Abstract: Torque control capability is provided to a position controlled robot by calculating joint position inputs from transformation of the desired joint torques. This is based on calculating the transfer function 1/E(s), which relates the desired joint torque to joint position. Here E(s) is a servo transfer function D(s) or an effective servo transfer function D*(s). The use of an effective servo transfer function D*s) is helpful in cases where joint nonlinearities are significant. The effective servo transfer function D*(s) is defined with respect to an ideal joint transfer function G*(s)=1/(Ieffs2+beffs), where Ieff is an effective moment of inertia and beff is an effective damping coefficient.

Abstract: A manipulator operative in a master/slave operative mode, comprising: a master unit commanding an operation; a slave unit having a work unit; a detector detecting the orientation of the master unit and the orientation of the slave unit; and a control device controlling the slave unit in response to the command from the master unit, wherein the control device includes: a function of determining a non-mater/slave operative mode or a master/slave operative mode; a function of calculating a difference between the orientation of the master unit and the orientation of the slave unit; and a function of comparing the absolute value of the difference with a preset reference value; and depending upon the result of the comparison, determining a normal master/slave operative mode or a transitional master/slave operative mode, in the master/slave operative mode, the transitional master/slave operative mode is a transitional mode from the non-master/slave operative mode to the master/slave operative mode.

Abstract: A method and a device are provided for detecting the occurrence of a malfunction upon movement of an element by a driving system. While the element is being moved, a difference between a predetermined value and an actual value is determined at regular intervals by means of a processor. A derivative of the difference is determined by the processor at regular intervals. The difference and the derivative both fluctuate around an equilibrium value. Subsequently, only the values on one side of the equilibrium value of both the difference and the derivative are sampled. The sampled values are multiplied and the result is compared with a reference value by means of the processor. The occurrence of a malfunction is established if the result of the multiplication is higher than the reference value.

Abstract: A correction value calculating method includes: preparing a printer including a motor, a PID control system for controlling the motor, and a memory for storing a correction value, the printer being configured to calculate a value of a current flowing through the motor based on the correction value and an output value of an integral element of the PID control system; obtaining in advance a relationship, for when a property of a motor fluctuates, between a correction value and a sum of an output value of the integral element when a motor is driven at a first velocity and an output value of the integral element when the motor is driven at a second velocity; driving the motor of the printer at the first velocity and measuring an output value of the integral element at that velocity; driving the motor of the printer at the second velocity and measuring an output value of the integral element at that velocity; and determining the correction value to be stored in the memory based on the relationship and a sum of the

Abstract: When either a command value or an actually measured value is appropriately selected as an angular velocity used for the frictional torque calculation, the frictional compensation can be made valid at all times in both the case in which a robot is actively operated according to an angular velocity command and the case in which the robot is passively operated being pushed by an external force. In the case where a motor rotating direction and a collision direction are reverse to each other after a collision has been detected, the control mode is switched from the positional control to the electric current control and a torque, the direction of which is reverse to the direction of the motor rotation is generated by the motor, so that the motor rotating speed can be reduced and the collision energy can be alleviated.

Abstract: A minute object manipulating apparatus includes a tool which manipulates a manipulation target object, an observation unit capable of changing the magnification for observating the manipulation target object and tool, a display unit which displays magnified images of the manipulation target object and tool, which are observed by the observation unit, a command input unit to cause the operator to input the manipulation command signal of the tool, and a gain arithmetic unit which decides the manipulation gain of the tool on the basis of the magnification of the observation unit and magnified image information or pixel information on the display unit. The tool is driven and controlled on the basis of the manipulation gain and manipulation command signal.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus that provide a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) for a robot are disclosed. A HAL can reside as a software layer or as a firmware layer residing between robot control software and underlying robot hardware and/or an operating system for the hardware. The HAL provides a relatively uniform abstract for aggregates of underlying hardware such that the underlying robotic hardware is transparent to perception and control software, i.e., robot control software. This advantageously permits robot control software to be written in a robot-independent manner. Developers of robot control software are then freed from tedious lower level tasks. Portability is another advantage. For example, the HAL efficiently permits robot control software developed for one robot to be ported to another. In one example, the HAL permits the same navigation algorithm to be ported from a wheeled robot and used on a humanoid legged robot.

