A robot arm comprising a first arm segment and a second arm segment coupled to each other by a first revolute joint having a first rotation axis and a second revolute joint having a second rotation axis non-parallel to the first rotation axis, and a joint mechanism for articulating the first arm segment relative to the second arm segment about the first and second rotation axes, the joint mechanism comprising: a first driven gear disposed about an axle coincident with the first rotation axis, the axle being fast with a first arm segment of the robot arm; a second driven gear disposed about the second rotation axis and fast with a second arm segment of the robot arm and fast with the first driven gear about the first rotation axis; a first drive gear configured to drive the first driven gear to rotate about the axle, the first drive gear being arranged to engage the first driven gear; a second drive gear for driving the second driven gear to rotate about the second rotation axis; and an intermediary gear arrangement arranged to engage the second drive gear and the second driven gear and being disposed about the first rotation axis, whereby rotation of the intermediary gear arrangement relative to the first arm segment about the first rotation axis can be driven.

A method may comprise receiving a model of a patient, identifying a kinematic measure for a teleoperated system, and receiving a human factors constraint for use of the teleoperated system. The method may also comprise establishing a set of port placement locations for the teleoperated system on the model based on the kinematic measure and the human factors constraint.

A remote surveillance assembly includes a base that is positionable in a vehicle and a pole that is coupled to and extends upwardly from the base. A pan tilt zoom (PTZ) video camera is movably disposed on the pole to capture surveillance of the environment around the vehicle. A pair of articulated arms is each of the articulated arms is movably coupled to the pole. A pair of digital cameras is each coupled to a respective one of the articulated arms to capture surveillance of the environment around the vehicle. A digital video recorder is coupled to the base and a transceiver is coupled to the base. The transceiver is in wireless communication with an extrinsic communication network to broadcast the data stored in the digital video recorder to a remote data storage device.

A lab automation robot is provided including a stationary base, a swiveling tower rotatably mounted to the stationary base about a first vertical axis, an arm vertically translatably mounted to the tower, an articulating forearm coupled to the arm at an elbow joint and pivotal relative thereto about a second vertical axis, and a wrist assembly including a multi-axis gripper operatively coupled to the forearm at a wrist joint and rotatable relative thereto about a third vertical axis. The gripper is further rotatable relative to at least the forearm about a first horizontal axis and about a second horizontal axis.

A rigidity of a robot arm mechanism including a linear extension and retraction joint is enhanced. In a robot arm mechanism including the linear extension and retraction joint, the linear extension and retraction joint includes an arm section and an ejection section, the arm section includes a first connection piece string including a plurality of first connection pieces and a second connection piece string including a plurality of second connection pieces, and the second connection piece string is joined to the first connection piece string to thereby constitute a columnar body having a certain rigidity. The ejection section includes lower rollers and upper rollers for joining the first and second connection piece strings and supporting the columnar body. The lower rollers and the upper rollers are disposed with the columnar body sandwiched between the lower rollers and the upper rollers.

A rotational driving mechanism for driving a rotary member mounted on a rotatable base member includes: a first link unit that has a first link body and is mounted through a first support part on the base member, the first link unit further having an input part to which an output of the linear motion actuator is inputted at one side of the first link body, and an output part located in the first link body at an opposite side of the input part across the first support part and a second link unit that has a second link body and is mounted through a second support part on the output part of the first link unit, the second link unit being further mounted through a third support unit on the rotary member or a connecting member joined thereto in such a manner as to be free to rotate.

A robot wrist structure includes a first wrist element, a second wrist element, and a third wrist element which are respectively rotatable about a first axis to a third axis; drive motors for the second and third wrist elements; and gear sets that reduce speeds of rotation of the drive motors. The gear sets respectively include a driven-side large-diameter gear that rotates the second wrist element and a driven-side small-diameter gear that rotates the third wrist element, where the driven-side large-diameter gear and the driven-side small-diameter gear are coaxially arranged so as to be rotatable about the second axis. The small-diameter gear is fixed to a drive-side bevel gear that meshes with a driven-side bevel gear fixed to the third wrist element. The second wrist element includes a first housing that is fixed to the large-diameter gear; and a second housing rotatably supports the third wrist element.

A capacitive sensor for characterizing force or torque includes a first plurality of non-patterned conductive regions and a first plurality of patterned conductive regions, and a second plurality of non-patterned conductive regions and a second plurality of patterned conductive regions. The first and second pluralities of non-patterned conductive regions are facing and the first and second pluralities of patterned conductive regions are facing.

The invention relates to a manipulator having a manipulator arm (5) at the one free end (6) of which a manipulator flange (8) is provided on which an end effector (46) having an application device (9) for machining a workpiece (37) is held. The manipulator flange (8) is rotatable about hand axes (20, 21, 22). A first hand axis (20) extends in the direction of the longitudinal axis (18) of the manipulator arm (5), a second hand axis (21) extends transversely to the first hand axis (20) and a third hand axis (22) extends transversely to the second hand axis (21), wherein the hand axes (20, 21, 22) intersect one another in a common intersection point (26). A machining force (33) acting on the application device (9) is diverted into the manipulator arm (5) by way of the end effector (46). So that process forces occurring during a mechanical operation do not lead to an impairment of the machining pose of the manipulator arm (5), provision is made to fix the application device (9) to the manipulator flange (8) at an attachment angle (30) to the first hand axis (20) in such a way that a machining force (33) occurring at the application device (9) is diverted in a direction (31) towards the manipulator arm (5), which direction extends through the intersection region (25) of the hand axes (20, 21, 22).

A support device supports a component gripping device including an engagement part to be engaged with a predetermined component. The component gripping device grips the component in a state in which the engagement part is caused to be engaged with the component. The support device contains a support body part, a first shift mechanism part, a second shift mechanism part, a third shift mechanism part, a first rotation mechanism part, a second rotation mechanism part, and a third rotation mechanism part.