The invention relates to a charging infrastructure comprising a charging station (1) for charging a vehicle (10) having a vehicle-side charging interface (20), wherein the charging station (1) comprises a robot (50) that carries a robot-side charging interface (100) for establishing a charging connection with the vehicle-side charging interface (20), wherein the robot comprises a base frame (51), a movable carrier (60) carrying the robot-side charging interface, and at least three displacement assemblies (71-76) between the base frame and the movable carrier that form a mechanism to move the movable carrier with at least three degrees of freedom with respect to the base frame, wherein the displacement assemblies comprise an actuator (80) and a compliance assembly (90) in series with an actuator and the robot-side charging interface for resiliently absorbing or releasing a displacement between the actuator and the robot-side charging interface over a compliance stroke or angle.

An embodiment joint structure for a robot includes an upper plate provided in an upper region, a link part coupled to a lower surface of the upper plate, wherein the link part includes a first link and a second link, and wherein the first link and the second link are provided close to one side of the upper plate with respect to a center of the lower surface of the upper plate, a support part coupled to the lower surface of the upper plate and configured to support the upper plate, wherein the support part is provided to be closer to the center of the lower surface of the upper plate than is the link part, and a motor part configured to provide power to the support part and the link part.

A robotic system includes a support structure, a platform, a center serial chain, outer serial chains, motors, a sensor, and a control module. The center serial chain connects a center of the platform to the support structure and includes first joints connected to a linear sliding shaft. The outer serial chains are disposed radially outward of the center serial chain. Each of the outer serial chains includes second joints connecting a bar to the platform and the supporting structure. The motors are connected to the outer serial chains. The sensor is connected to the platform and detects at least one of force or torque applied by a human operator on the platform and generates a signal indicative thereof. The control module controls the motors based on the signal to assist the human operator in at least one of moving or rotating the platform.

An object of the present invention is to provide an actuator capable of reducing a shock in acceleration at the time of a turn caused by a load in a lateral direction orthogonal to an axis of the actuator even when the load is excessive while reducing manufacturing cost and manufacturing man-hours, and a tripod structure including the actuator. An actuator according to the present invention includes: a pipe; a ball screw used as a feed screw; a conversion nut used as a feed nut and screwed with the ball screw; a piston fixed integrally to the conversion nut and driven to expand and contract from a free end which is one end of the pipe; and a rolling bearing unit being provided on a tip of the free end of the pipe and including a plurality of roller followers holding the piston movably.

In a link actuating device, a distal end side link hub is coupled to a proximal end side link hub via three or more link mechanisms. A posture control drive source configured to arbitrarily change the posture of the distal end side link hub is provided to each of two or more link mechanisms. The link actuating device includes a storage unit configured to store therein an operating position of the posture control drive source when the distal end side link hub is in a defined posture. In each of the two or more link mechanisms, a positioning portion is provided to at least one of the proximal side end link member, the distal side end link member, and the intermediate link member. A positioning member configured to position the distal end side link hub in the defined posture is dismountably mounted between a plurality of the positioning portions.

An object of the present invention is to provide an actuator capable of reducing a shock in acceleration at the time of a turn caused by a load in a lateral direction orthogonal to an axis of the actuator even when the load is excessive while reducing manufacturing cost and manufacturing man-hours, and a tripod structure including the actuator. An actuator according to the present invention includes: a pipe; a ball screw used as a feed screw; a conversion nut used as a feed nut and screwed with the ball screw; a piston fixed integrally to the conversion nut and driven to expand and contract from a free end which is one end of the pipe; and a rolling bearing unit being provided on a tip of the free end of the pipe and including a plurality of roller followers holding the piston movably.

An embodiment joint structure for a robot includes an upper plate provided in an upper region, a link part coupled to a lower surface of the upper plate, wherein the link part includes a first link and a second link, and wherein the first link and the second link are provided close to one side of the upper plate with respect to a center of the lower surface of the upper plate, a support part coupled to the lower surface of the upper plate and configured to support the upper plate, wherein the support part is provided to be closer to the center of the lower surface of the upper plate than is the link part, and a motor part configured to provide power to the support part and the link part.

A joint structure for connecting a first element and a second element included in a robot includes a Stewart platform that controls a position and/or an angle of the second element relative to the first element. The Stewart platform includes a first member to be joined to the first element, a second member to be joined to the second element, multiple legs connecting the first member and the second member, a driver that changes an effective length of each of the legs to change a position and/or an angle of the second member relative to the first member, and a soft structure that elastically changes the effective length of each of the legs in response to an external force applied to the second member and restores the effective length of each of the legs in response to the external force being removed.

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 with 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 the sub-legs, and the proximal end of the link. A joint provides two or more rotational DOFs at the distal end of the link and connects the distal end of the link to one end of the parallel mechanism. Joints in the sub-legs provide DOFs to the sub-legs and 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 sub-legs to control movement of the link.

A parallel type integrated actuator is proposed. The actuator includes: a driving unit composed of a first motor, a second motor, a third motor, and a fourth motor; a first shaft, a second shaft, and a third shaft, each shaft being inserted into each other through a hollow structure and forming a co-axis, each shaft being capable of rotating relative to each other in an inserted state, and each shaft having the other end part thereof extending outside the driving unit; an distal end part disposed outside the driving unit and on which an actuator is mounted; a first link part, a second link part, and a third link part allowing the distal end part to rotate in pitching, yawing, and rolling directions; and a universal link part connecting the fourth rotor, which is a rotor of the fourth motor, and the distal end part to each other.