A robot control apparatus according to one or more embodiments may include: a calculating unit configured to calculate an interference range of a robot based on a model of the robot in a state in which an object is gripped by a gripper with which the robot is equipped; and a planning unit configured to plan a motion of the robot based on the model and the interference range.

A safety device according to the present disclosure includes a sensor that is attached to a self-propellable travel device or a robot provided to the travel device, is set with a given detection area on the basis of a position of the sensor, and detects an object existing within the given detection area. The safety device further includes a motion suppressing device that suppresses motions of the travel device and the robot, when the existence of the object within the given detection area is detected by the sensor, and an area changing device that changes the given detection area according to operating states of the travel device and the robot.

Disclosed herein are systems, devices, and methods for real-time determinations of likelihoods for possible trajectories of a collaborator in a workspace with a robot. The system determines a current kinematic state of the collaborator and determines a goal of the collaborator based on occupancy information about objects in the workspace. The system also determines a possible trajectory for the collaborator based on the goal and the current kinematic state and determines a short-horizon trajectory for the collaborator based on previously observed kinematic states of the collaborator towards the goal. The system also determines a likelihood that the collaborator will follow the possible trajectory based on the short-horizon trajectory, the goal, and the current kinematic state. The system also generates a movement instruction to control movement of the robot based on the likelihood that the collaborator will follow the possible trajectory.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for optimizing a plan for one or more robots using a process definition graph. One of the methods includes receiving a process definition graph for a robot, the process definition graph having a plurality of action nodes. One or more of the action nodes are motion nodes that represent a motion to be taken by the robot from a respective start location to an end location. It is determined that a motion node satisfies one or more splitting criteria, and in response to determining that the motion node satisfies the one or more splitting criteria, the process definition graph is modified. Modifying the process definition graph includes splitting the motion node into two or more separate motion nodes whose respective paths can be scheduled independently.

An automatic program-correction device includes: a clearance detecting unit that detects an amount of clearance between a robot and a peripheral device in an operation program; a near-miss detecting unit that detects a near-miss section; a closest-point detecting unit that detects a pair of closest points, in the near-miss section; and a program updating unit that generates a new operation program having an intermediate teaching point to which the closest points have been moved, along a straight line passing through the detected pair of closest points, until the amount of clearance becomes greater than a minimum amount of clearance and equal to or less than the threshold. While gradually reducing, from the threshold, the amount of clearance at the intermediate teaching point, the program updating unit obtains an intermediate teaching point that provides a maximum amount of clearance at which a new near-miss section is not detected.

A method and corresponding apparatus for collision-free motion planning of a first manipulator in a first working space and a second manipulator in a second working space, wherein the first and second working spaces at least partially overlap. The method includes the steps of importing a first dynamic roadmap for a first configuration space of the first manipulator, wherein the first dynamic roadmap includes a first search graph and a first mapping between the first working space and the first search graph, and importing a second dynamic roadmap for a second configuration space of the second manipulator, wherein the second dynamic roadmap includes a second search graph and a second mapping between the second working space and the second search graph. Furthermore, the motion of the first manipulator and the second manipulator are coordinated based on the first dynamic roadmap and the second dynamic roadmap.

A method for controlling a robotic device is presented. The method includes positioning the robotic device within a task environment. The method also includes mapping descriptors of a task image of a scene in the task environment to a teaching image of a teaching environment. The method further includes defining a relative transform between the task image and the teaching image based on the mapping. Furthermore, the method includes updating parameters of a set of parameterized behaviors based on the relative transform to perform a task corresponding to the teaching image.

For a kinematic modelled in a kinematics coordinate system by hingedly interconnected single axles, a method calculates a braking region possibly covered by at least one of the single axles connected to an origin of the kinematics coordinate system and at least one of the single axles moving relative to the origin. In the event of a braking process, for a point that is coupled to a single axle, at least one virtual end position of the point is determined from an initial position of the point, a vectorial speed of at least one single axle, and a minimum deceleration of at least one single axle. The braking region of the point is determined using an envelope of the initial position and the at least one virtual end position, the extent of the envelope being calculated from the initial position and the at least one virtual end position.

An object separator may include a substrate, a fluid channel supported by the substrate, a pair of electrodes along the fluid channel to form a dielectrophoretic force to interact with an object entrained in a fluid and an inertial pump supported by the substrate to move the fluid along the fluid channel.

Disclosed herein are a robot navigating based on obstacle avoidance and a navigation method. In the robot or the navigation method of the robot according to an embodiment, a navigation route may be generated on the basis of position information on a waypoint and on objects sensed by a sensor, such that the robot may move via one or more waypoints.