Patents Examined by Kira Nguyen
  • 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: 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: 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: 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
  • Patent number: 11801832
    Abstract: An example operation may include one or more of detecting, by a parking processing node, a parking of a transport at an event location, accessing, by the parking processing node, a device of a transport occupant to determine a transport pickup location and a pickup time based on a conclusion of an event, detecting, by the parking processing node, from the device of the transport occupant at least one modification of the pickup location and the pickup time made based on an updated conclusion of the event, and sending a command to move the transport to a location proximate to the event based on the modified pickup location and the modified pickup time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Aghyad Saleh, Joshua C. Batie, Devang H. Parekh, Louis Brugman
  • Patent number: 11786831
    Abstract: A robot includes a body contactable with a placement surface, a head, at least one actuator, and at least one processor. The head is contactable with the placement surface, and is coupled to a front end of the body so as to be rotatable about a first rotational axis extending in a front-rear direction of the body and rotatable about a second rotational axis extending in a width direction of the body. The at least one actuator turns the head by causing the head to make a turn about the first rotational axis and a turn about the second rotational axis independently of each other. The at least one processor repeats a first turn control scheme and a second turn control scheme in sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroki Atsumi, Miyuki Urano
  • Patent number: 11788848
    Abstract: A method for determining an updated trajectory at a certain time point for the longitudinal and/or lateral control of a vehicle. The method includes determining short-range trajectory candidates in an immediate vicinity of a trajectory determined at a preceding time point, the short-range trajectory candidates being determined with a relatively fine value resolution of one or more state variables of the vehicle. In addition, the method includes determining at least one long-range trajectory candidate outside of the immediate vicinity of the trajectory determined at the preceding time point, the long-range trajectory candidate being determined with a relatively coarse value resolution of the one or more state variables. Furthermore, the method includes determining the updated trajectory at the certain time point on the basis of the determined short-range trajectory candidates and on the basis of the determined long-range trajectory candidate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Tamas Fendler, Robert Knorrn
  • Patent number: 11780086
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for using a demonstration device for robotic demonstration learning. One of the methods includes generating, by a demonstration device for a robot, a representation of a sequence of states input by a user of the demonstration device. The representation is provided by the demonstration device to a robot execution system. The representation of the sequence of actions is translated into a plurality of robot commands corresponding to the representation of the sequence of states input by the user on the demonstration device. The plurality of robot commands corresponding to the sequence of actions input by the user on the demonstration device are executed. Demonstration data is generated from one or more sensor streams of the robot while executing the plurality of robot commands corresponding to the sequence of actions input by the user on the demonstration device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Intrinsic Innovation LLC
    Inventors: Bala Venkata Sai Ravi Krishna Kolluri, Stefan Schaal, Ralf Oliver Michael Schönherr, Ning Ye
  • Patent number: 11772263
    Abstract: A method for driving a hand includes: detecting a relative position of a first finger part and a second finger part as of when the first finger part and the second finger part pinch a target object therebetween, as a reference relative position, by a position detection unit; moving the relative position of the first finger part and the second finger part to a target relative position where the first finger part and the second finger part are spaced further apart from each other than at the reference relative position by an amplitude of vibration or more, by a drive unit, on accepting an instruction to release the target object pinched by the first finger part and the second finger part; and causing at least one of the first finger part and the second finger part to vibrate by the drive unit, when the target relative position is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusaku Nakamura, Noboru Asauchi, Mitsuhiro Yamamura, Michiko Kawaji
  • Patent number: 11745352
    Abstract: On the basis of a measured shape, which is a three-dimensional shape of a subject measured by means of a measuring unit using an image captured when an image capturing unit is disposed in a first position and a first attitude, a movement control unit determines a second position and a second attitude for capturing an image of the subject again, and sends an instruction to a movement mechanism. The three-dimensional shape is represented by means of height information from a reference surface. The movement control unit extracts, from the measured shape, a deficient region having deficient height information, and determines the second position and the second attitude on the basis of the height information around the deficient region of the measured shape. The position and attitude of the image capturing unit can be determined in such a way as to make it easy to eliminate the effects of shadows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventor: Toyoo Iida
  • Patent number: 11745350
    Abstract: A control method of a manipulator is provided. The method includes photographing a target using a camera and detected the target using the photographed data. A holding motion for the target is set based on the detected target and a robot is operated to hold the target based on the set holding motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Jae Ho Lee, Seok Won Lee
  • Patent number: 11745731
    Abstract: To obtain a vehicle control device capable of creating a route that facilitates tracing by a vehicle in autonomous driving and improving positional accuracy of the vehicle at the time of tracing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ASTEMO, LTD.
