out; and (c) controlling the fan in such a way that the power consumption of the fan becomes a second power consumption higher than the first power consumption, after the overexcitation period.

Apparatus and methods for navigation of a robotic device configured to operate in an environment comprising objects and/or persons. Location of objects and/or persons may changed prior and/or during operation of the robot. In one embodiment, a bistatic sensor comprises a transmitter and a receiver. The receiver may be spatially displaced from the transmitter. The transmitter may project a pattern on a surface in the direction of robot movement. In one variant, the pattern comprises an encoded portion and an information portion. The information portion may be used to communicate information related to robot movement to one or more persons. The encoded portion may be used to determine presence of one or more object in the path of the robot. The receiver may sample a reflected pattern and compare it with the transmitted pattern. Based on a similarity measure breaching a threshold, indication of object present may be produced.

To provide a robot control system that performs a process by a robot for a continuously-moving process target or a repeatedly-moving/stopped process target, the robot control system being configured so that even in a case where the robot process cannot be properly performed in the robot control system, disadvantages such as occurrence of damage of equipment can be avoided by sensing of such failure in the robot process. The robot control system includes a robot that performs a process for a process target, a control unit that controls drive of the robot, a first area setting unit that sets a first area where the process is performed for the process target, and a second area setting unit that sets a second area outside the first area such that the robot performs a retraction motion when a working apparatus provided at the robot moves out of the first area and enters the second area while the robot is following the moving process target.

This device includes an acquired data storing unit for storing acquired data about a current command value of a servo motor configuring a robot drive system; a tendency diagnosis unit for diagnosing a future changing tendency of the current command value based on the data of the current command value stored in the acquired data storing unit; and a life determining unit for determining a term until the current command value reaches a previously set value based on the future changing tendency of the current command value acquired by the tendency diagnosis unit. Thus, a residual life of the robot drive system can be accurately predicted.

Crosstalk mitigation among cameras in neighboring monitored workcells is achieved by computationally defining a noninterference scheme that respects the independent monitoring and operation of each workcell. The scheme may involve communication between adjacent cells to adjudicate non-interfering camera operation or system-wide mapping of interference risks and mitigation thereof. Mitigation strategies can involve time-division and/or frequency-division multiplexing.

A device and method for easily detecting an abnormality of a joint part of a delta-type parallel link robot having a link ball structure, by estimating a friction torque of a ball joint of the robot. A controller of the robot has: a control section configured to control the motion of the robot; a torque measurement section configured to measure or calculate, during the robot is operated, an amount of change in a drive torque, based on a current value of the motor, before and after the robot represents a specified posture where a sign of a relative angular velocity between a ball and a housing of the ball joint is changed; and a judgment section configured to judge that, when the measured amount of change in the drive torque exceeds a predetermined threshold, a friction state of the ball joint corresponding to the motor is abnormal.