In an embodiment, a method includes determining a given material to manipulate to achieve a goal state. The goal state can be one or more deformable or granular materials in a particular arrangement. The method further includes, for the given material, determining, a respective outcome for each of a plurality of candidate actions to manipulate the given material. The determining can be performed with a physics-based model, in one embodiment. The method further can include determining a given action of the candidate actions, where the outcome of the given action reaching the goal state is within at least one tolerance. The method further includes, based on a selected action of the given actions, generating a first motion plan for the selected action.

Systems and methods for detecting pose and force against an object are provided. A method includes receiving a signal from a deformable sensor comprising data from a deformation region in a deformable membrane resulting from contact with the object utilizing an internal sensor disposed within an enclosure and having a field of view directed through a medium and toward a bottom surface of the deformable membrane. The method also determines a pose of the object based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane. The method also determines an amount of force applied between the deformable membrane and the object is determined based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane.

A robot system can include a main body; a manipulator installed on the main body; a sensor configured to detect an object approaching a restricted region including the manipulator; a camera configured to monitor the restricted region and the object approaching the restricted region; a storage configured to store a material for an operation of the manipulator, the storage including an inlet for receiving the material; a remaining amount sensor configured to detect an amount of the material remaining in the storage; and a controller configured to change the restricted region based on at least one of a result of detection of the remaining amount sensor and image information of the camera, and in response to the sensor detecting that the object is within the restricted region, stop manipulation of the manipulator.

A method of evaluating safety of a robot includes a step of obtaining a three-dimensional image or three-dimensional model of a test robot comprising shape information of a real robot, a step of setting a movement time and movement path of the test robot by inputting profile information comprising movement time information and movement path information of the test robot, a step of calculating a collision pressure and collision force applied to a collision object in consideration of a shape, effective mass, movement speed, and direction of an injury-causing dangerous portion of the test robot, and a step of evaluating safety of the robot by determining whether magnitudes of the calculated collision pressure and collision force fall within magnitudes of a predetermined maximum collision pressure and predetermined maximum collision force.

The invention relates to a sensor arrangement and to a method for safeguarding a monitored zone at a machine. The sensor arrangement comprises a camera continuously generating 3D images, a control and evaluation unit for the position detection of objects in the monitored zone and, in the case of a hazardous position, initiating a safety-directed response of the machine, with a buffer memory unit being provided for storing last recorded images and with a 3D reference map being prepared from the stored images when the safety-directed response was initiated, a voxel identification unit being provided for flagging those voxels in the current 3D image whose coordinates differ by a specified distance from those of the corresponding voxels of the reference map, a movement recognition unit being provided in which the voxels thus identified are examined as to whether they display position changes that are above a fixed threshold in the course of a fixed number of further current images, and independently thereof, a restart signal for the machine being able to be output at an output.

A tactile sensing system of a robot may include: a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed at an object, and including a transmission (TX) piezoelectric element and a reception (RX) piezoelectric element; and at least one processor configured to: control the TX piezoelectric element to generate an acoustic wave having a chirp spread spectrum (CSS) at every preset time interval, along a surface of the object; receive, via the RX piezoelectric element, an acoustic wave signal corresponding to the generated acoustic wave; select frequency bands from a plurality of frequency bands of the acoustic wave signal; and estimate a location of a touch input on the surface of the object by inputting the acoustic wave signal of the selected frequency bands into a neural network configured to provide a touch prediction score for each of a plurality of predetermined locations on the surface of the object.

In an embodiment, a method during execution of a motion plan by a robotic arm includes determining a voice command from speech of a user said during the execution of the motion plan, determining a modification of the motion plan based on the voice command from the speech of the user, and executing the modification of the motion plan by the robotic arm.

A control device for a robot includes: an external force acquisition section configured to acquire external force applied to a movable element during operation of the robot; a first condition determination section configured to determine whether or not a first condition that the external force exceeding a predetermined first threshold is applied to the movable element is satisfied; a second condition determination section configured to determine whether or not a second condition that the movable element is moving is satisfied; and an operation control section configured to stop the operation of the robot when both the first condition and the second condition are satisfied, while continuing the operation of the robot when at least one of the first condition and the second condition is not satisfied.

A method of controlling a robot manipulator, the method including: providing a database containing body zones of a person, wherein each of the body zones is assigned a respective maximum permissible value of contact pressure value, determining a current or a future contact event of the robot manipulator involving the person, and determining a body zone of the person that is contacted, determining a reference position fixed relative to a body of the person, wherein the reference position indicates beginning of a spatial progression of depression of tissue of the person during the contact event with the person, and controlling the robot manipulator in an impedance-regulated manner, such that the reference position serves as a zero position of an artificial spring component of impedance regulation of the robot manipulator and a maximum permissible contact pressure is not exceeded as a limit value.

Systems and methods for detecting pose and force against an object are provided. A method includes receiving a signal from a deformable sensor comprising data from a deformation region in a deformable membrane resulting from contact with the object utilizing an internal sensor disposed within an enclosure and having a field of view directed through a medium and toward a bottom surface of the deformable membrane. The method also determines a pose of the object based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane. The method also determines an amount of force applied between the deformable membrane and the object is determined based on the deformation region of the deformable membrane.