Patents Examined by Kira Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11904467
    Abstract: Techniques are disclosed that enable model predictive control of a robot based on a latent dynamics model and a reward function. In many implementations, the latent space can be divided into a deterministic portion and stochastic portion, allowing the model to be utilized in generating more likely robot trajectories. Additional or alternative implementations include many reward functions, where each reward function corresponds to a different robot task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: GOOGLE LLC
    Inventor: Danijar Hafner
  • Patent number: 11890062
    Abstract: An estimation device calculates a first perpendicular vector and a second perpendicular vector. The first perpendicular vector is a component of a vector in a movement of a first position, which is a provisional pivot position of a surgical tool, the component being perpendicular to a direction of an axis of the surgical tool. The second perpendicular vector is a component of a vector in a movement of a second position of the surgical tool, the component being perpendicular to the direction of the axis. Then, a first distance, which is a length from a reference point on a rear end side or a reference point on a front end side of the surgical tool to the first position, is updated based on an inner product of the first and second perpendicular vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: RIVERFIELD INC.
    Inventor: Kotaro Tadano
  • Patent number: 11884266
    Abstract: An obstacle-avoidance method includes detecting an obstacle in a vicinity of a motor vehicle and planning an obstacle-avoidance path for avoiding the obstacle; and commanding steering and differential braking systems to handle the avoidance path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignees: RENAULT s. a. s., NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Anh Lam Do
  • Patent number: 11883960
    Abstract: A mobile robot includes a position distance calculation command transmission unit 1, a position distance calculation command transfer unit 2, a reply position distance calculation command transmission unit 3, a direction storage unit 4, a reply position distance calculation command transfer unit 5, a first head robot unit determination command transmission unit 6, a robot unit determination unit 7, a first movement unit 8, a second movement unit 9, a next head robot unit selection command transmission unit 10 and a second head robot unit determination command transmission unit 11, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroshi Kawano
  • Patent number: 11886182
    Abstract: Systems and methods of manipulating/controlling robots. In many scenarios, data collected by a sensor (connected to a robot) may not have very high precision (e.g., a regular commercial/inexpensive sensor) or may be subjected to dynamic environmental changes. Thus, the data collected by the sensor may not indicate the parameter captured by the sensor with high accuracy. The present robotic control system is directed at such scenarios. In some embodiments, the disclosed embodiments can be used for computing a sliding velocity limit boundary for a spatial controller. In some embodiments, the disclosed embodiments can be used for teleoperation of a vehicle located in the field of view of a camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Tomahawk Robotics, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew D. Summer, William S. Bowman, Andrew D. Falendysz, Kevin M. Makovy, Daniel R. Hedman, Bradley D. Truesdell
  • Patent number: 11872996
    Abstract: A control system for a motor vehicle having a first control unit and having a first power electronics unit connected in a signal-transmitting manner to the first control unit for supplying power to a first actuator in normal operation of the control system. In order to ensure proper operation of a control system for a motor vehicle, even in the event of a fault, the control system has a backup control unit and a backup power electronics unit connected in a signal-transmitting manner to the backup control unit for supplying power to the first actuator in a first backup operation of the control system. The backup control unit is connected to the first control unit in a signal-transmitting manner. The control system is transferred from normal operation to the first backup operation as a function of the arrival in the backup control unit of a fault signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Hella GmbH & CO. KGaA
    Inventors: Nikolaus Decius, Julian Eckstein, Sergey Orlov, Peter Grabs, Matthias Korte, Pascal Vollmer, Heiko Lerch, Michael Claus, Fridolin Bauer, Juergen Gebert, Florian Oszwald
  • Patent number: 11872695
    Abstract: A maintenance management apparatus manages maintenance of a gas spring provided in an arm of an articulated robot and includes a gas pressure measuring unit that measures a gas pressure inside the gas spring on a regular basis, a maintenance judgement unit that judges whether an abnormality is present in the gas spring based on an amount of decrease in the gas pressure per unit time or per unit operating distance, and a notifying unit that sends a notification based on a judgment result by the maintenance judgement unit to an operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shizuo Harada
  • Patent number: 11865730
    Abstract: The present invention addresses the problem of providing a camera position/attitude calibration device with which the relative position/attitude of a camera and a robot can be calibrated without interrupting a task which is set in the robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kume, Ryosuke Miki, So Sasatani, Masaya Itoh
  • Patent number: 11867587
