Patents Examined by Dalena Tran
  • Patent number: 11402847
    Abstract: An article transportation method, comprising: controlling an automated guided vehicle (AGV) to move to a bottom of a target article, the target article being an article to be moved; determining an offset distance between a critical position of the AGV and a critical position of the target article; controlling the AGV to perform position adjustment according to the offset distance until a central position of the AGV corresponds to a central position of the target article; and controlling the AGV to lift the target article at a current position and move the target article. A terminal and a computer-readable storage medium are further provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Inventor: Bingyan Xu
  • Patent number: 11400593
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for avoiding collision and a robot and a server implementing such method, and according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the robot includes a sensor configured to sense a distance between the robot and an object disposed outside, a communicator configured to receive, from the sensor or the second robot, position information of the second robot, and a controller configured to generate a moving path to avoid the collision based on at least one of position information of the second robot or distance information sensed by the sensor and depth information of a recessed part of the second robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Jungsik Kim
  • Patent number: 11389949
    Abstract: There is provided a control device, a control method, and a control system that implement a robot that flexibly executes a task in cooperation with another robot, the control device including: an ability management unit that determines capability indicating ability that can be executed by a first robot at predetermined timing as of that timing; a help management unit that compares ability required for a task to be executed by the first robot with the capability of the first robot and generates a help list indicating ability required for execution of the task; and a cooperation management unit that instructs a second robot having the capability that satisfies the ability indicated in the help list to execute the task in cooperation with the first robot.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kuniaki Torii, Naoyuki Sato
  • Patent number: 11385647
    Abstract: To provide a mobile body control system, a control method, and a storage medium in which a mobile body can move to an appropriate angle and distance in accordance with emotion of a communication target. Provided is a mobile body control system including a moving unit to move; a measuring unit to measure an angle and a distance with a target which is a communication target; an emotion estimating unit to estimate an emotion of the target; and a control unit to control the moving unit to move a mobile body to an initial position with an appropriate angle and distance with respect to the target in accordance with the estimated emotion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masamichi Asukai, Atsushi Shionozaki
  • Patent number: 11376742
    Abstract: A robot includes a display, a sensing unit including at least one sensor for detecting a physical stimulus, and a processor configured to detect the physical stimulus based on a sensing value acquired from the at least one sensor while an operation is performed, identify the physical stimulus based on the acquired sensing value, perform control to stop or terminate the operation based on the identified physical stimulus, and control the display to display a graphical user interface (GUI) corresponding to the identified physical stimulus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Namgeon Kim
  • Patent number: 11370124
    Abstract: A system and method for predicting the location at which a feature that is being tracked during a robotic assembly operation will be located within one or more images captured by a vision device. A vision device can be mounted to a robot such that the location of the vision device as the robot moves can be known or determined. In the event of an interruption of the tracking of the feature by the vision device as the corresponding workpiece is moving, the location of the feature relative to a vision device can be predicted, such as, via use of current or past historical movement information for the feature and/or the associated workpiece. Using the predicted location of the feature and the known location of the vision device, the location at which the feature will be located in an image(s) captured by the vision device can be predicted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Biao Zhang, Jianjun Wang, Yixin Liu, Saumya Sharma, Jorge Vidal-Ribas, Jordi Artigas, Ramon Casanelles
  • Patent number: 11370115
    Abstract: Thus, according to some examples of the presently disclosed subject matter, in order to reduce path planning time, information that has previously been calculated during planning of a path is reused during planning of other subsequent paths. Using the stored indication reduces time required for planning the path and thus enables to evaluate a greater number of optional paths within a given period of time. This can assist in increasing speed and smoothness of vehicle maneuverability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: ELTA SYSTEMS LTD.
