Franka Emika Gmbh

Kastanienbaum Gmbh

Andreas Spenninger

Sven Parusel

Saskia Golz

Jose Ramon Medina Hernandez

Sami Haddadin

Tim Rokahr

Simon Haddadin

Niklas Böhme

Carles Calafell Garcia

Mohamadreza Sabaghian

Fangyi Streitel

Marco Morganti

Kamal Mohy El Dine

Dmitriy Shingarey

A system for controlling at least one machine which is assigned an individual machine language including defined command variables, the machine undergoing a change of state in the course of the control, having a control module which is designed to transform command variables of an interaction language into corresponding command variables of an individual machine language depending of the type of machine and/or the machine language assigned thereto.

System and method for controlling at least one machine, more particularly a collective of machines

A control unit to ascertain one or more parameters of a control program and/or of a control system for a robot manipulator, wherein the control unit includes: an interactive operating unit to display a first adjustment element and a specified region for the first adjustment element, wherein the first adjustment element is moveable within the specified region via an input of a user, the interactive operating unit further to detect a user-specified position of the first adjustment element and transmit the user-specified position; and a computing unit to receive the user-specified position and ascertain weightings for a specified cost function as a function of the position, wherein a sum of the weightings is constant for all positions of the adjustment element, the computing unit further to ascertain the parameters of the control program and/or of the control system for the robot manipulator based on the cost function.

Graphically supported adaptation of robot control programs

A method of determining a weight and a center of gravity of a load for a robot manipulator, the method including: gripping the load using an end effector; moving the load into a number n of distinct static poses; determining an external wrench wrench Ffor each of the n static poses; determining, in a base coordinate system, at least components of each external wrench Fthat indicate the external forces; determining a particular estimation of the weight of the load from a particular component pointing in a direction of a gravity vector from among the components of each external wrench Fthat indicate the external forces in the base coordinate system, and from a magnitude of the gravity vector; determining the weight of the load by averaging respective estimations of the weight of the load; determining estimations of coordinates of the center of gravity of the load for each of the n static poses based on the weight of the load or the particular estimation of the weight of the load determined for a particular static pose and based on the components of the external wrench Fthat indicate externally acting torques; and determining the center of gravity of the load by averaging respective estimations of coordinates of the center of gravity.

Method for determining a weight and a center of gravity of a robot manipulator load

A method of controlling a robot manipulator, the method including: providing a database containing body zones of a person, wherein each of the body zones is assigned a respective maximum permissible value of contact pressure value, determining a current or a future contact event of the robot manipulator involving the person, and determining a body zone of the person that is contacted, determining a reference position fixed relative to a body of the person, wherein the reference position indicates beginning of a spatial progression of depression of tissue of the person during the contact event with the person, and controlling the robot manipulator in an impedance-regulated manner, such that the reference position serves as a zero position of an artificial spring component of impedance regulation of the robot manipulator and a maximum permissible contact pressure is not exceeded as a limit value.

Control of a robot manipulator upon contact with a person

A method of generating a control program, wherein the method includes: executing an application by the first robot manipulator, at the same time, determining trajectory data and/or wrench data, determining robot commands from a stored time series, the robot commands being principal elements of the control program for the robot manipulator without relation to design conditions of a first robot manipulator, and generating the control program for a second robot manipulator based on the stored robot commands and based on the design conditions of the second robot manipulator.

Generating a control program for a robot manipulator

A method of operating a robot manipulator including: ascertaining a wrench or joint torque vector based on a weight force and/or based on an inertial force of a mass of a load on an end effector of the robot manipulator; ascertaining a maximum permissible workspace and/or a maximum permissible kinematic variable, in each case based on the wrench or joint torque vector such that the wrench or joint torque vector does not exceed a predetermined metric within the maximum permissible workspace; and activating the robot manipulator to execute a predetermined task in consideration of the maximum permissible kinematic variable, such that the end effector or the load on the end effector remains within the maximum permissible workspace if, at beginning of execution of the task, the end effector or the load on the end effector is located within the maximum permissible workspace.

