A robot control system includes a relative relationship calculating section configured to calculate a relative relationship between a first member and a second member at least at one of a plurality of points based on data acquired by a vision sensor, a contact point determination section configured to determine a contact point between the first member and the second member based on the calculated relative relationship, a control point setting section configured to set a control point based on the determined contact point, and a fitting control section configured to control fitting of the plurality of points based on the set control point.

One variation of a method for autonomously scanning and processing a part includes: accessing a part model representing a part positioned in a work zone adjacent a robotic system; retrieving a sanding head translation speed; retrieving a toolpath for execution on the part defining positions, orientations, and target forces applied by the sanding head to the part. The method includes traversing the sanding head along the toolpath, at the sanding head translation speed; reading a sequence of applied forces from a force sensor coupled to the sanding head at positions along the toolpath; and deviating from the toolpath to maintain the set of applied forces within a threshold difference of a sequence of target forces along the toolpath. In one variation of the method, the robotic system executes a toolpath at a duration less than target duration by selectively varying target force and sanding head translation speed across the part.

A method and robot controller configured to obtain an inertia-vibration model of the robot arm. The inertia-vibration model defines a relationship between the inertia of the robot arm and the vibrational properties of said robot arm and have been by setting the robot arm in a plurality of different physical configurations and for each of said physical configurations of said robot arm obtaining the vibrational properties and the inertia the robot arm. The inertia-vibration model makes it possible to in a simple and efficient way to obtain the vibrational properties of different physical configurations of the robot arm whereby the robot arm can be controlled according to the vibrational properties of the robot arm. This makes it possible to reduce the vibrations of the robot arm during movement of the robot arm.

According to one embodiment, an object handling device causes a hand to grasp, convey, and place an object in a container. The object handling device includes one or more processors configured to calculate an expanded interference region by combining an interference region of the hand interfering with another object and an interference region of the grasped object interfering with the another object; calculate at least a placement position between the placement position and a placement posture of the object in the container in accordance with information on an obstacle in the container and the expanded interference region; and calculate a release position at which the hand releases the object, on the basis of the placement position of the object.

Inspection robots with swappable drive modules are described. An example inspect robot may include a first removeable interface plate on the side of a robot chassis. The first removable interface plate may couple a first drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the first drive module. The example inspect robot may also include a second removeable interface plate on a side of a robot chassis. The second removable interface plate may couple a second drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the second drive module.

In one embodiment, there is disclosed a robot configured to clean a surface of a coating having a König pendulum hardness of less than 75 counts, the robot comprising: a cleaning brush assembly comprising a lamellar cleaning brush having a plurality of lamellas extending outwardly from a brush core and having a height, the lamellar cleaning brush arranged to rotate about its axis to apply a cleaning action to the surface when it is in contact with the surface; wherein the robot is configured to apply a degree of compression of the brush on the surface such that the brush is held in a position a distance, towards the surface of the coating, away from an initial position at which the brush is in contact with, but not deformed by, the surface of the coating, wherein said distance is less than 56% of the height of the plurality of lamellas.

Described herein are systems, devices, and methods for maintaining a valid semantic map of an environment for a mobile robot. A mobile robot comprises a drive system, a sensor circuit to sense occupancy information, a memory, a controller circuit, and a communication system. The controller circuit can generate a first semantic map corresponding to a first robot mission using first occupancy information and first semantic annotations, transfer the first semantic annotations to a second semantic map corresponding to a subsequent second robot mission. The control circuit can generate the second semantic map that includes second semantic annotations generated based on the transferred first semantic annotations. User feedback on the first or the second semantic map can be received via a communication system. The control circuit can update first semantic map and use it to navigate the mobile robot in a future mission.

An automatic robotic arm system and a coordinating method for robotic arm and computer vision thereof are disclosed. A beam-splitting mirror splits an incident light into a visible light and a ranging light and respectively guides to an image capturing device and an optical ranging device arranged in the different reference axes. In a calibration mode, a transformation relation is computed based on a plurality of the calibration postures and corresponding calibration images. In an operation mode, a mechanical space coordinate is determined based on an operation image and the transformation relation, and the robotic arm is controlled to move based on the mechanical space coordinate.

The robotic maintenance vehicle (RMV) has a propulsion system, a control system, an electrical power source, a maintenance module, a multi-axis robot, an optical system, and a location translator. The maintenance module is configured to hold different kinds of road maintenance materials. The multi-axis robot is configured to convey the road maintenance material from either the maintenance module to the road, the road to the maintenance module, or both. The optical system and the location translator are configured to be controlled by the control system and operate in conjunction to instruct the multi-axis robot where to pick up and/or place the road maintenance material. The multi-axis robot is configured to be selectively coupled to a distal arm tool.

A vacuum tube assembly for removing material is disclosed, including: a vacuum generator configured to generate a vacuum airflow; one or more tubes coupled to the vacuum generator and configured to channel the vacuum airflow; and an actuation mechanism coupled to the one or more tubes, wherein the actuation mechanism is configured to actuate at least one tube from a first position relative to a material stream to a second position relative to the material stream, wherein the first position is farther from the material stream than the second position.