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 method for determining possible transitions of system states in an industrial system with a plurality of agents with discrete agent states. The method comprises the steps of defining a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a pre-condition of at least one agent state that is to be changed, a post-condition of the at least one agent state, and an action or actions resulting in a corresponding transition of the at least one agent state; defining a plurality of nodes, each node comprising a system state; and evaluating for a plurality of pairs of nodes, whereby one node of each pair acts as a pre- condition node and the other node of each pair acts as a post-condition node, whether the pair can, given the rules, be directly connected by an edge, each edge comprising an action or actions required for a transition between the respective pre- and post-condition system states.

The control device 1A mainly includes a determination means 15A, an abstract state setting means 16A, and a sequence generation means 17A. The determination means 15A determines, based on at least one of environment information relating to environment observed in a workspace of a controlled device to be controlled, state information relating to a state of the controlled device, and stored information that is stored information relating to the objective task to be executed by the controlled device, whether or not the objective task can be completed. The abstract state setting means 16A sets, when determined that the objective task cannot be completed, an abstract state in the workspace based on at least one of the environment information or the stored information. The sequence generation means 17A generates, based on the abstract state and the objective task, a sequence of subtasks to be executed by the controlled device.

A control device 1A mainly includes a display control means 15A and an operation sequence generation means 16A. The display control means 15A is configured to transmit display information S2 relating to a task to be executed by a robot to a display device 2A. The operation sequence generation means 16A is configured, in a case that the display control means 15A has received, from the display device 2A, task designation information that is input information which schematically specifies the task, to generate an operation sequence to be executed by the robot based on the task designation information Ia.

The disclosure relates to a method for material processing of a two-dimensional sheet like material. The method comprises: obtaining information related to a desired design of a three dimensional object; obtaining information related to material characteristics of the sheet like material; defining a primary surface and a secondary surface of the desired design; and defining a geometrical relationship between said primary surface and secondary surface, wherein the secondary surface is a reflection of the primary surface in a two dimensional plane, and wherein when said primary surface is concave said secondary surface is convex, or when said primary surface is convex said secondary surface is concave; and providing a digital instruction for a fully developed spreading and subsequent folding of a two dimensional sheet into the obtained desired design, wherein said digital instruction is based on the defined primary and secondary surfaces, respectively, and said obtained material characteristics.

Robots are deployed for handling different tasks in various field of applications. For the robots to function, task planning is required to be done. During the task planning, goal setting is done, as well as actions to be executed for corresponding to each goal are decided. Traditionally, this is carried out first and then the robots start executing the task plan, thereby failing to capture any change in the environment the robots operate, post the task plan generation. Disclosed herein is a method and system for robotic task planning in which a task plan is generated and is executed. However if the task execution fails due to change in any of the parameters/factors, then the system dynamically invokes an adaptation and re-planning mechanism which either updates the already generated task plan (by capturing the change) or generates a new task plan, which the robot can execute to achieve the goal.

A control device 1C includes an operation sequence generation means 37C. The operation sequence generation means 37C is configured to generate, based on robot operation information Jr indicating operation characteristics of a robot executing a task and peripheral equipment information Ip indicating operation characteristics of peripheral equipment which delivers or receives an object relating to the task to or from the robot, operation sequences Sra and Spa indicating operations to be executed by the robot and the peripheral equipment, respectively.

Systems, methods and apparatus for automated vehicle wheel removal and replacement are provided. One system includes a computer system with applications for scheduling the replacement of tires for the vehicle. An electronically controlled lift device and robotic apparatus is configured for interaction with the computer system. The lift device mechanically adjusts arms for placement on lift points of vehicles. The robotic apparatus detects positioning of lug nut configuration for a wheel, removes lug nuts, and then removes the wheel from the wheel hub with gripping arms. The wheel and tire are then handed off to a separate tire changing machine. When a new tire is replaced the robotic apparatus then mounts the wheel to the original wheel hub, and then secures the lug nuts to the lug nut bolts.

Systems and methods for classifying at least a portion of an image as being textured or textureless are presented. The system receives an image generated by an image capture device, wherein the image represents one or more objects in a field of view of the image capture device. The system generates one or more bitmaps based on at least one image portion of the image. The one or more bitmaps describe whether one or more features for feature detection are present in the at least one image portion, or describe whether one or more visual features for feature detection are present in the at least one image portion, or describe whether there is variation in intensity across the at least one image portion. The system determines whether to classify the at least one image portion as textured or textureless based on the one or more bitmaps.

In a robot system including robots, lower-level control units respectively coupled to the robots and controlling one of the robots, and an upper-level control unit coupled to the lower-level control units and transmitting command information for control of the robots to the lower-level control units, a method of controlling the robots executed by the upper-level control unit is provided. The upper-level control unit includes a processor having a plurality of processor cores. Part of the processor cores of the plurality of processor cores are isolated from the other processor cores. Communication tasks with the lower-level control units are assigned to the isolated part of the processor cores. The isolated part of the processor cores are controlled to execute the communication tasks with the lower-level control units and the command information is transmitted to the lower-level control units. The isolation of the isolated part of the processor cores is released.