There is disclosed a stretchable sensor system for measuring deformation of an elastomer, the stretchable sensor system comprising at least one magnet; at least one magnetic sensor, each having a sensor output; and a controller, wherein the at least one magnet is/are fixed to the elastomer at a respective first location or plurality of locations and the at least one magnetic sensor is/are fixed to the elastomer at a respective second location or plurality of locations, such that the or each magnetic sensor is located in magnetic proximity to a respective said magnet, and wherein the controller is operable: to receive sensor data from the sensor output of the or each magnetic sensor; to process the received sensor data in dependence on the first and second locations or plurality of locations to determine a positional relationship between the or each magnet and the respective magnetic sensor; and to compute a deformation of the elastomer in dependence on the determined positional relationship between the or each magnet and the respective magnetic sensor. The present invention has particular application to soft robotics and closed loop control thereof.

A device for capacitive detection of an object (O), including at least one biasing module configured to bias at least one measurement electrode at an alternating electric potential (Vg), referred to as work potential, different from a ground potential (M); and measurement electronics; at least one biasing module including at least one toroidal element, referred to as excitation element, with a central opening designed to induce, in at least one electrical conductor which passes therethrough and which is in electrical connection with at least one measurement electrode, an alternating potential difference equal to the alternating electrical work potential (Vg), between an input and an output of the at least one toroidal element. An apparatus using such a capacitive detection device is also included.

A multi-arm robot for realizing conversion between sitting and lying posture of patients and carrying patients to different positions is disclosed. The complete robot includes a manipulator module, a trunk module, a chassis moving module and a control module. The manipulator module comprises at least three manipulators, which are connected with the trunk module by linear modules. The trunk module comprises a trunk body and four linear modules, which are connected with the chassis moving module by bolts. The chassis moving module comprises a plurality of omnidirectional wheels and a telescopic counterweight. The control module includes an actuator module, an operation module, an information acquisition module, a motion control module, a data processing module, a communication module and an early warning module.

A robotic system includes a robotic manipulator having one or more contact pads. The contact pads have features therein that are detectable to determine or measure a degree to which they have worn down. Such features may include fluorescent materials, colorful materials, and/or RFID tags. A robotic environment may include one or more sensors to detect such features, and may be configured to generate a signal indicating that one or more contact pads are in need of maintenance.

A mobile vehicle having an AOI dynamic inspection system with multi-angle visual quality includes a base body, two driving bracket, two connecting rod assemblies and an arm member and a working portion. The arm member is swingably disposed on the base body. The working portion is disposed on one end of the arm member which is remote from the base body. The working portion includes a first photographing device. The first photographing device is configured for capturing an image of an object. At least two second photographing devices is configured to be disposed in an environment and configured for capturing an image of the object.

A magnetic sensing approach for determining a positioning characteristic of a soft robotic actuator. A magnetic field or a change in magnetic field of a magnetic member may be measured as it undergoes concurrent displacement with a soft actuator. Additionally, an example rolling robotic wheel is illustrated. The robotic wheel may utilize magnetic sensing as described herein.

Described is the design, implementation, and evaluation of a robotic system configured to search for and retrieve RFID-tagged items in line-of-sight, non-line-of-sight, and fully-occluded settings. The robotic system comprises a robotic arm having a camera and antenna strapped around a portion thereof (e.g. a gripper) and a controller configured to receive information from the camera and (radio frequency) RF information via the antenna and configured to use the information provided thereto to implement a method that geometrically fuses at least RF and visual information. This technique reduces uncertainty about the location of a target object even when the object is fully occluded. Also described is a reinforcement-learning network that uses fused RF-visual information to efficiently localize, maneuver toward, and grasp a target object. The systems and techniques described herein find use in many applications including robotic retrieval tasks in complex environments such as warehouses, manufacturing plants, and smart homes.

A proximity sensing autonomous robotic system and apparatus is provided. The robot includes one or more vision modules for viewing the environment for depth perception, object detection, object avoidance and temperature detection of objects. A proximity sensing skin is laminated on one or more parts of the robot. The proximity sensing skin includes a plurality of proximity sensors and mechanical stress sensors for collision avoidance, speed control and deceleration of motion near detected objects, and touch recognition. The proximity sensing skin may include conductive pads for contacting different materials in a composite part to inhibit galvanic corrosion. The robot includes an end effector to which different tools may be attached for performing different tasks. The end effector includes a mounting interface with connections for supplying power and hydraulic/pneumatic control of the tool. All wiring to the sensors and vision modules are routed internally within the robot.

Inspection robots with swappable drive modules are described. An example inspect robot may include a first removeable interface plate on the side of a robot chassis. The first removable interface plate may couple a first drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the first drive module. The example inspect robot may also include a second removeable interface plate on a side of a robot chassis. The second removable interface plate may couple a second drive module to an electronic board, within the chassis, where the electronic board includes a drive module interface circuit communicatively coupled to the second drive module.

Inspection robots and methods for inspection of curved surfaces with sensors at selected horizontal distances are described. An example of such an inspection robot includes a housing; a drive module with a wheel and a motor operatively linked to the housing, a plurality of sensor sleds, and a payload. The payload, which is coupled to the housing, may include a first and a second rail component, each with at least one connector, where the rail components are connectable at a first selected position of a plurality of discrete engagement positions. Each of the rail components may be structured to support at least one of the plurality of sleds where each of the plurality of sleds is coupled to the payload at a respective selected horizontal position such that the plurality of sleds are at selected horizontal distances from each other.