A robot teaching device includes: a display device; an operation key formed of a hard key or a soft key and including an input changeover switch; a microphone; a voice recognition section; a correspondence storage section storing each of a plurality of types of commands and a recognition target word in association with each other; a recognition target word determination section configured to determine whether a phrase represented by character information includes the recognition target word; and a command execution signal output section configured to switch, in response to the input changeover switch being operated, between a first operation in which a signal for executing the command corresponding to an operation to the operation key is outputted and a second operation in which a signal for executing the command associated with the recognition target word represented by the character information is outputted.

A method for providing a natural language interface for a computer-aided design (CAD) system includes receiving a user voice input comprising a plurality of words, parsing the user voice input, determining a meaning for the parsed user voice input, the meaning including one or more words associated with an object and one or more words associated with a characteristic of the object, retrieving from a model descriptor database at least an object model descriptor and at least a characteristic descriptor, using the determined meaning, generating at least a graphical model of the object using the at least an object model descriptor, and generating at least a modified graphical model of the object, using the at least a characteristic descriptor.

A microscope control method for operating a microscope, includes: capturing an item of acoustic, graphically represented and/or electronically coded voice information; comparing the voice information with stored reference commands and determining a voice command on the basis of a predetermined degree of correspondence between at least one section of the voice information and a reference command; selecting that reference command to which the voice command corresponds at least to a predetermined degree; generating at least one control command suitable for operating the microscope, wherein the control command is either an invariable control command assigned to the selected reference command or the control command is generated on the basis of a rule assigned to the reference command for forming a generated control command, and controlling the microscope by means of the assigned or generated control command. Also, a microscope is designed to carry out the microscope control method.

In various embodiments, a dynamically directed workpiece positioning system may include a transport, a sensor positioned to detect a workpiece on the transport, a cutting member positioned along or downstream of the transport, and a computer system. The sensor may scan the workpiece as the workpiece is moved relative to the transport by a human operator or a positioning device. Based on the scan data, the computer system may generate commands to guide the human operator or positioning device in moving the workpiece to a desired position corresponding to a cut solution for the workpiece. Optionally, the computer system may cause the cutting member to be repositioned while the workpiece is being moved relative to the transport. Once the workpiece is in the desired position, the transport may be used to move the workpiece toward the cutting member. Corresponding methods and apparatuses are also disclosed.

A system includes a piece of equipment and an article of personal protective equipment (PPE) associated with a first worker. The PPE establishes a communications channel between the article of PPE and the piece of industrial equipment, receives status information from the piece of industrial equipment via the communications channel, notifies the worker via the PPE of the status information received from the piece of industrial equipment, receives a response from the worker via the PPE, and transmits to the piece of industrial equipment, via the communications channel and based on the response, commands that cause a change in operation of the piece of industrial equipment.

A voice control system for operating machinery mainly comprises: an autonomous reaction device (1) for receiving input of a voice command (11) to establish or perform operation of at least one machining task of a specific set of industrial machinery; an interaction manager (2) for receiving and outputting the voice command (11), the interaction manager (2) including interpreting an acoustic modeling algorithm, and identifying the voice command (11), so as to form an identification instruction (21), and the interpreted identification instruction (21) forming a basic machine control command and/or a machine motion control command corresponding to the operation of multiple machining tasks of the industrial machinery; and an upper controller (3) for receiving the basic machine control command and/or a machine motion control command, and operating a system of a driver (44) of the industrial machinery by voice input.

A machine tool includes a speech input unit that accepts speech from an operator as input, a speech recognition unit that recognizes the speech input into the speech input unit, a status determination unit that determines an operating status of the machine tool when the speech is input into the speech input unit, a display unit, a storage unit that stores a plurality of screens, and a screen selection unit that selects a screen according to a combination of the speech recognized by the speech recognition unit and the operating status of the machine tool determined by the status determination unit from among the plurality of screens, and causes the display unit to display the selected screen.

A microscope control method for operating a microscope, includes: capturing an item of acoustic, graphically represented and/or electronically coded voice information; comparing the voice information with stored reference commands and determining a voice command on the basis of a predetermined degree of correspondence between at least one section of the voice information and a reference command; selecting that reference command to which the voice command corresponds at least to a predetermined degree; generating at least one control command suitable for operating the microscope, wherein the control command is either an invariable control command assigned to the selected reference command or the control command is generated on the basis of a rule assigned to the reference command for forming a generated control command, and controlling the microscope by means of the assigned or generated control command. Also, a microscope is designed to carry out the microscope control method.

A control device for a machine tool, the control device being provided with an individual database that stores voice data and image data for the face for each of a plurality of persons in association with the respective person's ID, an input command database that stores commands that can be inputted into a machine tool, an imaging device that images the face of a person, a microphone that inputs a voice, and a microprocessor that processes the image data for the face imaged by the imaging device and the voice data inputted from the microphone. The microprocessor performs facial authentication on the basis of the image data of the face, and performs voice authentication on the basis of voice data inputted from the microphone. If the voice is a voice produced by a facially authenticated person, the microprocessor analyzes voice data, searches the input command database on the basis of the analysis result, and inputs a command corresponding to the voice data into the machine tool.

A voice control system for operating machinery mainly comprises: an autonomous reaction device (1) for receiving input of a voice command (11) to establish or perform operation of at least one machining task of a specific set of industrial machinery; an interaction manager (2) for receiving and outputting the voice command (11), the interaction manager (2) including interpreting an acoustic modeling algorithm, and identifying the voice command (11), so as to form an identification instruction (21), and the interpreted identification instruction (21) forming a basic machine control command and/or a machine motion control command corresponding to the operation of multiple machining tasks of the industrial machinery; and an upper controller (3) for receiving the basic machine control command and/or a machine motion control command, and operating a system of a driver (44) of the industrial machinery by voice input.