Abstract: In a mobile robot, the actuator characteristics are dynamically or statically controlled, during motions of an entire robot body in the course of falldown or descent, to realize stable highly efficient motions. In each stage of the falldown motions, the characteristics of each joint site taking part in controlling the stable area are set so that the low range gain is low, the quantity of phase lead is large and the viscous resistance of the motor is large, in such a manner that these joint sites may be positioned to high accuracy in a controller manner to increase orientation stability. This assures the positioning accuracy of the joints as main component for controlling the quantity ?S/?t as a reference in controlling the falldown motions of the robot body to increase the motion stability.

Abstract: A positioning apparatus includes an X stage, a linear motor (X-axis) which drives the X stage along the X-axis, a linear motor (Y-axis) which drives a Y stage along the Y-axis, a laser interferometer which detects position information of the stages along the X and Y directions, and a controller which controls the linear motor (X-axis) and linear motor (Y-axis) based on a detection result of the laser interferometer. The controller controls the linear motor (Y-axis) based on the position information of the stages along the X direction detected by the laser interferometer, so as to cancel a force generated along the Y-axis by the linear motor (X-axis) when the linear motor (X-axis) is to drive the stage in the X direction.

Abstract: It is a biped (two-footed) walking humanoid robot, which is provided with drive motors (11d, 11e, 18L, 18R-24L, 24R, 28L, 28R-33L, 33R, 35, 36) to pivotally move respective joint portions, and a motion control apparatus (40) to drive-control respective drive motors, and said motion control apparatus (40), together with a detector (45) to detect the robot's current posture and others, compares the robot's detected current posture and others with next motion command input from outside, and if next motion command is within the range of stability limit with respect to the robot's current posture and others, the complementary data with respect to intermediate motion from current posture till initial posture of next motion command and the motion data corresponding to next motion command are generated, each drive motor is drive-controlled based on said complementary and motion data, and thereby various motions are conducted smoothly and continually.

Abstract: A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The invention makes it possible for the robot to independently, reliably, and smoothly get up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.

Abstract: A positioning system for moving an object to a target position is presented. In an embodiment, the system includes a first actuator configured to exert a force on the object in a first direction in response to a control current, the actuator having an actuator gain and the generated force being a function of the control current and the actuator gain, the actuator including a magnet configured to induce a magnetic field; and a coil arranged in the magnetic field, the magnet and the coil being movable relative to each other. The system also includes a power supply configured to supply the control current to the actuator in response to a control signal; and a control system configured to control the force generated by the actuator by supplying the control signal to the power supply, the control signal being adapted to the actuator gain, the gain being predetermined as a function of a parameter.

Abstract: An operation command for constructing compensation data is generated in a control device, and measurement data obtained from an external length measuring device is input to an input unit. The measurement data is compared with an estimated position in a control device of a cylinder servo motor, and errors between them is stored in a compensation memory. In addition, in normal operation, the external length measuring device is removed. A movement command is input to the input unit and compensated using the error stored in the compensation memory, so that the estimated error is deleted in the normal operation.

Abstract: A servo control system which comprises an original cam pattern generator 11 for generating a first pattern of a cam shape relative to a phase corresponding to one revolution of a cam mechanism; a corrector 14 for differentiating the original pattern of the original pattern generator 11 with respect to time, multiplying the differentiation value by a constant to find a multiplication value, and subtracting a predetermined phase from the multiplication value to generate a correction cam pattern; and a position command device 14 for adding the above-mentioned correction pattern to the above-mentioned original pattern to generate a second pattern and generating a position command of the above-mentioned servomotor based on the phase corresponding to one revolution of the above-mentioned cam mechanism using the second pattern.

Abstract: Disclosed is a biped walking mobile system which achieves stability without altering a preestablished gait, and a walk controller and control method therefor. The biped walking mobile apparatus includes a gait former for forming gait data and a walk controller for controlling actions of the drive means based on the gait data. The walk controller includes a ZMP compensator, including: a ZMP sensor, a ZMP converter for computing a ZMP target value based on the gait data from the gait former, and a ZMP compensating stage for comparing the actual measurement value of ZMP detected by the ZMP sensor with the ZMP target value from the ZMP converter to modify the targeted angular velocity and acceleration in the gait data and thereby to compensate or correct the ZMP target value. Thus, the targeted angular path of movement in the gait data remains unaltered when the ZMP target value is compensated.

Abstract: A force-applying input device has a controller which calculates a torque component of an actuator drive signal corresponding to a current position by multiplying the sum of the current position and the product of a current speed and a coefficient by an elastic modulus. In addition, the controller also calculates a torque component of the actuator drive signal corresponding to the current speed by multiplying the current speed by a coefficient of viscous friction.