    Inventors: Ofir Cohen, Dina Appelman
  • Patent number: 11370117
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of collision handling for a robot with a kinematic chain structure comprising at least one kinematic chain, wherein the kinematic chain structure includes: a base, links, joints connecting the links, actuators and at least one end-effector, a sensor Sdistal.i in the most distal link of at least one of the kinematic chains for measuring/estimating force/torque, and sensors Si for measuring/estimating proprioceptive data, wherein the sensors Si are arbitrarily positioned along the kinematic chain structure, the method including: providing a model describing the dynamics of the robot; measuring and/or estimating with sensor Sdistal.i force/torque Fext,S.distal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Franka Emika GmbH
    Inventors: Sami Haddadin, Jonathan Vorndamme
  • Patent number: 11372419
    Abstract: A method for shortening a waiting time for human-robot interaction, a device and a storage medium are provided. A robot acquires a to-be-executed task, plans an optimal navigation path according to a task location of the to-be-executed task, and goes to a first location according to the planned optimal navigation path to execute a task corresponding to the first location. The robot determines whether there is a worker, capable of performing human-robot cooperation, at the first location. In a case where there is a worker, capable of performing human-robot cooperation, at the first location, the robot sends prompt information and waits, at the first location, for the worker to cooperatively complete the task corresponding to the first location. In a case where there is no worker, capable of performing human-robot cooperation, at the first location, the robot goes to a next location according to the optimal navigation path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: SYRIUS ROBOTICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hua Huang
  • Patent number: 11364631
    Abstract: A method of operating a mobile robot according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes receiving a guidance destination input, generating a global path to the received guidance destination, detecting and tracking an obstacle, detecting and tracking a guidance target, upon detecting the guidance target within a reference distance, generating an avoidance path to avoid an obstacle being tracked, calculating a moving speed based on the distance to the guidance target and the obstacle being tracked, and moving based on the avoidance path and the calculated moving speed, thereby comfortably escorting the guidance target to the destination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Hyemin Han
  • Patent number: 11346978
    Abstract: A robot arm mechanism has a plurality of link sections. The plurality of link sections are connected by a plurality of joints. Each of the link sections is provided with a plurality of photoelectric sensors. The photoelectric sensor is constituted of a light projecting section and a light receiving section. The light projecting section is installed at one end of the link section. The light receiving section is installed at the other end of the link section. On an outside of the link section, an optical path reaching the light receiving section from the light projecting section is positioned. Approach of a worker to the link section can be detected by the optical path of any of the photoelectric sensors being cut off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: LIFE ROBOTICS INC.
    Inventor: Woo-Keun Yoon
  • Patent number: 11347237
    Abstract: Provided are a method of performing cloud simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and a robot and a cloud server for performing the same, and a robot for performing cloud SLAM in real time includes a first sensor configured to acquire sensor data necessary to perform the SLAM, a map storage unit configured to store a map synchronized with a cloud server, a communication unit configured to transmit the sensor data, a feature, or a last frame to the cloud server and receive a local map patch or a global pose from the cloud server, and a control unit configured to generate the sensor data, the feature extracted from the sensor data, or the last frame and control movement of the robot using the local map patch or the global pose received from the cloud server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Gyuho Eoh, Jungsik Kim, Hyoungrock Kim, Moonsik Nam, Sookhyun Yang, Donghak Lee
  • Patent number: 11345032
    Abstract: An autonomous moving body capable of appropriately avoiding an approaching autonomous moving body and efficiently executing a given task even when the autonomous moving bodies are not controlled by a single system or without intercommunication between them and a control program for the autonomous moving body are provided. An autonomous moving body moves along a planned moving path in order to execute a given task, and includes an external sensor that recognizes another autonomous moving body given another task and an operation state thereof, an avoidance determination unit that determines, when it predicts that the autonomous moving body and the another autonomous moving body recognized by the external sensor may come into contact with each other as they approach each other, whether to avoid the another autonomous moving body, and a movement control unit that controls a movement unit based on the determination of the avoidance determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tetsuya Taira, Daisaku Honda
  • Patent number: 11345028
