A control method for controlling an actuator (11) connected to a load (50) for handling, the method comprising the steps of: detecting an intention to handle the load (50); applying an increasing command to the actuator (11) until detecting a movement of the actuator (11); storing the value reached by the command when a movement of the actuator (11) is detected; using the stored value reached by the command to determine an estimate of the opposing force exerted by the load (50) for handling; and controlling the actuator by means of a force servocontrol relationship using the estimate of the opposing force exerted by the load (50) for handling in order to establish the commands to be applied to the actuator (11).

A cobot (1) arranged to perform the method.

A device and method for human intention detection Sensor Band (HID). In preferred embodiments, it makes use of an array of force sensing resistors (FSRs) which are embedded inside a flexible band, which is capable of reading the muscle activity for different motion type and muscle forcein a human user. In one implementation of the invention two of such bands are attached to the forearm and the upper arm. From the readings of the sensors, the patterns for motion type and muscle force are then distinguished autonomously by machine learning, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm, or a neural network. The method is advantageous e.g. the detection of dexterous motion of the arms, upon which assistive exoskeleton can be controlled for motion assistance. The invention can also be applicable to hand gestures recognition and bilateral rehabilitation, besides this the invention can be used to control lower body exoskeleton as well.

A control method for controlling an actuator (11) connected to a load (50) for handling, the method comprising the steps of: detecting an intention to handle the load (50); applying an increasing command to the actuator (11) until detecting a movement of the actuator (11); storing the value reached by the command when a movement of the actuator (11) is detected; using the stored value reached by the command to determine an estimate of the opposing force exerted by the load (50) for handling; and controlling the actuator by means of a force servocontrol relationship using the estimate of the opposing force exerted by the load (50) for handling in order to establish the commands to be applied to the actuator (11). A cobot (1) arranged to perform the method.

A machining apparatus includes a multi-joint arm provided with a machining tool for machining a workpiece. A control device of the machining apparatus includes: a storage section for storing NC data indicating a machining region of a workpiece by the machining apparatus; a distance measurement sensor placed on the arm and for measuring a distance between the workpiece and the machining apparatus for each machining surface of the workpiece; and a correction section for correcting the NC data for each of the machining surfaces based on a measurement result by the distance measurement sensor. As a result of this, the machining apparatus can perform the correction of machining data in correspondence to deviation of a machining object with higher accuracy.