Abstract: A robot is obtained having various functions that are demanded for planetary landing vehicles, extreme operations robots or the like, in particular to provide a leg structure for a robot that is capable of getting up itself when overturned, facilitating take-off and landing on uneven ground, and that has a walking function and that has a hand function capable of three-dimensional operation. A robot comprises a main robot body and at least three legs mounted on this main body for enabling three-dimensional movement of the main robot body such as a self-erecting action or walking action; each leg is constituted by a multi-joint arm having a plurality of said offset rotary joints linked together and has a ground-engaging member mounted at the leading end of the arm, so that each leg is capable of independently controlled three-dimensional movement and drive.

Abstract: The present invention relates systems and methods for compensating for errors associated with a linear motion system. The systems and methods determines one or more errors associated with the linear motion system and adjusts or corrects an input drive signal associated with the linear motion system to compensate for the one or more errors. The one or more errors of the linear motion system can include cogging errors and ripple errors. The one or more errors can be measured using a measurement system or the one or more errors can be associated with selectable coefficients or parameters, such as standard errors, or device type errors stored in a library.

Abstract: A robot controller for keeping the posture of a tool in a task coordinate system by a simple processing and allowing a robot to perform flexible translational motion. A robot controller for controlling a motor for driving a joint by a control circuit having a position/speed state feedback loop, has a mechanism for measuring the angle of a joint of a robot, a mechanism for storing the initial posture of a tool attached to the end of a hand of the robot, a mechanism for setting the position or speed gain of a specific joint axis smaller than the position or speed gains of the other joint axes, and a mechanism for calculating the correction of a position or speed command to keep the tool posture with respect to the robot base on the basis of the angle of the joint and the initial posture of the tool.

Abstract: A motor controller, comprising a first simulation control unit (8) and a second simulation control unit (9) as a feed forward control means for inputting a command to an actual control unit (10) performing a feedback control, wherein the control parameter of the first simulation control unit (8) is set so that the high-speed property of a control response is increased, and the control parameter of the second simulation control unit (9) is set so that the stability of the control response is increased, whereby an entire feed forward control means can be designed so as to meet the requirements for the high-speed property and high stability of the control response.

Abstract: Load cycle oscillations in the drive train of a motor vehicle are reduced by detecting a change in available torque in the drive train, determining the period of a load cycle oscillation, and, at the commencement of the available torque change, applying at least one additional torque pulse, which causes an oscillation in phase opposition to the load cycle oscillation and which lasts half the period of the load cycle oscillation.

Abstract: A switch is turned on by a learning control start command from a master control unit, and the positional deviation at respective cycles is read in. Correction data read out from a learning memory is added to the positional deviation, and the result is filtered by band limiting filter and then stored in the learning memory as correction data. The correction data read out from the memory is compensated for phase delay, fall in gain, and the like, by a dynamics compensating element, and is added to the positional deviation and input to a positional control section. When the command pattern for the same shape is completed, and a learning control end command is output, whereupon the switch is turned off and learning control terminates.

Abstract: Surgical robots and other telepresence systems have enhanced grip actuation for manipulating tissues and objects with small sizes. A master/slave system is used in which an error signal or gain is artificially altered when grip members are near a closed configuration.

Abstract: This invention describes a reconfigured form of the PID compensator such that the rate of change of the position error is inherently limited without affecting the performance of the servo loop when the position error is small. The technique described here maintains the performance of the conventional PID compensator when the position error is close to zero, which is the operating point of primary interest.

Abstract: A medical master/slave manipulator is excellent in operability and capable of reducing burden on the operator. The medical master/slave manipulator includes a master unit provided with an operation control portion, a slave unit provided with a working device, an interlocking mechanism interlocking the slave unit with the master unit, an orientation difference measuring mechanism for measuring the orientation difference between the orientation of the master unit and that of the slave unit, and a control mechanism for controlling the slave unit to adjust the orientation of the slave unit to that of the master unit so that the orientation difference is reduced to zero in a transient master/slave operation mode in which an operation mode changes from an unrestricted operation mode to a master/slave operation mode.