Method for operating a robot manipulator with increased mass of a load

A method of specifying an input value on a robotic manipulator, wherein the method includes: selecting a particular predefined input device to be emulated, wherein the input device to be emulated is assigned at least one degree of freedom of the robotic manipulator and local limits in the at least one degree of freedom, and a transfer function of a coordinate of the robotic manipulator in the at least one degree of freedom is assigned onto the input value; actuating the robotic manipulator such that at least one part of the robotic manipulator is manually movable in the at least one degree of freedom and within the local limits; recording a respective coordinate in the at least one degree of freedom during or after completion of an input on the robotic manipulator via a sensor unit; and applying the transfer function to assign the respective coordinate to the input value.

Method for specifying an input value on a robotic manipulator

A system for performing an input on a robotic manipulator, wherein the system includes: a robotic manipulator having a plurality of links connected to one another by articulations and having actuators; a sensor unit configured to record an input variable, applied by a user by manually guiding the robotic manipulator, on the robotic manipulator, wherein the input variable is a kinematic variable or a force and/or a moment, and wherein the sensor unit is configured to transmit the input variable; and a computing unit connected to the robotic manipulator and to the sensor unit, the computing unit configured to transform the input variable received from the sensor unit via a predefined input variable mapping, wherein the input variable mapping defines a mathematical mapping of the input variable onto a coordinate of a graphical user interface or onto a setting of a virtual control element.

System for performing an input on a robotic manipulator

A braking device for a drive device of a joint between two links of a robot arm including a brake activating device and a locking element, wherein the brake activating device is designed to bring the locking element into engagement with a rotor of the drive device as required in order to halt rotation of the rotor, the locking element being designed as a bolt and the braking element being designed as a braking star with webs which have a defined impact surface for the bolt.

Brake assembly for a drive device in a robot

A method includes: controlling actuators of a robot manipulator to compensate for influence of gravity; during a manual guidance of the robot manipulator detecting an orientation of an end effector; and controlling at least part of the actuators in such a way that during manual guidance of the end effector, the end effector: within a first range of a first rotation, opposes no or a speed-dependent resistance and outside the first range opposes a rotation angle-dependent resistance to the manual guidance, wherein the first rotation is a rotation angle of the end effector about its longitudinal axis; and within a second range of the second rotation, opposes no or a speed-dependent resistance to the manual guidance, and outside the second range, opposes a deflection-dependent resistance to the manual guidance, wherein the second rotation is a rotational deflection of the end effector from its original longitudinal axis or a vertical axis.

Tactile feedback of an end effector of a robot manipulator over different orientation ranges

A method for specifying a velocity of a robot manipulator, including: providing a database that has a data record for each of selected surface points on the manipulator, wherein each data record indicates, for each of possible stiffnesses and/or masses of an object in an environment of the manipulator, a safe normal velocity of each surface point, wherein the normal velocity is a component of the velocity vector of each surface point perpendicular to a surface of each surface point, detecting an actual stiffness and/or an actual mass of the object in the environment, assigning the actual stiffness and/or the actual mass to a normal velocity of a given data record for each surface point, and specifying a velocity for each surface point on a current or planned path of the manipulator, such that the velocity at each surface point is less than or equal to an assigned normal velocity.

Specifying safe velocities for a robot manipulator

A method and arrangement for reducing the torque ripple of a brushless DC motor having a stator, a rotor, and a motor control unit, via which motor control unit the motor is controlled in a polyphase manner, having a data memory for storing rotational angle-dependent correction data of the control current of the motor, which are impressed on the instantaneous values for controlling the motor. In a first step, for each position of the rotor, the phase currents holding the rotor in this position are determined and are used to derive reference current data, which is stored in a table of the data memory together with the respective position data of the rotor, determined by the position sensor. In a second step, during continuous operation of the motor, the position-dependent reference current data stored in the data memory is combined with the control current of the motor.

Growing community of inventors

Karlsfeld, Germany

Andreas Spenninger