A robot includes a base, a first arm that rotates around a first rotation axis, a second arm that rotates around a second rotation axis extending in a direction different than the first rotation axis, a third arm that rotates around a third rotation axis extending in a direction parallel to the second rotation axis, a first inertia sensor at the first arm, a second (a) inertia sensor at the third arm, a first angle sensor at a first drive source, a third angle sensor at a third drive source, and the drive sources rotate the respective arms. Angular velocities from the first inertia sensor and the first angle sensor are fed back to a first drive source control unit. Angular velocities from the second (a) inertia sensor and the third angle sensor are fed back to a second drive source control unit.

A method of controlling a robot includes: obtaining an inertia matrix and a slack variable of the robot, and determining a momentum equation of the robot according to the inertia matrix and the slack variable; obtaining reference joint angles corresponding to a reference action of the robot; determining an optimization objective function of the momentum equation according to a first preset weight coefficient of the slack variable and a second preset weight coefficient of the reference joint angles; and determining joint angles of the robot according to the optimization objective function, and driving the robot to move according to the joint angles of the robot.

A sealant application apparatus includes a seal gun, a distance meter, a moving mechanism and a controller. The seal gun has a nozzle for discharging sealant toward a fastener. The distance meter is fixed to the nozzle. The distance meter measures a distance from a measurement position to a surface of the sealant. The moving mechanism moves the seal gun relatively to the fastener. The controller controls the moving mechanism and the seal gun. The sealant is started to be discharged out from the seal gun in a state where the nozzle has been positioned to cover the fastener at a position away from a surface of the object by a predetermined distance. Subsequently, the sealant is applied to the fastener under a sealant application condition according to the distance measured by the distance meter while moving the nozzle away from the surface of the object.

A virtual bumper configured to protect a component of a robotic device from damage is provided. The virtual bumper comprises a plurality of distance sensors arranged on the robotic device and at least one computing device configured to receive distance measurement signals from the plurality of distance sensors, detect, based on the received distance measurement signals, at least one object in a motion path of the component, and control the robot to change one or more operations of the robot to avoid a collision between the component and the at least one object.

Systems and methods related to intelligent grippers with individual cup control are disclosed. One aspect of the disclosure provides a method of determining grip quality between a robotic gripper and an object. The method comprises applying a vacuum to two or more cup assemblies of the robotic gripper in contact with the object, moving the object with the robotic gripper after applying the vacuum to the two or more cup assemblies, and determining, using at least one pressure sensor associated with each of the two or more cup assemblies, a grip quality between the robotic gripper and the object.

The occurrence of grinding unevenness is prevented even when the movement speed of a robot is changed. Provided is a grinding robot system including: a motor-driven grinder that performs grinding; a robot that grinds a grinding target by means of the grinder in a state in which one of the grinder or the grinding target is attached to a distal end thereof and is moved, and the other is set at a fixed position; and a control unit that controls the robot and the grinder, wherein the control unit calculates a rotational-speed command value for the grinder that changes according to the movement speed of the distal end of the robot and controls the rotational speed of the grinder on the basis of the calculated rotational-speed command value.

Faster, less computational intense, and more robust techniques to optimize velocity of robots or portions thereof without violating constraints on acceleration and jerk (derivative of acceleration with respect to time) are described. A nonlinear problem of optimizing velocity without violating acceleration constraints is linearized, and produces acceleration constrained velocity estimates. A nonlinear problem of optimizing velocity without violating jerk constraints in linearized, and produces jerk constrained velocity estimates, and may be feed by the acceleration constrained velocity estimates. Configuration and timing may be generated and provided, e.g., as vectors, to control operation of a robot, robotic appendage or other structure.

A system includes a robot with a robot arm having multiple joints and an end effector to carry a substrate. A processing device is to build, with respect to a joint space for the multiple joints and the end effector, a graph of reachable positions and sub-paths between the reachable positions, wherein the reachable positions and the sub-paths satisfy Cartesian limits within the joint space. The processing device is to determine, by executing a graph optimization algorithm on the graph, multiple paths, each made up of a group of the sub-paths and having one of a shortest distance or a lowest cost between a start point and an end point of the end effector. The processing device is to select a path, of the multiple paths, through the graph that minimizes a move time of the end effector between the start point and the end point.

A distributed control system for an autonomous modular robot (AMR) vehicle includes a top module processor disposed in communication with a lower module processor, and memory for storing executable instructions of the top module processor and the lower module processor. The instructions are executable to cause the top module processor and the lower module processor to navigate a bottom module, via the bottom module processor, the AMR vehicle to a target destination. The instructions are further executable to determine, via the bottom module processor, that the AMR vehicle is localized at a target destination, transmit a request for a cargo unloading instruction set, and receive, via a top module processor, a response to a cargo unloading instruction set sent from the bottom module processor. The instructions further cause the top module processor to unload the cargo to a target destination surface via an unloading mechanism associated with the top module.

A controller for robot arms and the like having mechanical singularities identities paths near the singularities and modifies those paths to avoid excessive joint movement according to a minimization of tool orientation deviation to produce alternative paths that minimize changes in the tool orientation such as can affect application such as welding, sealant application, coating and the like.