Abstract: Apparatus for inspecting pipes in a plant, comprising an elongate inspection head portion which is provided with an optical system for receiving an inspection image by approaching an inner surface of a pipe being an object to-be-inspected; at least one proximity sensor which is disposed in the inspection head portion in order to detect a relative distance between the inspection head portion and the proximate object; a positioning mechanism which consists of a plurality of driving shafts for advancing or retreating, rotating, and revolving the inspection head portion; a control device which is capable of programmed operation and which drives and controls the positioning mechanism in a predetermined operation sequence programmed in advance; a data storage device which stores positional data of the respective driving shafts of the positioning mechanism; and an image processor which is disposed at a position remote from the inspection head portion and which reconstructs the inspection image from video signals; th

Abstract: A joint mechanism of a manipulator, according to the present invention, consists of a first joint having its rotating shaft aligned with the Z-axis in the X-Y-Z Cartesian coordinate system established at a desired position in a working space, a second joint connected to the rotating shaft of the first joint and having its rotating shaft positioned within the X-Y coordinate plane, a third joint, connected to the rotating shaft of the second joint and having its rotating shaft aligned with the vector passing through the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system, and an arm assembly connected to the rotating shaft of the third joint and comprising a link mechanism which is driven so that a wrist connected to said arm assembly may be always moved on the prolongation line of the vector, to thereby provide a simplified joint mechanism of a manipulator having a redundant degree of freedom of the posture completely independent to the position of the wrist.

Abstract: In a control system for a brushless motor comprising a power source, a plurality of driving coils and contactless switching elements for intermittently supplying voltage across the power source to the driving coils in response to rotor position signals, rotor position signals are chopped by a chopping signal in which a ratio of a high level period to a low level period can be changed, and a portion of the contactless switching elements is driven by the chopped rotor position signals, thereby controlling the rotating speed of the brushless motor.

Abstract: An automatic assembly control apparatus employs a holding mechanism for holding a collar with a hole, to which a shaft of a motor is inserted. The holding mechanism is coupled to a positioning mechanism through an elastic mechanism so that the positioning mechanism may be controlled in response to signals representative of the displacement or deflection of the elastic mechanism. The collar is first placed in rough upon the center axis of the shaft which has a step portion at the end portion thereof and then inserted onto the shaft while its position is corrected by the positioning mechanism. The insertion of the collar is stopped when it is caught at the step portion of the shaft and then the position of the collar is changed in such a manner that the collar is inserted onto the shaft over the step portion thereof. Then, the collar is gradually inserted onto the shaft.

Abstract: In an automatic assembly control system, a flexible coupling mechanism deformable in accordance with the relative positions of an object and a hole to receive the object therein and a detector to detect the displacement or the deformation of the coupling mechanism in the direction of insertion in excess of a certain value are provided so that in the process of inserting the object into the hole the distance between the object and the hole in the direction perpendicular to the direction of insertion is controlled in accordance with the output of the detector.