A robot arm comprising a plurality of limbs articulated relative to each other, the robot arm extending from a base to a distal limb carrying a tool or an attachment point for a tool, the distal limb being attached by a revolute joint to a second limb, and the robot arm comprising a motor having a body and a drive shaft configured to drive rotation of the distal limb relative to the second limb about the revolute joint, wherein the body of the motor is fast with the distal limb.

A method for reducing vibration of a robot arm includes: a step of mounting at least one inertia actuator and at least one vibration signal capturing unit to a processing end of a robot arm; a step of applying the at least one vibration signal capturing unit to detect a vibration generated at the processing end of the robot arm so as to generate a vibration signal; a step of applying a central processing unit to evaluate the vibration signal and coordinates of the processing end of the robot arm so as to capture at least one set of corresponding control parameters for calculating at least one output force; and, a step of having the inertia actuator to apply the output force to the processing end of the robot arm for counteracting the vibration at the processing end of the robot arm.

A system and method for improving a position accuracy of a mobile robot is disclosed. A retroreflective device is mounted to the mobile robot and used by an absolute positioning device to use a laser beam to track a position of the mobile robot. The mobile robot receives position measurements. Various optimizations may be performed to support operating the mobile robot over a 360 degree range of azimuthal headings.

The present disclosure provides a bioprinting system (100) for printing a liquid directly onto a subject. The bioprinting system (100) comprises a bioprinting assembly (102). Optionally, a robotic arm (104) and a control system (150) are provided. The bioprinting assembly (102) may be coupled to the robotic arm (104) to be positionable relative to the subject. The bioprinting assembly (102) is configured to dispense the liquid onto the subject and comprises a reservoir (120) for holding the liquid and a loading mechanism (134) to prime the reservoir (120) with the liquid directly prior to printing. The loading mechanism (134) has a one way inlet to permit liquid to be loaded into the reservoir (120) and prevent fluid from exiting the reservoir via the one way inlet. There is also provided associated methods.

A robotic system for providing a surface cleaning device to a solar panel device, the robotic system may include (a) a drive unit that is configured to move the robotic system in relation to the solar panel device; (b) a support unit that comprises guiding elements, the guiding elements are configured to support the surface cleaning device; wherein the guiding elements comprise a first guiding element and a second guiding element; (c) an alignment unit that is configured to align, during an alignment process, the first guiding element and the second guiding element with the solar panel device; (d) sensing units that comprises a first sensing unit and a second sensing unit; wherein the first sensing unit is configured to sense a first spatial relationship between the first guiding element and a first portion of the solar panel device; wherein the second sensing unit is configured to sense a spatial relationship.

A 3D image-capturing device that includes at least one camera that acquires a 2D image and distance information of an object, a monitor that displays the 2D image acquired by the camera, and at least one processor including hardware. The processor acquires a first area for which the distance information is not required in the 2D image displayed on the monitor, and sets an image-capturing condition so that the amount of distance information acquired by the camera in the acquired first area is less than or equal to a prescribed first threshold and the amount of distance information acquired by the camera in a second area, which is at least part of an area other than the first area, is greater than a prescribed second threshold that is larger than the first threshold.

A 3D image-capturing device that includes at least one camera that acquires a 2D image and distance information of an object, a monitor that displays the 2D image acquired by the camera, and at least one processor including hardware. The processor acquires a first area for which the distance information is not required in the 2D image displayed on the monitor, and sets an image-capturing condition so that the amount of distance information acquired by the camera in the acquired first area is less than or equal to a prescribed first threshold and the amount of distance information acquired by the camera in a second area, which is at least part of an area other than the first area, is greater than a prescribed second threshold that is larger than the first threshold.

A force sensor diagnostic device that diagnoses a force sensor provided in a robot, the force sensor disposed near an installation surface on which the robot is installed and detecting a force and a moment applied to the robot from an outside. The device includes a calculation unit that calculates a theoretical value of the force and a theoretical value of the moment detected by the force sensor, a determination unit that determines whether the force sensor is distorted by comparing an actually measured value of the force and an actually measured value of the moment detected by the force sensor with the theoretical values of the force and the moment, and a notification unit that notifies a determination result from the determination unit.

A system and method for estimating aspects of target objects and/or associated task implementations is disclosed.

Generating a robot control policy that regulates both motion control and interaction with an environment and/or includes a learned potential function and/or dissipative field. Some implementations relate to resampling temporally distributed data points to generate spatially distributed data points, and generating the control policy using the spatially distributed data points. Some implementations additionally or alternatively relate to automatically determining a potential gradient for data points, and generating the control policy using the automatically determined potential gradient. Some implementations additionally or alternatively relate to determining and assigning a prior weight to each of the data points of multiple groups, and generating the control policy using the weights. Some implementations additionally or alternatively relate to defining and using non-uniform smoothness parameters at each data point, defining and using d parameters for stiffness and/or damping at each data point, and/or obviating the need to utilize virtual data points in generating the control policy.