    Abstract: A grasping error correction method includes a position information acquisition step of acquiring position information of a plurality of areas of a lower component 2, a grasping error value calculation step of calculating a grasping error value based on the position information at the time of the reproduction and the position information of the plurality of areas of the lower component 2 at the time of teaching, and an arm control step of controlling an operation of a multi-axis articulated arm 11a so as to correct the grasping error value. Further, in the grasping error value calculation step, the grasping error value is calculated so that a grasping error in a processing nearby area, which is one of the plurality of areas of the lower component 2 that is closest to the processing area, is preferentially eliminated over those in the other areas of the lower component 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takashi Sakui
  • Patent number: 11330951
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a robot cleaner including a driving motor, a communication interface configured to receive, from an external cleaner, first cleaning record information including cleaning path information generated based on location information of the external cleaner, a memory configured to store second cleaning record information including the cleaning path information generated based on location information of the robot cleaner, and a processor configured to generate a cleaning plan of the robot cleaner based on the first cleaning record information and the second cleaning record information and control the driving motor such that the driving motor travels according to the cleaning plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Kokeun Kim, Suyeon Kim, Kamin Lee, Seungah Chae
  • Patent number: 11331803
    Abstract: A computer-based system and method is disclosed for spatial programming of a robotic device. A mixed reality tool may select an object related to one or more interactive tasks for the robotic device. A spatial location of the object may be located including Cartesian coordinates and orientation coordinates of the object. An application program may be executed to operate the robotic device using the spatial location. Based on initial parameters, execution of the one or more tasks by the robotic device on the object related to a skill set may be simulated in a mixed reality environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hasan Sinan Bank, Naveen Kumar Singa, Clifford Chou, Xiaofan Wu, Giuseppe Francesco Rigano, Simon Mayer
  • Patent number: 11318614
    Abstract: A robot cleaner to avoid a stuck situation through artificial intelligence (AI) may acquire a surrounding map, based on the sensing information, determine escape path factors based on the surrounding map by using the compensation model, if the stuck situation of the robot cleaner is detected, and control the driving motor such that the robot cleaner travels, based on the determined escape path factors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Kamin Lee, Kokeun Kim, Suyeon Kim, Seungah Chae
  • Patent number: 11305435
    Abstract: A robot includes a sensing circuit, a driving circuit, and a processor. The sensing circuit includes a first sensor and a second sensor. The first sensor is configured to receive a first sensing signal and the second sensor is configured to receive a second sensing signal. The driving circuit is configured to control an operation of a roller circuit and to control a forward direction of the roller circuit. The processor is coupled to the sensing circuit and the driving circuit. When the processor determines that, according to the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, a sensing target is a bridge, the processor controls the roller circuit through the driving circuit to adjust the forward direction, such that the robot gets across the bridge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: AmTRAN Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kao-Min Lin, Yu-Ruei Li
  • Patent number: 11305434
    Abstract: A robot system includes a robot main body, a sensor that detects a magnitude of an external force applied to the robot main body, a control unit that controls the robot main body, a reference value storage unit that stores a value of an external force detected by the sensor as a reference external force value in an operating state where only the weight of the robot main body and the load handled by the robot main body act on the robot main body, a determination unit that, during operation of the robot main body, determines that an external force other than the weight of the robot main body and the load acts on the robot main body when an absolute value of a difference between a value of an external force detected by the sensor and the stored reference external force value is larger than a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahiro Morioka, Munehiro Jinushi, Akihiro Fukasawa, Ken Takahashi, Yasuhiro Nozawa, Hideyuki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11305423
    Abstract: To provide a control device of a robot having an arm which causes the arm to be stopped more easily than conventionally by generating a load of appropriate magnitude to an operator during lead-through. The present invention relates to a control device of a robot having an arm, the control device including: a motor that generates torque in each axis of the robot; a torque generation control unit that controls the motor so as to generate a canceling torque which cancels friction of each axis of the robot when controlling the robot by external force tracking; and a torque changing unit that changes the canceling torque to a reference value or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yuuya Iwase