A parallel link robot is provided with: a base portion; a movable portion that is disposed below the base portion; a plurality of arms that link the base portion and the movable portion so as to be parallel to each other; and a wrist shaft that is supported by the movable portion so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis in a substantially vertical direction, wherein a pair of marks that indicate a relative phase between the movable portion and the wrist shaft about the rotation axis are provided on the movable portion and the wrist shaft, at positions visible from the upper side or the lateral side.

A space-saving floating joint including a locking mechanism that locks a swing of a movable base with respect to a fixed base is provided. A floating joint includes: a fixed base; a movable base; a floating mechanism that floatingly supports the movable base swingably with respect to the fixed base; and a locking mechanism that fixes the movable base in a state of not being swingable with respect to the fixed base. The floating mechanism includes a spherical bearing having a spherical surface, and a spherical washer part that supports the spherical surface slidably. The locking mechanism is provided in an inner part of the spherical bearing.

A power transmission unit of a drive mechanism has a link mechanism on both sides of a base portion. The link mechanism has a first link member having a base end portion provided to the base portion to be rotated about a third rotational axis, a second link member having a base end portion connecting the first link member's distal end portion to be rotated about a fourth rotational axis, and a third link member which is provided to a driven body to be rotated about a fifth rotational axis and to which the second link member's distal end portion is provided to be rotated about a sixth rotational axis orthogonal to the fifth rotational axis. A desired operation angle range of two degrees of freedom in a driven body can be ensured with a compact configuration while suppressing deflection of a structure to which the driven body is mounted.

A method and apparatus for performing an operation on a workpiece using a multi-axis compliant end-effector for attachment to a robotic device. The end-effector is positioned at a nominal location of a workpiece feature on which the operation is to be performed. The end-effector is passively aligned with the workpiece feature by contacting the end-effector with the workpiece feature. The operation is performed on the workpiece feature in response to aligning the end effector with the workpiece feature.

The parallel robotics system is disclosed. The parallel robotics system includes a base, a plurality of first active joints each moving independently from each other in a first direction in the base, a plurality of second active joints connected to the first active joints, respectively, and each moving independently from each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a truss structure connected to the plurality of second active joints and moving depending on a movement of each of the plurality of first active joints and a movement of each of the plurality of second active joints.

The invention relates to an improved robotic arm apparatus and associated method which improves a robot configured in a delta arrangement. The robotic arm apparatus is arranged with three substantially identical movable arm assemblies connected together with three linear actuators in a triangular configuration such that each end of each linear actuator has at least one translational degree of freedom.

A heavy-weight object such as a motor is installed separately from a movable portion to reduce the weight of the movable portion. The invention includes a support unit, a movable unit to which equipment is attached, and a drive unit interposed between the support unit and the movable unit. The movable unit has a first rotating member rotatably attached to the support unit about a first rotation axis line and a second rotating member rotatably attached to the first rotating member about a second rotation axis line orthogonal to the first rotation axis line. The support unit is provided with paired first brackets positioned so as to sandwich the first rotating member, and these first brackets are each provided with a first shaft configuring the first rotation axis line. The second rotating member is provided with paired second brackets positioned so as to sandwich the first rotating member from a direction orthogonal to the paired first brackets, and the second brackets are each provided with a second shaft configuring the second rotation axis line and causing the first rotating member to rotatably support the second rotating member. The drive unit includes paired motors attached to the support unit and having a rotation axis line parallel to each of the first shafts, an endless belt wound between a pulley and each of the motors, and paired gears respectively attached to the first shaft and the second shaft adjacent to each other as a set and converting rotation about the first rotation axis line into rotation about the second rotation axis line. One of the gears is fastened to the pulley and is rotatably attached to the first rotating member, the other gear is fastened to the second bracket of the second rotating member, and to the first shaft to which the gear is not attached, the pulley provided to this first shaft and the first rotating member are fastened.

A surgical robotic component comprising an articulated terminal portion, the terminal portion comprising: a distal segment having an attachment connected thereto, an intermediate segment, and a basal segment whereby the terminal portion is attached to the remainder of the surgical robotic component. The terminal portion further comprises a first articulation between the distal segment and the intermediate segment, the first articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the intermediate segment about a first axis, and a second articulation between the intermediate segment and the basal segment, the second articulation permitting relative rotation of the intermediate segment and the basal segment about a second axis. The intermediate segment comprises: a third articulation permitting relative rotation of the distal segment and the basal segment about third and fourth axes, a first torque sensor configured to sense torque about the third axis, and a second torque sensor configured to sense torque about the fourth axis. The first, second and third articulations are arranged such that in at least one configuration of the third articulation the first and second axes are parallel and the third and fourth axes are transverse to the first axis.

A powered joint having a first joint component and second joint component in which the first joint component has multiple degrees of rotational freedom with respect to the second joint component, the powered joint including one or more power transmission coils associated with the first component; a plurality of power receiving coils associated with the second component; a sensor which determines the orientation of the second component with respect to the first component; and a control circuit for selectively connecting one of the plurality of power receiving coils to a power receiving circuit based on information received from the sensor.

A deflection element (10) for robot arms has two arm braces that are pivotally mounted on a joint mechanism. In order to create a universally useable deflection element, the two arm braces (12) are each mounted on a support structure (20) of the joint mechanism by means of an arm joint (18), and the two arms braces (12) are coupled to a connecting element (22) between the two arm joints (18), said connecting element (22) being movable relative to the support structure (20); furthermore, at least one actuating element (50; 51), which moves the connecting element (22) and thus pivots the arm braces (12) between the end positions thereof, is arranged between the support structure (20) and the connecting element (22).