    Abstract: A system for vibration inspection of a vehicle for inspecting a quality of the vehicle assembled in a vehicle factory's in-line may include an inspection table for guiding and fixing the vehicle to a predetermined inspection position, a sensor detachable robot configured for attaching or detaching vibration sensors to various parts of the vehicle, a vibrating robot configured of generating vibration for the vibration inspection of the vehicle, and an inspection server that analyzes the vibration signal received from the vibration sensor during the vibration inspection of the vehicle, and determines the vehicle to be in inspection pass if the vibration signal matches the normal signal set according to a natural vibration frequency characteristic of each part of the vehicle, and determines the vehicle to be in inspection fail if the vibration signal does not match the normal signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Hyuk Ko
  • Patent number: 11858141
    Abstract: An impedance control method as well as a controller and a robot using the same are provided. The method includes: obtaining joint motion information and joint force information in the joint space of a robotic arm and an actual interaction force acting on an end-effector, and calculating actual motion information of the end-effector in the task space based on the joint motion information; calculating a corrected desired trajectory using environment information and a desired end-effector interaction force, and calculating the impedance control torque based on the joint force information, the actual interaction force, the actual motion information, and desired end-effector information including the corrected desired trajectory and determining a compensation torque based on a nonlinear term in a constructed dynamics equation so as to perform a joint torque control on the robotic arm based on the impedance control torque and the compensation torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: UBTECH ROBOTICS CORP LTD
    Inventors: Liqun Huang, Xiaoyu Ren, Mingguo Zhao, Youjun Xiong
  • Patent number: 11850729
    Abstract: In variants, a method for automated experimentation can include: determining experimental constraints, constructing a computational representation of the experiment, optimizing the computational representation subject to the experimental constraints, determining instructions for a laboratory robot based on the optimized computational representation, and/or any other suitable steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Spaero Inc.
    Inventor: Mitchell Adler
  • Patent number: 11846950
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a moving robot and a control method thereof, and includes a sensor unit configured to detect an obstacle located in a traveling direction; a camera configured to photograph the obstacle, when the obstacle is detected by the sensor unit; a controller configured to control a certain operation to be performed in accordance with the obstacle. The controller analyzes a plurality of image data of the obstacle inputted from the camera to determine whether the obstacle can be identified and filters the image data, transmits the filtered image data among the plurality of image data to the server through the communication unit, and controls the traveling unit in accordance with obstacle information received from the server. Hence, by transmitting only recognizable image, unnecessary data transmission is reduced, and accordingly, transmission traffic is reduced and the load of image processing of the server is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Sangyeol Park, Jaewon Song
  • Patent number: 11839782
    Abstract: The invention relates to a safety method for an emergency vehicle, the emergency vehicle being configured to be autonomously operated and comprising: an energy storage unit; sensor devices arranged to monitor the surroundings and the vehicle; a water pump; at least one connection unit for an external water source and/or a water hose; conduits arranged in fluid communication with the water pump and/or the at least one connection unit; a valve arrangement arranged in fluid communication with the water pump, the at least one connection unit and the conduits, the method comprising: receiving a command from a control center to operate the vehicle to a location associated with an emergency situation; operating the vehicle to the location; and controlling the vehicle to perform a safety function to alleviate the emergency situation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Scania CV AB
    Inventors: André Claesson, Robert Sjödin, Linus Ährlig, Sami Teppola, Tomas Skeppström, Mikko Kallio, Morgan Colling
  • Patent number: 11830749
    Abstract: A substrate transport apparatus including, a torsional motion driver member having an exterior perimeter circumscribing an axis of rotation of the torsional motion driver member, and a torsional motion follower member including a body portion and a bearing collar rotatably coupled to the body portion, the torsional motion follower member being coupled to the torsional motion driver member with a dimensionally substantially invariant interface, wherein the bearing collar is decoupled from the exterior perimeter of the torsional motion driver member so that the exterior perimeter, as a whole, is free of the bearing collar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Brooks Automation US, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher A. Bussiere, Blake R Tashjian
  • Patent number: 11820001
    Abstract: An autonomous working system, an autonomous working method, and a computer readable recording medium are provided. The autonomous working system includes a master working robot and at least one slave working robot, in which the master working robot including a data receiving unit to receive information on space targeted for working, a sensing unit to sense the space targeted for working, a sensing setting unit to set a movement path of the master working robot, a sensing position, and a sensing angle of the sensing unit, and a first position determination unit to determine a position of the master working robot by comparing sensing data obtained through the sensing unit at the sensing position with reference map data, and the at least one slave working robot includes a second position determination unit that determines the position of the at least one slave working robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: LANDOR ARCHITECTURE, INC.
