A system comprising a robotic arm and a robotic arm controller. The robotic arm receives instructions from the robotic arm controller and moves along a path. The robotic arm controller comprises an interface, a memory, and a processor. The interface communicates with the robotic arm. The memory stores a first path and a second path. The processor applies a decreasing weight to the waypoints of the first path and an increasing weight to the waypoints of the second path. The processor combines the weighted waypoints of the first path and the second path to generate a third path wherein the third path defines a transition path from the first path to the second path. The processor further instructs the robotic arm to transition from the first path to the second path by traversing the third path.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for performing robot plan online adjustment. A method includes receiving an initial plan for performing a particular task with a robot having a sensor. The initial plan defines an initial path having a plurality of waypoints. Each waypoint is associated with a target position and a target velocity. The method includes generating an alternative path from the initial path. Generating an alternative path includes generating a plurality of alternative paths including performing respective modifications to one or more waypoints in the initial plan, evaluating each alternative path according to a simulated total time duration required for the robot to traverse the alternative path, and selecting an alternative path having a total time duration that is less than a total time duration of the initial plan.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for modifying a process definition to ensure accuracy, timeliness, or both of workcell measurement. One of the methods includes receiving an initial process definition for a process to be performed by a robot, wherein the process definition defines a sequence of actions to be performed in a workcell, and wherein a first action in the sequence of actions has an associated measurement tolerance; computing a predicted accumulated measurement variance for each of one or more actions that occur before the first action in the sequence; determining that the predicted accumulated measurement variance for the one or more actions that occur before the first action in the sequence exceeds a threshold; and in response, generating a modified process definition that inserts a measurement action at a location in the sequence before the first action.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for generating a motion planning for a robot. One of the methods includes receiving data representing a motion specification for performing a task by a robot in an environment. The motion specification specifies a goal and one or more constraints. An initial motion plan is determined based on the motion specification, where the initial motion plan specifies a trajectory that satisfies the one or more constraints of the motion specification. The initial motion plan is executed by the robot. Sensor data is monitored for detecting a change in the environment. A first updated motion plan is generated for the robot based on the first change in the environment. The first updated motion plan is executed by the robot.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for controlling robotic movements. One of the methods includes receiving, for a robot, an initial plan specifying a path and a local trajectory; receiving an updated observation of an environment of the robot; generating an initial modified local trajectory for the robot based on the updated observation in the environment of the robot; repeatedly following the initial modified local trajectory for the robot while generating a modified global path for the robot, comprising: obtaining data representing a workspace footprint for the robot, the workspace footprint defining a volume for a workspace of the robot, and generating the modified global path to avoid causing the robot to cross a boundary of the volume defined by the workspace footprint; and causing the robot to follow the modified global path for the robot.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for controlling robotic movements. One of the methods includes receiving, for a robot, a definition of a plurality of sensor-based skills to be executed in sequence, wherein each skill is associated with an entry point and an exit point; generating a motion plan for the robot, including: generating, for a first skill of the plurality of sensor-based skills, a first path from a first entry point of the first skill to a second point at which a sensor-based interaction of the first skill begins, and generating, for the first skill of the plurality of sensor-based skills, a second path from a third point at which the sensor-based interaction of the first skill ends to a first exit point of the first skill; and executing the motion plan for the robot.

A control system includes: a controller configured to operate one or more robots in a real space based on an operation program; and circuitry configured to: operate one or more virtual robots based on the operation program in a virtual space, the one or more virtual robots corresponding to the one or more robots respectively; cause the controller to suspend an operation based on the operation program by the one or more robots; simulate a suspended state of the real space after suspension of the operation by the one or more robots, in the virtual space; and resume at least a part of the operation by the one or more virtual robots based on the operation program, in the virtual space in which the suspended state of the real space has been simulated.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for modifying a process definition to ensure accuracy, timeliness, or both of workcell measurement. One of the methods includes receiving an initial process definition for a process to be performed by a robot, wherein the process definition defines a sequence of actions to be performed in a workcell, and wherein a first action in the sequence of actions has an associated measurement tolerance; computing a predicted accumulated measurement variance for each of one or more actions that occur before the first action in the sequence; determining that the predicted accumulated measurement variance for the one or more actions that occur before the first action in the sequence exceeds a threshold; and in response, generating a modified process definition that inserts a measurement action at a location in the sequence before the first action.

A machine vision-based method and system for measuring 3D pose of a part or subassembly of parts having an unknown pose are disclosed. A number of different applications of the method and system are disclosed including applications which utilize a reprogrammable industrial automation machine such as a robot. The method includes providing a reference cloud of 3D voxels which represent a reference surface of a reference part or subassembly having a known reference pose. Using at least one 2D/3D hybrid sensor, a sample cloud of 3D voxels which represent a corresponding surface of a sample part or subassembly of the same type as the reference part or subassembly is acquired. The sample part or subassembly has an actual pose different from the reference pose. The voxels of the sample and reference clouds are processed utilizing a matching algorithm to determine the pose of the sample part or subassembly.

A robot control system includes robot controller circuitry that controls a robot, and host controller circuitry that communicates with the robot controller circuitry. The host controller circuitry further executes a control program, and transmits a command according to an execution result of the control program to the robot controller circuitry, and the robot controller circuitry further receives the command from the host controller circuitry, and executes pre-processing according to the command.