Abstract: A robot controller executes an operating program, calculates a position and posture of a robot, and sends the position and posture information to a personal computer (PC). At the PC side, on the basis of this position and posture information, animation display information of a work cell including the position and posture of the robot is created and then sent to a teaching pendant. In the teaching pendant, the animation display information is received, and an animation image is displayed on a display section. Until the operating program is terminated, this operation is performed so that an operating animation of the robot is displayed on the display section of the teaching pendant.

Abstract: The invention relates to an automatic sampler device. According to one aspect, the automatic sampler includes a cell having a sample platform and a reference platform; a sample tray; and a sample arm. The sample tray has wells into which sample pans and reference pans are inserted. The geometry of the automatic sampler device permits the sample platform, the reference platform, and the wells in the sample tray to be accessed by the sample arm along a common arc. According to another aspect, the automatic sampler device includes a sample tray with wells, a sample arm, and a gripper device. The gripper device has gripping fingers. The gripping fingers open or close in a manner that tends to center objects grasped by the gripper device. According to another aspect, the automatic sampler device includes a sample tray with wells, a sample arm, and a gripper device. The sample arm has an optical sensor and an electrical sensor.

Abstract: A stage assembly for an exposure apparatus is disclosed. The stage assembly comprises a guide assembly. The guide assembly includes a guide bar, a stage, a first actuator component, and a second actuator component. The guide bar is movable in a first direction and has a center of gravity and a guiding portion. The stage is movable along the guiding portion of the guide bar in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction and exerts a reaction force on the guide bar. The stage has a center of gravity spaced apart from the center of gravity of the guide bar in the first direction. The first actuator component is positioned on the guide bar. The first actuator component is aligned with the center of gravity of the stage in the second direction to apply a compensating force on the guide bar to cancel the reaction force exerted by the stage. The second actuator component is positioned on the guide bar.

Abstract: A walking platform that achieves automatic self-stabilization includes a motor within the mid-region of the platform that is in communication with a crankshaft. The crankshaft has a connecting rod that is rotatably attached to it. The connecting rod, in turn, has a pole that is rotatably attached to it. There is a foot attached that is capable of supporting the weight of the platform. The motor is powered by a battery that causes the components of the platform to simulate a walking motion. This battery is attached to the lower portion of the platform in order to lower the center of gravity of the platform. The platform also includes at least one levered component that is rotatably attached to the platform, allowing it to pivot freely and dampen oscillations produced by the walking platform.

Abstract: A legged mobile robot possesses degrees of freedom which are provided at roll, pitch, and yaw axes at a trunk. By using these degrees of freedom which are provided at the trunk, the robot can smoothly get up from any fallen-down posture. In addition, by reducing the required torque and load on movable portions other than the trunk, and by spreading/averaging out the load between each of the movable portions, concentration of a load on a particular member is prevented from occurring. As a result, the robot is operated more reliably, and energy is used with greater efficiency during a getting-up operation. The robot independently, reliably, and smoothly gets up from various fallen-down postures such as a lying-on-the-face posture, a lying-on-the-back posture, and a lying sideways posture.

Abstract: A cable array robotic system and apparatus for applications such as cargo handling at sea and pallet handling in manufacturing, based on a multi-cable robotic control system is disclosed. The cables are deployed from three or more folding, telescoping masts at the corners of a work area. The cables attach to an end-effector (e.g. a spreader mechanism) that grips an object (e.g. a container) and affects desired movements as directed by an operator through a computer controlled graphical user interface using pointing directives such as “put that there”. Various sensors and cameras enable a high degree of control over the end-effector (e.g. spreader or pallet) as it is moved from place to place. Sufficient control is possible so that the present cargo handling system may unload, without pendulation, the deck and hold of a ship onto a sea-going lighter during sea state three conditions in a container handling application at sea.

Abstract: A servo control system which comprises an original cam pattern generator 11 for generating a first pattern of a cam shape relative to a phase corresponding to one revolution of a cam mechanism; a corrector 14 for differentiating the original pattern of the original pattern generator 11 with respect to time, multiplying the differentiation value by a constant to find a multiplication value, and subtracting a predetermined phase from the multiplication value to generate a correction cam pattern; and a position command device 14 for adding the above-mentioned correction pattern to the above-mentioned original pattern to generate a second pattern and generating a position command of the above-mentioned servomotor based on the phase corresponding to one revolution of the above-mentioned cam mechanism using the second pattern.

