An industrial robot having parallel kinematics, comprising a robot base, a carrier element for accommodating a gripper or a tool, several movable, elongated actuating units, which are connected at one end thereof to drive units arranged on the robot base, and the other end of which is movably connected to the carrier element; an elongated hollow body, which has a continuous cavity and which is flexibly connected to the robot base; a joint, which has a continuous cavity and several degrees of freedom, by means of which joint the elongated hollow body is movably connected to the carrier element; and at least one supply line for a gripper arranged on the carrier element or a tool arranged on the carrier element, the supply line being guided through the cavity of the elongated hollow body and the cavity of the hollow joint from the robot base to the carrier element.

An example robotic joint may include a first cam and a second cam. The robotic joint may also include a first actuator configured to contact the first cam, a second actuator configured to contact the first cam, a third actuator configured to contact the second cam, and a fourth actuator configured to contact the second cam. The robotic joint may also include a first coupling link configured to couple the first cam to a first drive shaft link, and a second coupling link configured to couple the second cam to a second drive shaft link. The robotic joint may also include a drive shaft rigidly coupled to the first drive shaft link and the second drive shaft link, wherein the drive shaft rotates about a first pivot axis when the first and third actuators and the second and fourth actuators act in concert.

A force transmitting mechanism includes: a force adjusting portion that is disposed between a joint portion of an instrument and a force generating portion and that receives force from the force generating portion; and a driving member that passes through the joint portion, that connects the end effector and the force adjusting portion, and that transmits the force applied from the force adjusting portions to the end effector, wherein, by means of displacement of the driving member associated with flexing or bending of the joint portion, the force adjusting portion increases the force transmission efficiency so that an amount of increase in the force transmission efficiency increases with an increase in a displacement amount of the driving member.

A parallel link robot (10) including ball joints (42a to 42d) which are arranged between driven links (22a, 23a) and a drive link (21a) and between a driven link and a movable part (12), at least one of these ball joints including a ball (44a) and a housing (42a) which covers at least half of the surface of the ball including the maximum diameter part and further including with a covering part (45a) which covers the area around the ball of the ball joint.

An arm rest apparatus, according to one embodiment, may comprise: a fixed part fixed to an external object; a horizontal movement module having one end rotatably connected to the fixed part and the other end having two-translational-degree-of-freedom movement with respect to the fixed part; and an arm support module installed to have two rotational degrees of freedom with respect to the other end of the horizontal movement module.

A system for supporting a workpiece is disclosed, wherein several heads with a suction cup define an engaging and supporting surface that is at least partially shaped like the workpiece. Each each head with suction cup is coupled by a bail joint with a first movable element of a vertical linear actuator and is couplable by a removable fitting with a fork carried by a second movable element that rotates around a rotation axis that is coaxial with the axis of the linear actuator. The second movable element carries an abutment, spaced from the center of the ball joint against which the suction cup head abuts and moved by the linear actuator to perform the adjustment of the orientation thereof around the ball joint.

A parallel mechanism comprises legs with kinematically redundant actuation for a parallel mechanism. Each of these legs comprises a first sub-leg and a second sub-leg, each said sub-leg comprising a proximal end and a distal end. A link has a proximal end and a distal end. A joint with a rotational degree of freedom (DOF) is between and common to the distal ends of each of the first sub-leg and the second sub-leg, and the proximal end of the link. A joint provides at least two rotational DOFs at the distal end of the link and is adapted to connect the distal end of the link to one end of the parallel mechanism. Joints in the first sub-leg and the second sub-leg to provide DOFs to the sub-legs and to connect the proximal ends of the sub-legs to the other end of the parallel mechanism. A degree of actuation (DOA) is provided for each of the first sub-leg and the second sub-leg to control movement of the link. A method for controlling movement of the parallel mechanism is also provided.

An industrial robot with parallel kinematics comprises a robot base, a carrier element for receiving a gripper, a tool or a machine element, at least two moveable actuating units, which are connected at their one end to actuating unit drives arranged on the robot base and of which the other ends are moveably connected to the carrier element, a first rotational axis, which is designed as a hollow body and which has a continuous cavity running in the axial direction, a first rotational axis drive, which is arranged on the robot base and which generates a first torque and transmits it to the first rotational axis, a second rotational axis, which is arranged at least partially in the first rotational axis, a second rotational axis drive, which is arranged on the robot base and which generates a second torque and transmits it to the second rotational axis.

A method includes obtaining an implant plan, defining a range of motion for a surgical tool based on the implant plan, adjusting, by an actuator and based on the range of motion, a passive joint coupled between the actuator and the surgical tool, and allowing manual movement of the surgical tool through the range of motion via rotation at the passive joint.

A flexible drive manipulator according to an example embodiment may include a proximal portion, a plurality of joint portions drivably connected from an end of the proximal portion with respect to a longitudinal axis, a distal portion connected to an end of the plurality of joint portions, a pair of drive wires passing through the plurality of joint portions in parallel along the longitudinal axis, the pair of drive wires configured to drive the plurality of joint portions in a rotational direction of rotation with respect to a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and a fixing wire passing through the plurality of joint portions in a shape of converging along the longitudinal axis, the fixing wire configured to adjust rigidity of the plurality of joint portions.