A robot leg assembly including a hip joint and an upper leg member. A proximal end portion of the upper leg member rotatably coupled to the hip joint. The robot leg assembly including a knee joint rotatably coupled to a distal end portion of the upper leg member, a lower leg member rotatably coupled to the knee joint, a linear actuator disposed on the upper leg member and defining a motion axis, and a motor coupled to the linear actuator and a linkage coupled to the translation stage and to the lower leg member. The linear actuator includes a translation stage moveable along the motion axis to translate rotational motion of the motor to linear motion of the translation stage along the motion axis, which moves the linkage to rotate the lower leg member relative to the upper leg member at the knee joint.

A robotic assistant includes a wheeled base, a storage unit including drawers, a foldable arm connected to a top of the storage unit and including an end of arm tooling (EOAT) connected to a distal end of the foldable arm, an elevation mechanism positioned on the wheeled base and used to move the storage unit up and down, and a control system that receives command instructions. In response to the command instructions, the control system is configured to move the wheeled base, open or close the one or more drawers, actuate movement of the foldable arm and the EOAT to pick up and place external objects from/to a determined location, and control the storage unit to move up/down.

Described is an apparatus for robot-aided grinding, comprising the following: a manipulator, a linear actuator, and a grinding machine which includes a rotating grinding tool and is connected to the manipulator via the linear actuator. The apparatus further comprises a protective cover that partially surrounds the rotating grinding tool, the rotating grinding tool protruding from the protective cover at least on a first side. An adjusting mechanism is provided which connects the protective cover to the grinding machine and is designed to adjust the position of the protective cover in relation to the grinding machine.

A refuse vehicle includes a chassis, tractive elements, a lift apparatus, and a reach assembly. The tractive elements couple with the chassis and support the refuse vehicle. The lift apparatus includes a track and a grabber assembly. The track includes a straight portion and a curved portion. The grabber assembly releasably grasps a refuse container and ascends or descends the track to lift and empty refuse into a body of the refuse vehicle. The reach assembly includes an outer member, a first extendable member, and a second extendable member. The first extendable member is received within an inner volume of the outer member and translates relative to the outer member. The second extendable member is received within an inner volume of the first extendable member and translates relative to the first extendable member. The lift apparatus is fixedly coupled at an outer end of the second extendable member.

A robot leg assembly including a hip joint and an upper leg member. A proximal end portion of the upper leg member rotatably coupled to the hip joint. The robot leg assembly including a knee joint rotatably coupled to a distal end portion of the upper leg member, a lower leg member rotatably coupled to the knee joint, a linear actuator disposed on the upper leg member and defining a motion axis, and a motor coupled to the linear actuator and a linkage coupled to the translation stage and to the lower leg member. The linear actuator includes a translation stage moveable along the motion axis to translate rotational motion of the motor to linear motion of the translation stage along the motion axis, which moves the linkage to rotate the lower leg member relative to the upper leg member at the knee joint.

A fully autonomous mobile robot is provided that transports items from one area to another. The mobile robot includes a variety of mechanisms that capture an item from a first surface and moves the item within the confines of the mobile robot. The item can then be transported to another surface either within the confines of the mobile robot or to another location.

A drive system includes a linear actuator with a drive shaft and having an actuation axis extending along a length of the linear actuator. A motor assembly of the drive system couples to drive shaft and is configured to rotate the drive shaft about the actuation axis of the linear actuator. The drive system further includes a nut attached to the drive shaft and a carrier housing the nut. A linkage system of the drive system extends from a proximal end away from the motor assembly to a distal end. The proximal end of the linkage system rotatably attaches to the carrier at a first proximal attachment location where the first proximal attachment location offset is from the actuation axis. The drive system also includes an output link rotatably coupled to the distal end of the linkage system where the output link is offset from the actuation axis.

A piezoelectric vibrator has a first frequency region where the phase difference between a pickup signal representing the vibration of the piezoelectric vibrator and a drive signal that drives the piezoelectric vibrator does not monotonously change in accordance with the frequency of the drive signal and a second frequency region where the phase difference monotonously changes in accordance with the frequency of the drive signal. A method for controlling a piezoelectric driving apparatus including the piezoelectric vibrator controls the frequency of the drive signal in such a way that pickup voltage representing the amplitude of the pickup signal is fixed in the first frequency region and controls the frequency of the drive signal in such a way the pickup voltage is fixed with the phase difference maintained smaller than or equal to a prespecified value in the second frequency region.

Described herein are flexible truss systems and methods of transferring flexible composite parts using these systems. A flexible truss system comprises a flexible truss mechanism and composite pick-and-place mechanisms supported on the flexible truss mechanism and designed to attach to various composite parts. The flexible truss mechanism comprises flexible elongated members and slidable ribs coupled to each flexible elongated member. Specifically, each rib is slidably coupled to at least one flexible elongated member. In some examples, each rib is also fixedly coupled to another flexible elongated member. The slidable coupling allows the flexible truss mechanism to bend and follow the shape of a supported part, such that the composite pick-and-place mechanisms are able to contact and support different areas of the composite part. As such, the same flexible truss mechanism is able to support flexible composite parts having different shapes.

An autonomous construction robotic system is disclosed which includes a processing unit, a robotic arm, the robotic arm is adapted to be coupled to a central attachment arm and thereby position the central attachment arm according to a plurality of degrees of freedom, a panel handling and fastening system, including a panel handling assembly coupled to the central attachment arm and adapted to pick and place a construction panel onto a framed structure within a construction zone, and a vision system adapted to provide visual information to the processing unit associated with the framed structure, wherein the processing unit processes the visual information to automatically determine placement position of the construction panel on the framed structure.