Abstract: Method for optimising the movement performance of an industrial robot for a current movement path with respect to thermal load on the driving system of the robot, wherein the method comprises the following steps: for at least one component in the driving system, the thermal load is calculated for the whole or parts of the movement path if the calculated thermal load is compared with a maximally allowed load for the component; and dependent on said comparison, a course of accelerations and velocities for the current movement path are adjusted.

Abstract: Control method and control apparatus are capable of preventing vibrations of the feed system and thereby maintaining its optimum operating state for a long run. The control apparatus (1) includes an operation command generator (3) for generating an operation command signal according to an NC program, a position controller (4) for generating a speed command signal by multiplying a deviation between an operation command signal and a current position signal by a positional loop gain, a speed controller (5) for generating an electric-current command signal by multiplying a deviation between a speed command signal and a current speed signal by a speed loop gain, a filtering processor (6) for eliminating frequency components of a predetermined frequency band from the electric-current command signal, and adjusting processor (20) for adjustment of the elimination frequency band in response to the detected vibration level and vibrational frequency.

Abstract: A servo controller capable of preventing downward displacement of a gravitating axis of a machine when an excitation of a servomotor for driving the gravitating axis is discontinued. When a shutdown command is issued, a command for shifting a position of the gravitating axis by an offset amount in a direction opposing the gravitation is issued to a servo system. Also, a command for operating a mechanical brake to apply a braking force on the gravitating axis is issued. After a predetermined time period, the excitation of the servomotor is discontinued. The position of the gravitating axis is shifted upward by the offset amount within a time-lag between an issuance of the mechanical brake operating command and actual application of the braking force by the mechanical brake, and the braking force is applied to the gravitating axis at the shifted position.

Abstract: A gas pipe explorer formed of a plurality of connecting elements, and an articulation element between the connected elements. The connected elements include drive capabilities, and the articulation element allows the connected elements to traverse gas pipes of arbitrary shapes and sizes. A sensor may sends the characteristics of the gas pipe, and the communication element may send back those sends characteristics. The communication can be wired, over a tether connecting the device to a remote end. Alternatively, the connection can be wireless, driven by either a generator or a battery.

Abstract: Based on a control object, a result of the detection of driving of an actuator and a response from a standard mathematical model of the actuator, the actuator is controlled, or in a servo system that controls the angle of a joint, etc., the control value is corrected so that the response from the thing to be driven and the response from the model of the thing to be driven are set to coincide with each other, and also based on a result of the correction of the control value, at least the moment of inertia of the thing to be driven is detected. Thereby, the moment of inertia of the driver and the like can be detected in real-time without providing a special sensor.

Abstract: A method for controlling a hyper-redundant manipulator including a plurality of links coupled by joints by determining the shape the manipulator takes when the end of the manipulator is moved to a target position, includes modeling each link as an elastic body having a natural length and a suitable modulus of elasticity that enables the elastic body to stretch and contract, simulating the overall shape of the manipulator when the end has been moved to the target position with the joints locked at a freezed angle and the joints are unlocked to return each link to its natural length, and moving the manipulator end to the target position by controlling each joint angle to match the simulation outcome.

Abstract: A robot capable of being operated at a high-speed by the full use of a power of a servo-motor, including a motor and a speed reducer, wherein the motor drives the robot through the speed reducer, and the speed reducer is a variable speed reducer capable of varying a reduction ration thereof while the robot is operating reproducibly.

Abstract: A dc offset compensator receives a three phase ac current signal as an input and provides a dc offset signal correction voltage as an output. The dc offset compensator comprises a processor configured to sample the ac current signal, generate a rotating vector (r) from the sample, extract a dc offset from the sample and to generate a dc offset signal correction voltage from the dc offset. A method of compensating for dc offset in a three phase ac current signal is also presented.

Abstract: A technique is provided for adapting feedback control system performance to applications involving changing inertial loads. A modified gain profile is applied for a control system block that includes isolated torque scaling. The torque scaling block facilitates the generation of gain profiles specifically adapted to the changing inertial conditions of the load. Dilatory effects of backlash and similar load discontinuity can be avoided, therefore, by appropriately applying gain profiles to reduce gain within a region of reduced load.

