Abstract: A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeeze the rings, find the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

Abstract: A system includes a robot, comprising a manipulator and a controller, with a gripper mounted on the manipulator, for picking the battery for testing and sorting, a battery holding section for receiving batteries for testing and sorting at predetermined locations in the battery holding section, and a testing section disposed within the working range of the robot, for testing an electrical condition of the battery for testing and sorting, whereby the controller controls the manipulator and the gripper to first-pick the battery for testing and sorting at the predetermined location from the battery holding section and place it to contact the testing section for testing, the testing section tests the battery and sends to the controller a signal indicating the electrical condition of the tested battery, and the controller controls the manipulator and the gripper to second-pick the battery contacting the testing section and sort it according to the signal.

Abstract: A method and system for facilitating text input is disclosed. The method comprises: invoking an input assistant from within an application in an operating environment at a client, the input assistant being a standalone input service within the same operating environment as the application, receiving a text string from a user in an input field of the application, providing, by the input assistant, input prediction for completing the text string, selecting an input text of at least one word in the input field of the application, retrieving, by the input assistant, text content related to the input text from one or more text assistance services in communication with the input assistant, presenting the received text content to the user for assistance in the user's text input.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeezes the rings, finds the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeeze the rings, find the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

Abstract: An industrial robot is used to assemble a part to a predetermined location on a randomly moving workpiece. The workpiece may be an automobile on an assembly line and the part may be a wheel (a tire mounted on a rim) to be assembled on one of the wheel hubs of the automobile. The robot has mounted on it a camera, a force sensor and a gripper to grip the part. After the robot grips the part, signals from both the force sensor and vision are used by a computing device to move the robot to a position where the robot can assemble the part to the predetermined location on the workpiece. The computing device can be the robot controller or a separate device such as a PC that is connected to the controller.

Abstract: A method and system to optimize the parameters of a robot used in an assembly process. The assembly process is categorized based on its nature which may be cylindrical, radial and multi-stage insertion. The search pattern and search parameters are specified. The parameters are optimized and the optimized parameter set are verified and when a predetermined criteria such as assembly cycle time set and/or success rate is met the optimization process stops. When the optimization stops the verified parameters are used to cause the robot to perform the categorized assembly process. If the parameters do not meet the predetermined criteria, another round of optimization using the same or other parameters can be performed.

Abstract: A robot is used to repeatedly assemble part during a continuous production run of parts to be assembled. There are parameters of the robot associated with the assembly. These parameters are used to assemble the parts. Simultaneously with that repeated assembly the robot parameters are optimized. The parts to be assembled have a starting position for the assembly and the simultaneous optimization of the robot assembly parameters also includes the learning of the starting position. The robot assembly parameters can be optimized in a predefined manner. The optimized parameters can then be verified and the optimized and verified robot assembly parameters may then be used in place of the parameters of the robot associated with the parts assembly along with the learned starting position.

Abstract: A robot having a force sensor and a tool fixture for operating on a workpiece that may have a complex surface contour is programmed by an operator first teaching the robot by a suitable technique such as lead through teaching a few gross points of the contour. These points, known as guiding points, are used to generate a program to be followed by the robot under the control of the robot controller and using force control during which the robot finalizes the guiding points and teaches one or more points on the contour intermediate adjacent guiding points. The controller or other computing device uses the points so taught to generate the path the robot tool fixture will follow when the tool is to operate on the workpiece.

Abstract: An electrical connector (100) includes an insulated housing (1), a number of terminals (2) received in the insulated housing (1), a metal shell (3) assembled to the insulated housing and a circuit substrate (4). The insulated housing includes a top wall, a bottom wall, a rear wall and a pair of side walls interconnecting with the top wall, the bottom wall and the rear wall to enclose a hollow with an opening. The terminals align in two distinct rows (21, 22) along transversal direction and the circuit substrate (4) with a number of conductive traces (41, 42) thereon. The metal shell (3) together with the insulated housing (1) are mounted on the circuit substrate (4).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeeze the rings, find the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for engine piston installation in which robots are used for the entire engine piston installation process. A first robot equipped with a stuffing gripper and force control picks up a piston with a connection rod, detects the piston ring presence, squeeze the rings, find the engine cylinder bore, and stuffs the piston into the cylinder bore. A second robot can be used to load and unload the engine block, hold the block and position it to the location, and indexes the crankshaft into the proper orientation for each cylinder bore. A set of tools either fixed on a stationary station or on a third robot is used to guide the piston connecting rod, transport and place on the connecting rod cap, and fasten the cap onto the connecting rod. The piston connecting rod guiding process may be omitted in piston stuffing for some types of engines.

Abstract: A system for use with a roll bowl type mill for the pulverizing of solid fuels such as coal. The system includes hardware in the form of sensors and other components and software to among other things monitor the operating condition of the mill's moving parts and predict their failure. The system can determine the diameter of the mill's rollers, or the reduction and/or depth of cup wear of each of the rollers, the thickness of the solid fuel in the mill, can by analysis determine the wear of each of the one or more roller bearings in the mill and predict their failure and can estimate the mill availability.

Abstract: A system for using biometric data such as a fingerprint, eye imagery, or the like to permit previously identified persons with his or her biometric data in a database to gain access to a secured site from a location remote from said database. The method and apparatus includes a server which collects biometric data on persons, a remote authentication terminal having a biometric sensing device and an access control device operable when the sensing device and the collected biometric data on a person match.

Abstract: An accelerometer is mounted on a robot to monitor movement of a tool assembly attached to the robot end effector for safety monitoring purposes. The accelerometer provides an output signal to the robot controller which the controller uses to monitor the robot movement and stop that movement when a predetermined values of acceleration, speed and distance are detected during lead-through teaching of the robot. A handle can be attached to the robot end effector and the accelerometer can be mounted on the handle.

Abstract: A robot machining with a flexible manipulator has an end effector which may either hold the tool to perform the machining or the work piece to be machined. A signal representative of a force applied by said tool to said work piece is used to control either the relative motion between the tool and the work piece to give a controlled material removal rate (CMRR) or the relative position between the tool or the work piece to provide deformation compensation or both CMRR and deformation compensation. A force sensor provides the signal for deformation compensation. For CMRR the signal may be obtained from either a force sensor or the current flowing in the motor of the robot's spindle. The force sensor can be mounted either on the robot or together with either the tool or work piece adjacent to the robot.

Abstract: A system for use with a roll bowl type mill for the pulverizing of solid fuels such as coal. The system includes hardware in the form of sensors and other components and software to among other things monitor the operating condition of the mill's moving parts and predict their failure.

Abstract: A multi-point computer networking system for transmitting data over power lines is built into an external AC adapter that powers a computer device or peripheral. The networking system includes a data bus interface unit for exchanging data with a computer, a power line data transceiver unit for placing data onto and taking data off of the power line, and a network controller implementing a network protocol for sending and receiving messages. The networking system is disposed within the housing of the AC adapter. Therefore, there is no extra box or cable needed for each DC powered computer device to serve both DC power and data networking functions.