An actuation system for actuating concentric tubes of a concentric-tube robot. The actuation system is configured to actuate the concentric tubes from radially to one side of the concentric tubes.

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.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a transfer apparatus comprising at least one arm configured to support a substrate; at least one gear disposed at a joint that rotatably supports the at least one arm, the at least one gear rotating the at least one arm; and a detector disposed to face the at least one gear and configured to detect a temperature of the at least one gear without contacting the at least one gear.

Routines and methods disclosed herein can increase a power efficiency of a prosthetic hand without drastically reducing the speed at which it operates. A prosthesis can implement an acceleration profile, which can reduce an energy consumption of a motor, or an amount of electrical and/or mechanical noise produced by a motor, as the motor transitions from an idle state to a non-idle state. A prosthesis can implement a deceleration profile, which can reduce the energy consumption of the motor, or an amount of electrical and/or mechanical noise produced by a motor, as the motor transitions from a non-idle state to an idle state.

An operation device for a surgical manipulator includes an input device that operates the surgical manipulator. The input device includes a plurality of joints and a plurality of motors that drives the plurality of joints, and reduction ratios in power transmission paths from the plurality of motors to the plurality of joints, respectively, are 0.5 or more and 30 or less.

The present invention relates to a variable rigidity robot joint system including a first driving module and a second driving module generating torque which is rotated on a first direction, a first rotating module changing rotations of the first driving module and the second driving module into rotations on a second direction intersecting the first direction when the first and second driving modules rotate in directions in which a joint is rotated in a same direction, thereby rotating the joint, a rigidity-providing member providing rigidity by elastically supporting a rotational movement of the first rotating module on the second direction, and a second rotating module changing rotations of the first driving module and the second driving module into a linear motion in the first direction when the first and second driving modules rotate in directions in which the joint is rotated in different directions.

An objective of the present invention is to reduce the downtime which occurs when changing a servo motor device. A servo motor device includes a motor section and a reduction gear configured to output a driving force by reducing a speed of rotation of the motor section, wherein a control device includes a detecting section configured to acquire detected information about operation of the motor section, and a computing section configured to generate an approximate curve based on a behavior for a time sequence of a parameter and to calculate predicted lifetime information of the servo motor device based on the approximate curve thus generated, wherein the parameter has been calculated by means of the detected information.

Embodiments relate to robotic arm assemblies. The robotic arm assembly includes an end-effector assembly. The end-effector assembly includes an instrument assembly. The instrument assembly includes an instrument and instrument driven portion. The elongated body includes an instrument central axis. The instrument driven portion includes a first central axis. The instrument driven portion is secured to a proximal end of the instrument in such a way that, when the instrument driven portion is driven to rotate, the instrument rotates relative to the first central axis. The end-effector assembly includes an instrument drive assembly. The instrument drive assembly includes an instrument drive portion. The instrument drive portion includes a second central axis. The instrument drive portion is configured to drive the instrument driven portion to rotate the distal end of the instrument relative to the first central axis. The second central axis intersects with and orthogonal to the first central axis.

A robot and a method of capturing an image applied to the robot, an electronic device for implementing the method of capturing the image, and a computer-readable storage medium are provided. The robot includes: a robot body; a workbench; a telescopic structure having one end pivotally connected to the robot body and the other end connected to the workbench; a driving mechanism arranged on the robot body and configured to drive the telescopic structure to extend, retract and/or move relative to the robot body; and an image capture device arranged on the workbench. The telescopic structure is configured to allow the image capture device to capture an image of a target object from different angles with the extension, retraction and/or movement of the telescopic structure.

Apparatus and methods are described for performing a procedure using a robotic unit. A tool-actuation arm is driven to move linearly, to thereby move at least the portion of the tool linearly with respect to the end effector. The tool-actuation arm is driven to become retracted to a given distance from the tool mount, thereby causing the tool-actuation arm to fold automatically by actuating an automatic tool-actuation arm folding mechanism. Other applications are also described.