Abstract: A biped ambulatory robot is provided having a structure in which the electrical storage device is arranged to reduce the load on the joints (particularly the knee joints) of the leg members of the robot and to enable easy maintenance of stability of the robot posture. The electrical storage device 19 which is a power supply for operation of the robot is installed on the electrical storage device unit 16 of the torso 1 of the robot, such that the center of gravity A of the electrical storage device exists on the forward side from the center of gravity B of the robot when in a vertically-erect posture and with the electrical storage device 19 removed. In a state in which the robot stands normally on the floor F with the knee joints 14 of the leg members 2 bent forward slightly, the center of gravity C of the entire robot including the electrical storage device 19 exists substantially directly above the knee joints 14 as seen from one side of the robot.

Abstract: A controlling method and apparatus for positioning a robot that can output an optimal speed instruction for controlling residual vibration after completion of a moving operation, achieve reduction in tact time for the moving operation, and shorten the length of setting time. The method is a controlling method for positioning a robot (1) for performing a point-to-point moving operation comprising: performing a test operation to measure a frequency of a residual vibration that is stopped at a target position; measuring a magnitude of the residual vibration based on the frequency during each of different lengths of moving time for a predetermined moving distance to find a relationship between the length of moving time and the magnitude of the vibration; calculating a shortest moving time at which vibration magnitude is minimized; and performing the point-to-point operation for the calculated shortest moving time, thereby to position the robot (1) at the target position.

Abstract: Surgical robots and other telepresence systems have enhanced grip actuation for manipulating tissues and objects with small sizes. A master/slave system is used in which an error signal or gain is artificially altered when grip members are near a closed configuration.

Abstract: Magnitudes of a sine-wave component and a cosine-wave component of a periodical disturbance are estimated in real time during motor rotating, the sine-wave component and the cosine-wave component at the frequency of the disturbance estimated are combined, and the result is added to a current command as a correction value in real time during the normal motor driving for controlling servomotor, thereby suppressing the effect of the periodical disturbance.

Abstract: An improved method for controlling a servomechanism, applicable to nearly all types of servomechanism control systems. The inventive method improves the performance of servomechanism control systems which utilize a digital feedback sensor by enabling the gain to be varied. The variable gain allowed by the inventive method enables tighter control, and better performance.

Abstract: A robotic system for a robot includes a programmable controller coupled to the robot and a teach pendant coupled to the programmable controller. The teach pendant is adapted to control the robot and includes a processor capable of operating the teach pendant and a display coupled to the processor. The teach pendant also includes a web browser. The web browser is adapted to accept input data in a standard format and display the input data on the display.

Abstract: To overcome the problem of a low frequency disturbance causing minute vibrations affecting response attributable to the difficulty of adaption to the phase of the vibrations, the present invention provides a position controller, which includes a subtracter for subtracting a motor position signal from a movement position signal to produce an angle-of-twist signal; a high-pass filter for advancing the phase of the angle-of-twist signal; a low pass filter for eliminating only high-frequency components of the signal received from the high-pass filter; a circuit for multiplying the signal from a low-pass filter by a torque-corrective gain to produce a torque-corrected signal; a torque correction evaluation section for varying the torque-corrective gain according to the position deviation signal that is the difference between a position command and the movement position signal; and a subtracter for combining the torque-corrective signal and the torque command to produce a new torque command.

Abstract: A method for controlling the movement of agents using local communications is provided. Generally, each agent maintains an optimal distance from other local neighbor agents by, for each agent 200, selecting a local agent 202, measuring the distance and angle to the agent 204, performing a distance maintenance calculation 218, and repeating the distance maintenance calculation 218 for each local agent. In the distance maintenance calculation 218, an attraction/repulsion map is used in order to determine whether an agent is attracted to or repelled from other agents. A motion vector is used to determine agent responses to the attraction or repulsion. Over time, the agents settle into a neutral configuration where each is optimally distanced from the other agents. Reference agents and leader agents can be designated to direct the movement of other agents, and agents can be designated as blocking beacons to repel other agents from undesirable areas.

Abstract: A controller for a machine such as a robot and a machine tool having an electric motor as a driving source of the machine, capable of suppressing a natural vibration of the machine and/or an attachment attached to the machine. A frequency or a cycle of the natural vibration of an end effector of the robot as the attachment or the machine itself is determined and a coefficient of a filter for suppressing an amplitude of the natural vibration is altered in accordance with the measured frequency or cycle of the natural vibration. In the case of suppressing a natural vibration of the end effector attached to the robot, frequencies or cycles of natural vibrations of various end effectors in accordance with an operation status of the end effector are determined and stored, and the coefficient of the filter is set in accordance with the stored frequency or cycle of the natural vibration in accordance with the end effector attached to the robot and the operation status.