    Inventor: Han Seok Nam
  • Patent number: 11820021
    Abstract: The present invention provides an automated case handling system and method. The automated case handling system can determine the existence of a proper seal on a case, the location of a label or other criteria or place a label or other information on a case. It can be a self-contained unit that can be easily inserted into an existing case handling line. To facilitate easy installation, the disclosed embodiment is powered by electricity and can be configured to plug into a single power source. The automated case handling system has a control unit for controlling the operation. A first sensor determines the dimensions of a case. A second sensor is mounted on the moveable sensor support. The second sensor senses predetermined criteria on a case as the second sensor is moved along a case. The second sensor provides a detection signal to the control unit as to the existence of the predetermined criteria on a case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Motion Controls Robotics, Inc.
    Inventor: Nathan Steven Kohlenberg
  • Patent number: 11820020
    Abstract: Improved techniques for examining a plurality of distinct recordings pertaining to user interactions with one or more software applications, where each recording concerns performing at least one task. The examined recordings can be processed such that the recordings can be organized and/or rendered in a consolidated manner which facilitates user's understanding of higher-level operations being performed by the examined recordings to carry out the associated task. Advantageously, the improved techniques enable a robotic process automation (RPA) system to recognize and represent repetitive tasks within multiple recordings as multi-level (e.g., hierarchical) patterns of steps, sub-tasks, or some combination thereof. In doing so, a RPA system can identify and define such patterns within recordings and can also accommodate variants in such patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Automation Anywhere, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjna Garg Goyal, Niraj Radhakrishnan Kunnumma
  • Patent number: 11820026
    Abstract: A displaceable robot for performing operations using a tool near a high temperature furnace containing molten metal, wherein the robot is displaceable using a vehicle. The robot comprising: a frame having a ground interface for coming into contact with a ground surface while defining a clearance under a portion of the frame for engaging with the vehicle to displace the robot about the furnace when the ground interface is off the ground; an arm mounted to the frame, the arm comprising an end effector which is adapted for mounting the tool; a sensor for collecting at least one of exteroceptive data in a vicinity of the robot and proprioceptive data from the robot; and a controller receiving the collected data from the sensor and controlling a movement of at least the arm based on the collected data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Dynamic Concept
    Inventors: Patrice Cote, Jean-Francois Desmeules, Jean-Benoit Neron
  • Patent number: 11820009
    Abstract: A robot system includes: a plurality of robot arms having a motor; a plurality of controllers controlling the robot arms; and a teaching device designating the controller and transmitting an instruction signal thereto. The controller includes: a control unit controlling an operation of the robot arm; a motor operation control unit controlling whether to operate the motor or not; a first connector and a second connector for coupling a wiring electrically coupling to the teaching device; and a first enable valid/invalid switch setting whether to operate the motor or not. The motor operation control unit controls the operation of the motor, based on the setting by the first enable valid/valid switch about whether to operate the motor or not, regardless of the instruction signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koki Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11807249
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle motion state estimation device and method that can estimate the vertical motion state amount with high accuracy by taking into consideration vertical force in which the frictional force acting in the front-rear direction or lateral direction of the wheel acts on the vehicle body due to the geometry of suspension.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Shingo Nasu, Shinji Seto, Nobuyuki Ichimaru, Ryusuke Hirao