A device and method for monitoring and correcting the position and orientation of an operating device (2) with respect to a piece (P). A measuring device (5) including a plurality of sensors (505) connected to the operating device is used to measure through contactless technology the distances of the sensors from a surface (π) of the piece along respective directions (l, r, s) having given orientations. The sensor measurements are compared to predetermined desired values and the position of the operating device (2) is selectively changed to maintain a desired positional relationship between a main operative axis (X1) of the operative device and operation axis (X2) defined by the surface of the piece.

There is provided a method of controlling a mobile manipulator for tracking a surface. The mobile manipulator includes a mobile base movable in an axial direction of the mobile manipulator and a manipulator supported on the mobile base having an end effector adjustable in a lateral direction of the mobile manipulator. The method includes detecting the surface from the mobile manipulator, including positions of the surface at points along the surface, determining a reference path for the end effector to track based on an offset from the surface detected, determining a tracking error in the reference path determined, and adjusting a position of the end effector in the lateral direction based on the tracking error to compensate for the tracking error in the reference path determined. There is also provided a corresponding mobile manipulator.

One variation of a method for automatically generating a planogram for a store includes: dispatching a robotic system to autonomously navigate within the store during a mapping routine; accessing a floor map of the floor space generated by the robotic system from map data collected during the mapping routine; identifying a shelving structure within the map of the floor space; defining a first set of waypoints along an aisle facing the shelving structure; dispatching the robotic system to navigate to and to capture optical data at the set of waypoints during an imaging routine; receiving a set of images generated from optical data recorded by the robotic system during the imaging routine; identifying products and positions of products in the set of images; and generating a planogram of the shelving segment based on products and positions of products identified in the set of images.

A method and system for determining position and/or pose of an object. A robotic device moves throughout an environment and includes a master transceiver tag and, optionally, additional tags. The environment includes a plurality of anchor nodes that are configured to form a network. A master anchor node is in communication with at least a portion of the plurality of anchor nodes and is configured to transmit a ranging message as a UWB signal, receive a ranging message response from each other anchor node in the network, generate a reference grid representing physical locations of the plurality of anchor nodes within the network based upon the received ranging message responses, and distribute the reference grid to each of the other anchor nodes. The master transceiver tag receives the reference grid information and, based upon further calculations, determines a specific position and pose of the robotic device within the environment.

A robot control system includes a state candidate generation unit that generates a state candidate that is a state transition destination of a robot at next time, a control amount estimation unit that estimates a control amount for transitioning to the state candidate, a state candidate evaluation unit that calculates a distance between the target state of the robot and the state candidate, calculates a coincidence degree between (i) a state at next time estimated from a state at current time of the robot and the control amount and (ii) the state candidate, and sets a sum of the distance and the coincidence degree to be an evaluation value, and a selection unit that selects a state candidate with a minimum evaluation value from state candidates and generate a motion corresponding to the selected state candidate.

Disclosed are a material pushing robot (1), a material pushing system, and a material pushing management method. The material pushing system comprises at least one material pushing robot (1), at least one energy charging device (2) and a management unit (3), wherein the management unit (3) comprises a detection module (301), a processing module (302) and a control module (303); the processing module (302) is communicatively connected to the detection module (301) and the control module (303); the material pushing robot (1) and the energy charging device (2) are controllably connected to the management unit (3) respectively; when the material pushing robot (1) needs to be subjected to energy charging, the detection module (301) detects surrounding environment information so as to acquire at least one visual identifier (S); the processing module (302) generates a navigation instruction on the basis of the visual identifier (S) and sends the navigation instruction to the control module (303); and the control module (303) controls, on the basis of the navigation instruction, the material pushing robot (1) and the energy charging device (2) to meet, so as to charge energy for the material pushing robot (1).

A control system includes circuitry configured to: generate, based on a command profile representing a temporal change of a command for driving a controlled object and a response profile representing a temporal change of a state of the controlled object responding to the command profile, a first model representing at least a part of a relation between the command and the state of the controlled object; generate, based on the command profile, the response profile, and the first model, a second model representing another part of the relation that is not represented by the first model; generate, based on the first model and the second model, one or more control parameters representing a relation between a control reference and the command for causing the controlled object to follow the control reference; and control the controlled object to cause the state of the controlled object to follow the control reference based at least in part on the control reference and the one or more control parameters.

A method of tracking a user position using a crowd robot, a tag device, and a robot implementing the same are disclosed, and the robot includes a controller, which cumulatively stores position information of a tag device, generates a moving route corresponding to the stored position information of the tag device, and corrects the position information of the tag device based on position estimation information of a crowd robot around the tag device sent from the tag device.

A computer-controlled robotic arm performs operations upon a workpiece, such as a knife with a blade that requires sharpening, by a set of one or more workstations, such as a grinder and a polisher. A position target having a defined surface profile is attached to the robot arm and scanned by a profilometer to determine a relative position of the arm with respect to a target centerpoint feature. The arm is then used to manipulate the centerpoint feature to locate operating features, such as a grinder's grinding surface, of the various workstations in the robot arm's coordinate system. A workpiece grasped by the robot arm is then scanned along with the target or another target to locate and profile the workpiece relative to the target. Based on the determined profile and positional relationships, the robot arm manipulates the workpieces so as to be operated upon by the workstations.

A robot system includes a robot installed in a work area and controlled by a second control device, a 3D camera operated by an operator, a sensor that is disposed in a manipulation area that is a space different from the work area, and wirelessly detects position information and posture information on the 3D camera, a display, and a first control device. The first control device acquires image information on a workpiece imaged by the 3D camera, acquires, from the sensor, the position information and the posture information when the workpiece is imaged by the 3D camera, displays the acquired image information on the display, forms a three-dimensional model of the workpiece based on the image information, and the acquired position information and posture information, displays the formed three-dimensional model on the display, and outputs first data that is data of the formed three-dimensional model to the second control device.