A tactile and/or optical distance sensor includes a housing, which has at least one elongate portion, a measurement arm, which is arranged in the housing, at least partially extends through the elongate portion and has a tactile and/or an optical probe element at one end, a transducer, which is configured to capture a position of the tactile probe element or a signal of the optical probe element and to generate associated probe element measurement signals, and an advance unit, with which the housing is linearly dis-placeable along an advance direction. A strain sensor is located in the region of the measurement arm extending through the elongate portion or at an adjacent region directly adjoining said region. In addition, a system for measuring the roughness of a surface of a workpiece and a method for calibrating a distance sensor or a system are provided.

A method of performing location teaching of a robotic arm includes maneuvering an end of arm tooling of a robotic arm to a predefined position of an interface object. The robotic arm is mounted within a mounting site of a mechanical mounting structure. The interface object is positioned on a sub-system of a medication dosing system that is mounted on the mechanical mounting structure. The interface object includes an alignment feature of a known size and shape. A sensor of the end of arm tooling is engaged with the interface object. An offset between the sensor and the interface object is determined based on an interaction between the sensor and the alignment feature. A position of the end of arm tooling is incremented with respect to the interface object along at least one axis. An actual position of the interface object is determined relative to the robotic arm.

Provided is a robot system in which when a robot is transported to and installed at an actual installation position, correction is made to correct errors in robot installation. This robot system is provided with: a reference point disposed at a location where a robot is to be installed; a position measurement means that, at a plurality of positions to which the robot is moved, makes a measurement of a prescribed position of the robot according to an installation coordinate system C1 based on the reference point; a position calculation means that determines a prescribed position of the robot according to a base coordinate system C2 of the robot; and a matrix calculation means that calculates a conversion matrix used to convert the base coordinate system C2 to the installation coordinate system C1 so that any difference between the prescribed position measured by the position measurement means and the prescribed position determined by the position calculation means becomes minimal.

Provided is a coordinate system setting system with which it is possible to easily set a coordinate system used in control of an industrial machine. A coordinate system setting system 1 comprises: a calibrated camera 4; a calibration data storage unit 12 that stores, in advance, calibration data obtained when the camera 4 was calibrated; an image processing unit 11 that processes a captured image obtained upon imaging a calibration jig J disposed at a position for which a coordinate system is to be set by the camera 4; and a coordinate system setting unit 21 that uses the result of image processing performed by the image processing unit 11 to set a coordinate system used in controlling a robot 2.

Provided is a mastering method that can be easily carried out with respect to a processing tool mounted to an arm tip portion of a robot having a driving shaft. The present invention provides a processing tool mastering method for mastering a processing tool by: controlling a driving unit of a multi-joint robot which carries, at an arm tip portion, a processing tool for performing a predetermined process on a workpiece and which is provided with a plurality of driving units for driving one or a plurality of driving shafts; and controlling a processing position of the processing tool with respect to the workpiece. The mastering method comprises obtaining, from the movement of the robot, reference direction information which is information pertaining to a reference direction of the robot, and carrying out mastering of the processing tool on the basis of the reference direction information thus obtained.

A method for automatically predetermining an intended movement of a manipulator arrangement of a medical system having a medical instrument and a recording means for generating images, wherein the recording means and/or the instrument is guided by the manipulator arrangement. The method includes establishing an intended transformation between a reference stationary in relation to the recording means and a reference stationary in relation to the instrument; monitoring a deviation between the intended transformation and a current transformation between the reference stationary in relation to the recording means and the reference stationary in relation to the instrument; and determining a reset movement of the manipulator arrangement for returning the current transformation to the intended transformation when the deviation satisfies a predetermined condition.

In an embodiment, a wafer pod includes: a cavity configured to receive and store a wafer; an alignment fiducial within the cavity, wherein: the alignment fiducial comprises two lines orthogonal to each other, and the alignment fiducial is configured to be detected by a robotic arm alignment sensor disposed on a robotic arm, wherein the alignment fiducial defines an alignment orientation for a robotic arm gripper hand to enter into the cavity.

A method comprises moving a robotic structure to a first pose such that an end-effector of the robotic structure has an absolute position comprising an absolute location and absolute orientation. The method comprises providing a calibration artefact on the end-effector. The method comprises determining at least three planes coinciding with at least three respective surface planes of the calibration artefact, by measuring absolute locations of a plurality of points on the calibration artefact. The method comprises determining the absolute location and absolute orientation of the end-effector, when the robotic structure is in the position based on the determined at least three planes. The method also comprises calibrating the first pose of the robotic structure using the determined absolute location and absolute orientation of the end-effector.

An apparatus for calibration of a robotic arm having an end effector of a robot includes a magnetic coupler having a body, a receiving face, a mounting member, and a magnetic portion. The mounting member is configured to fixedly connect to the end effector of the robotic arm. A mechanical digitizer probe having a ball and a handle are provided, where the ball is fixedly attached to a distal end of the handle and the ball is removably coupled to the magnetic coupler via the magnetic portion on the receiving face to form a rotatable ball and socket connection, and where a proximal end of the handle is adapted to be attached to a mechanical digitizer associated with the robot. A method for calibration of the robotic arm of a robot is also detailed.

A robot control system and a method for updating camera calibration is presented. The method comprises the robot control system performing a first camera calibration to determine camera calibration information, and outputting a first movement command based on the camera calibration information for a robot operation. The method further comprises outputting, after the first camera calibration, a second movement command to move a calibration pattern within a camera field of view, receiving one or more calibration images, and adding the one or more calibration images to a captured image set. The method further comprises performing a second camera calibration based on calibration images in the captured image set to determine updated camera calibration information, determining whether a deviation between the camera calibration information and the updated camera calibration information exceeds a defined threshold, and outputting a notification signal if the deviation exceeds the defined threshold.