    Inventors: Tatsunori Harai, Takashi Tsutsui
  • Patent number: 11745358
    Abstract: A robotic apparatus including a plurality of rigid body sections that move relative to each other by one or more multi-degree of freedom joints. The robotic apparatus can traverse a fixed frame by attaching its distal ends to the frame and moving the rigid body sections relative to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Shubhabrata Biswas, Samuel Gardner Garrett, Dhruv Dipak Gajaria
  • Patent number: 11737635
    Abstract: Disclosed is a moving robot including: a travel unit configured to move a body; an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a surrounding image of the body; a sensor unit having one or more sensors configured to detect an obstacle while the body moves; a controller configured to: upon detection of an obstacle by the sensor unit, recognize an attribute of the obstacle based on an image acquired by the image acquisition unit, and control driving of the travel unit based on the attribute of the obstacle; and a sound output unit configured to: output preset sound when the recognized attribute of the obstacle indicates a movable obstacle. Accordingly, the moving robot improves stability, user convenience, driving efficiency, and cleaning efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Dongki Noh, Seungmyun Baek, Seungmin Baek, Sunghun Lee
  • Patent number: 11738654
    Abstract: The vehicle dispatching system accepts a dispatch request from a user, selects an autonomous vehicle matching with the dispatch request from among a plurality of autonomous vehicles, and dispatches a selected autonomous vehicle to the user. The plurality of autonomous vehicles include a plurality of battery-mounted vehicles having an in-vehicle battery capable of being charged externally as an energy source. Each of the plurality of battery-mounted vehicles performs charging at a charging station when a charging level of the in-vehicle battery decreases. The vehicle dispatching system comprises a management server including a processor for executing programs stored in memory, the management server programmed to act as a charging planning unit that changes an upper limit charging level of the in-vehicle battery when charging at the charging station according to a time slot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Taguchi, Makoto Morita
  • Patent number: 11740625
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a plurality of autonomous mobile robots. A plurality of autonomous mobile robots comprise a first mobile robot including an antenna configured to transmit and receive signals, and a second mobile robot including a first antenna and a second antenna disposed on a front area of a main body thereof to transmit and receive signals to and from the antenna of the first mobile robot. The second mobile robot comprises a control unit configured to determine a relative position of the first mobile robot using the signal received by the first antenna and the second antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Donghoon Kwak, Kyoungsuk Ko, Sungwook Lee
  • Patent number: 11735057
    Abstract: A method for operating a transport system for passenger transportation, including the following steps: providing a plurality of vertically taking-off and vertically landing aircraft for passengers; providing a plurality of handing facilities for the take-off and landing of aircraft, wherein each handling facility has parking spaces for a plurality of aircraft; setting-up air routes between the handing facilities so that each handing facility is connected to at least one further handling facility via an air route, wherein there is continuous air traffic of aircraft on the air routes, at least in one flight direction, with automated take-off, automated flight along the air routes, and automated landing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Volocopter GmbH
    Inventors: Alexander Zosel, Florian Reuter
  • Patent number: 11724883
    Abstract: Systems and methods for presorting and executing robot-assisted putaway tasks in a navigational space include assigning each of a plurality of item storage arrays to one of a plurality of zones defined within the navigational space, scanning an item identifier of at least one of a plurality of unsorted items to be stored at locations throughout the warehouse, retrieving, in response to receiving identifying information corresponding to the at least one scanned unsorted item, item data describing a storage location for putaway within the warehouse of each of the at least one scanned items, determining, from the storage location, a corresponding one of the plurality of zones of the warehouse in which the storage location is located, and placing each scanned unsorted item into an interconnected container of one of the item storage arrays assigned to the corresponding one of the zones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Locus Robotics Corp.
    Inventors: Sean Johnson, Luis Jaquez, Michael Charles Johnson
  • Patent number: 11720081
    Abstract: A method includes receiving, by a mobile computing device from an electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring headset, an incoming wireless communication signal including an EEG data stream. The method may further include processing, by an application running on the mobile computing device, the received EEG data stream to determine at least one actionable command for at least one peripheral device. The method may also include transmitting, by the mobile computing device to the at least one peripheral device, at least one outgoing wireless communication signal including the at least one determined actionable command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: DUKE UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Allen Song, Chris Petty