A control method executes a first step of actuating a brake to decelerate a robot arm, a second step of releasing or relaxing the actuation of the brake when one of Conditions A1, A2, and A3 is satisfied after deceleration of the robot arm, and a third step of actuating the brake again to restrict driving of the robot arm when one of Conditions B1, B2, and B3 is satisfied after release or relaxation of the brake, Condition A1: a velocity of the robot arm becomes a predetermined value or less; Condition A2: a contact state between the robot arm and the object becomes stable; Condition A3: time TA elapses; Condition B1: time TB elapses; Condition B2: a movement amount of the robot arm becomes a predetermined value or more; and Condition B3: the contact state between the object and the robot arm is released or relaxed.

A controller for an inverse optimal control approach robot may control movement of a robot body toward a human target along a trajectory according to a cost function. The cost function may include may terms. A first term may be associated with a duration of the trajectory for the robot. A second term may be associated with a social force and a final distance between the robot and the human target. A third term may be associated with a lateral acceleration for the robot. A fourth term may be associated with an angular acceleration for the robot. A fifth term may be associated with a longitudinal acceleration for the robot. A sixth term may be associated with a reduction of centrifugal force applied to the robot body.

A method, apparatus and a system are disclosed for robotic programming. In at least one embodiment of a method for robotic programming, the method includes receiving, from a controller of a robot, movement parameters reflecting movement of the robot manipulated by a user; making a first data model of a robot move, according to the movement parameters; calculating, upon the first data model touching a second data model of a virtual object, parameters of a first force to be fed back to the user for feeling touch by the robot on a physical object corresponding to the virtual object; and sending the parameters of the first force to the controller of the robot, to drive the robot to feed back the first force to the user.

Safety is one of the most important factors in the robot interaction with unknown and dynamic environments. Recent studies have shown that the use of compliant components as a solution to the safety issue, especially in the physical human-robot interaction. To overcome performance degradation caused by including compliant elements into the systems, variable stiffness approaches have been introduced at the cost of an extra actuator. A variable stiffness gripper is presented. Embodiments of the disclosed gripper may have, for example, with two parallel fingers (jaws). Compliance of the system may be generated by using magnets as the nonlinear springs. Based on the presented design, the position and stiffness level of the fingers can be adjusted simultaneously by changing the air gap between the magnets.

A system receives data from a submersible remote operated vehicle (ROV), the data being about the operation of an arm of the ROV. The system automatically controls, based on the data, movement of the arm in docking the arm to a tool holder. In certain instances, the system implements an image based control. In certain instances, the system implements a force accommodation control. In certain instances, the system implements both.

A force detection apparatus includes first and second force sensors each including a force detection device having a force detection axis, a first inertial sensor disposed in the vicinity of the first force sensor and having an inertia detection axis extending along the force detection axis of the first force sensor, and a second inertial sensor disposed in the vicinity of the second force sensor and having an inertia detection axis extending along the force detection axis of the second force sensor.

A method to control a robot to perform at least one Cartesian or joint space task comprises using quadratic programming to determine joint forces, in particular joint torques, and/or joint accelerations of said robot based on at least one cost function which depends on said task.

A drive unit 10A is configured to exert a driving force on an environment 50 in accordance with a target driving force command τ.sub.d, and includes a parameter storage device 30A, a force measuring instrument 35, an admittance model calculation device 31A, and a position control and driving device 33A. The parameter storage device 30A has stored therein dynamics parameters of first and second virtual objects affected by a virtual interactive force λ.sub.R. The force measuring instrument 35 is configured to output a measurement result for the driving force as a measured driving force value τ.sub.s. The admittance model calculation device 31A is configured to calculate and output a displacement of the first virtual object. The displacement is obtained by calculations based on the stored dynamics parameters, the target driving force command τ.sub.d, and the measured driving force value τ.sub.s. The position control and driving device 33A is configured to operate in accordance with a target position command. The force measuring instrument 35 is disposed between the position control and driving device 33A and the environment 50. The target position command corresponds to the first virtual object's displacement outputted by the admittance model calculation device 31A. The drive unit 10A achieves advantages of both high and low backdrivability.

A robot system includes a slave unit including a slave-side force detector configured to detect a direction and a magnitude of a reaction force acting on a workpiece held by a work end of a slave arm, a master unit including a master-side force detector configured to detect a direction and a magnitude of an operating force applied by an operator to an operation end of a master arm, and a system controller configured to generate a slave operational command and a master operational command based on the operating force and the reaction force. The system controller includes a regulator configured to correct a moving direction of the work end so that the movement of the work end in a pressing direction of an object is regulated when the reaction force exceeds an acceptable value set beforehand.

An object of the present invention is to simplify a joint, such as reducing the weight of the joint, in a robot arm mechanism capable of detecting contact of a person or an object. A robot arm mechanism (1) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes rotational joints (J1, J2). The rotational joint (J1) and the rotational joint (J2) are connected to each other by a link (30). The link (30) includes a plurality of link portions (31, 33, 35, 37). The link portions (31, 33) are coupled to each other via a torque sensor (61), the link portions (33, 35) are coupled to each other via a torque sensor (63), and the link portions (35, 37) are coupled to each other via a torque sensor (65).