This invention provides a system and method for allowing motion of a robotic manipulator on an AV truck in connecting to a native gladhand on a trailer front that represents and constructs a model of this free space on-the-fly, in the manner of an Obstacle Detection and Obstacle Avoidance (OD/OA) system and process. A robotic arm on an AV truck is adapted to connect a pneumatic line to a gladhand on the trailer front. A first 3D sensor generates a pointcloud, and is located at an elevated position on the truck to image the trailer front. A second 3D sensor also generates pointclouds at during robot motion, located adjacent to an end of the robotic arm. An occlusion mapping process generates an occlusion map of the trailer front, and a map update process updates the occlusion map to add and remove voxels therefrom to allow safe guidance of the robot.

Increased robotic sophistication and more efficient autonomous operation is implemented by providing separate physical autonomous robots shared and remote access to the sensory array and information from the sensory array of one another. Each robot can access a sensor of any other robot, or scans or other information obtained from the sensor of any other robot. The robots leverage the shared sensory access in order to perform batch order fulfillment, dynamic rearrangement of item or tote locations, and opportunistic charging. These coordinated robotic operations based on the shared sensory access increase the efficiency and productivity of the robots without adding resources or hardware to the robots, increasing the speed of the robots, or increasing the number of deployed robots.

An inspection robot, and methods and a controller thereof are disclosed. An inspection robot may include an inspection chassis including a plurality of inspection sensors and coupled to at least one drive module to drive the robot over an inspection surface. The inspection robot may also include a controller including an inspection data circuit to interpret inspection base data, an inspection processing circuit to determine refined inspection data, and an inspection configuration circuit to determine an inspection response value in response to the refined inspection data. The controller may further include an inspection response circuit to, in response to the inspection response value, provide an inspection command value while the inspection robot is interrogating the inspection surface.

A method for setting more precisely a position and/or an orientation of a device head in a measuring environment by a distance measuring device which has a number of M, M≥1, distance measuring sensors and which is connected to the device head. A control device is communicatively connected to the distance measuring device and an on-board sensor device. The position and/or the orientation of the device head is determined by the on-board sensor device and the position and/or the orientation of the device head determined by the on-board sensor device is set more precisely by the control device.

A robotic post system includes one or more composable robotic posts each having a processor and a memory. At least one composable post includes a set of modules including one or more pairable latches which is configured to couple and lock with another pairable latch from among another set of modules included on another of the composable posts, such that the composable robotic posts form a composable carrier structure defined by the composable robotic posts.

A flux system includes a memory and a processor in communication with the memory and a sensing device, the memory storing a plurality of capabilities and a plurality of semantic fluxes associated with the plurality of capabilities. The computing system is configured to infer a semantic based on received inputs and to infer an activity interest semantic based on an input, and to assign a servicing agent to service an activity interest based on semantic matching.

Methods and apparatuses for performing automated operations using a high-density robotic cell. An apparatus comprises a first plurality of robotic devices; a second plurality of robotic devices; and a control system. Each of the second plurality of robotic devices is coupled to a single function end effector. The control system controls the second plurality of robotic devices to concurrently perform tasks at a plurality of locations on an assembly, while the first plurality of robotic devices independently maintain a clamp-up at each of the plurality of locations.

A method for controlling an aerial vehicle including a compliant arm mechanism is disclosed. A propulsion system of the aerial vehicle is controlled to fly the aerial vehicle to an area proximate to a surface. One or more of the propulsion system and the compliant arm mechanism are controlled such that the compliant arm mechanism contacts the surface. The compliant arm mechanism is configured to extend laterally beyond a perimeter of the propulsion system. One or more sensor signals indicating contact of the compliant arm mechanism against the surface are received via a sensor. A force at which the aerial vehicle presses against the surface is determined based on the one or more sensor signals.

A method includes receiving, by a control system of a robotic device, data about an object in an environment from a remote computing device, where the data comprises at least location data and identifier data. The method further includes, based on the location data, causing at least one appendage of the robotic device to move through a predetermined learning motion path. The method additionally includes, while the at least one appendage moves through the predetermined learning motion path, causing one or more visual sensors to capture a plurality of images for potential association with the identifier data. The method further includes sending, to the remote computing device, the plurality of captured images to be displayed on a display interface of the remote computing device.

A robotic device is described. The robotic device includes segments and arms connected to a platform. A machining or another processing tool can be coupled to the platform. The segments can have one end attached to the platform and the other end attached to an attachment device. The attachment device can include an attachment surface/mechanism that can attach to a workpiece.