An intermediation device and an intermediating method, capable of improving public interest in an industrial robot compared to before, are provided. The intermediation device is adapted to execute processings of receiving, from at least two manipulation terminals, or from at least one manipulation terminal and at least one computer, manipulation signals for manipulating at least two industrial robots each corresponding to the manipulation terminal or the computer and configured to perform a given work or a given game, causing the at least two industrial robots to perform the given work or the given game based on the manipulation signals, and causing a display unit held by an operator of the manipulation terminal to display an image of a site of the work or the game performed by the at least two industrial robots, the image being captured by an imaging device.

A holding apparatus, in particular a holding arm and/or tripod, for medical purposes, comprises a proximal end for attaching the holding apparatus to a base and a distal end for receiving an add-on device; at least one first and one second arm segment, where the first arm segment is connected to a first joint and the second arm segment is connected to a second joint, where each joint is releasable and lockable; an operating device for releasing and/or locking the respective joint for putting the holding apparatus into a desired pose; and a first display unit which is arranged on the first joint and a second display unit which is arranged on the second joint. The first and/or second display unit is configured to display at least one status of the holding apparatus and/or of an add-on device that is different from the releasing and/or locking of the respective joint. The invention further relates to a method.

A robot system includes a robot body configured to perform a work, a robot controlling module configured to control operation of the robot body according to an operator command, a manipulator configured to send the operator command to the robot controlling module according to manipulation by an operator, a motivation information acquiring module configured to acquire motivation information for motivating the operator so that the operator increases an amount of work or a speed of work of the robot body, and a motivation information presenter configured to present to the operator the motivation information acquired by the motivation information acquiring module.

A control apparatus of a robot may include a state obtaining unit configured to obtain state observation data including flexible related observation data, which is observation data regarding a state of at least one of a flexible portion, a portion of the robot on a side where an object is gripped relative to the flexible portion, and the gripped object; and a controller configured to control the robot so as to output an action to be performed by the robot to perform predetermined work on the object, in response to receiving the state observation data, based on output obtained as a result of inputting the state observation data obtained by the state obtaining unit to a learning model, the learning model being learned in advance through machine learning and included in the controller.

A pressure-sensitive sensor includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a conductive resin located between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the conductive resin includes a first region, and a second region different from the first region in thickness in a direction in which the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged, and the second region surrounds the first region. Further, the thickness of the second region is thicker than the thickness of the first region. Further, a center of the first electrode is located within the first region in a plan view from the direction in which the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged.

A tool control system may include: a tactile sensor configured to, when a tool holds a target object and slides the target object downward across the tool, obtain tactile sensing data from the tool; one or more memories configured to store a target velocity and computer-readable instructions; and one or more processors configured execute the computer-readable instructions to: receive the tactile sensing data from the tactile sensor; estimate a velocity of the target object based on the tactile sensing data, by using one or more neural networks that are trained based on a training image of an sample object captured while the sample object is sliding down; and generate a control parameter of the tool based on the estimated velocity and the target velocity.

A training processing device manages a training for a robot manipulation using a manipulation terminal. The training processing device communicates information with the manipulation terminal through a communication network, accepts first information that is information on the robot manipulation inputted into the manipulation terminal, while the manipulation terminal executing a computer program for the training of the robot manipulation, and manages the training based on the first information.

A method for controlling a gripping device (2) for a robot (20) comprising two or more gripping structures (4, 4′) movably arranged relative to each other and being configured to grip an object (8, 16) is disclosed. The method comprises actively restricting the displacement (ΔD) of at least one of the two or more gripping structures so that said displacement is less than or equal to a predefined maximum displacement (ΔD.sub.max). The method comprises the steps of detecting when at least one of the gripping structures is in contact with the object and increasing the force (F) exerted by at least one of the two or more gripping structures to the object from a predefined first level (F.sub.1) to a predefined second level (F.sub.2) when it has been detected that at least one of the two or more gripping structures is in contact with the object.

A gripping device includes carriages or pivot arms carrying gripping elements. The carriages or pivot arms are mounted and guided in a base body and are drivable by at least one cylinder-piston unit. A switching module is mounted on the base body. The switching module includes at least one pressure medium connection and at least one electrical connection. At least one electrically controllable valve, which is switching a pressure medium, and at least one electronic controller for implementing external and internal control signals are arranged in the control module. The internal control signals originate from at least one sensor which detects at least one physical characteristic variable of the carriage(s) and/or the cylinder-piston unit at least in or on the base body. The gripping device can be adapted to at least one machine control system with a minimum interconnection and programming effort.

Systems and methods for determining a pose of an object held by a flexible end effector of a robot are disclosed. A method of determining a pose of the object includes receiving tactile data from tactile sensors, receiving curvature data from curvature sensors, determining a plurality of segments of the flexible end effector from the curvature data, assigning a frame to each segment, determining a location of each point of contact between the object and the flexible end effector from the tactile data, calculating a set of relative transformations and determining a location of each point relative to one of the frames, generating continuous data from the determined location of each point, and providing the continuous data to a pose determination algorithm that uses the continuous data to determine the pose of the object.