Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Leland Stanford Junior University

California Institute of Technology

David Loyal Christensen

Lanny Starkes Smoot

Morgan Thomas Pope

Günter D Niemeyer

Elliot Wright Hawkes

Grant Masaru Imahara

Mark R Cutkosky

Anthony Paul Dohi

Richard-Alexandre Peloquin

Steven E Christensen

Gunter D Niemeyer

Scott Frazier Watson

Mark Sox Setrakian

Srinivasan Arul Suresh

Tony Dohi

Quinn Smithwick

Jon Hayes Snoddy

Alfredo Medina Ayala

Alexis Paul Wieland

Pehr L Hovey

James R Kennedy

Robert J Bristow

Kyna P McIntosh

Madeline R Zupan

Aaron D Ames

Matthew K Pan

Sungjoon Choi

Morgan T Pope

Matthew A Estrada

Daniel De Jesus Campos Zamora

Steven Niels Christensen

A robot including a hybrid fan-based and fluid-based propulsion system to provide thrust, such as deceleration during fall to create a smooth landing or to provide a quick reduction in velocity, and to provide actuation/controlled motion, such as to hover after quick deceleration and to control orientation or pose. The hybrid propulsion system uses discharging of pressurized fluid and exhausted gas (or fluid in some cases) from ducted fans (or propellers, impellers, and the like) to provide controlled thrust and/or lift forces. The hybrid propulsion system uses of pressurized fluid for generating larger or primary thrust and quick changes in velocity. The hybrid propulsion system includes a fan-based propulsion assembly with ducted fans that use environmental air (or fluids) to provide lower or secondary thrust. Both types of propulsion can be integrated into a robot or robotic figure to move the robot during flight (e.g., during falling or hovering).

Untethered robot with hybrid air and water power for hovering and quick airborne movements

A robot system with a robot configured for locomotion about a space using ground reaction force (GRF) to provide a first level of balancing. The robot system includes force generators located on or in the robot's body or offboard in the space that act to generate balancing forces to provide a second level of balancing for the robot using non-conventional physics. Clamping of a robot's feet to a support surface is provided whenever the feet are in contact with the support surface using electromagnets in the feet and a layer of ferrous material on the support surface or using mechanical coupling techniques to temporarily anchor the foot to the support surface. A balance controller processes output of balance sensors and responds by generating control signals to operate force generators onboard the robot such as electric fans or inertial reaction wheels.

Robots with robust bipedal locomotion supported with non-conventional physics

Systems and corresponding control methods providing a ballistic robot that flies on a trajectory after being released (e.g., in non-powered flight as a ballistic body) from a launch mechanism. The ballistic robot is adapted to control its position and/or inflight movements by processing data from onboard and offboard sensors and by issuing well-timed control signals to one or more onboard actuators to achieve an inflight controlled motion. The actuators may move an appendage such as an arm or leg of the robot or may alter the configuration of one or more body links (e.g., to change from an untucked configuration to a tucked configuration), while other embodiments may trigger a drive mechanism of an inertia moving assembly to change/move the moment of inertia of the flying body. In-flight controlled movements are performed to achieve a desired or target pose and orientation of the robot during flight and upon landing.

Ballistic robot system with spin and other controlled motion of robot during flight

A system for sensing and controlling eye contact for a robot. The system includes a robotic figure with a movable eye. The system includes a light source positioned in the robotic figure to output light through a light outlet of the eye. A light sensor is included that senses light striking surfaces in a physical space in which the robotic figure is positioned including the output light from the light source. The system includes an image processor processing output of the light sensor to identify a location of a target formed by the output light striking surfaces in the physical space and to identify a location of a face of a human. Further, the system includes a robot controller generating eye movement control signals based on the location of the target and the location of the face to position the eye to provide eye contact with the human observer.

Eye contact sensing and control for robotic characters

Systems and corresponding control methods providing a ballistic robot that flies on a trajectory after being released (e.g., in non-powered flight as a ballistic body) from a launch mechanism. The ballistic robot is adapted to control its position and/or inflight movements by processing data from onboard and offboard sensors and by issuing well-timed control signals to one or more onboard actuators to achieve an inflight controlled motion. The actuators may move an appendage such as an arm or leg of the robot or may alter the configuration of one or more body links (e.g., to change from an untucked configuration to a tucked configuration), while other embodiments may trigger a drive mechanism of an inertia moving assembly to change/move the moment of inertia of the flying body. Inflight controlled movements are performed to achieve a desired or target pose and orientation of the robot during flight and upon landing.

A system configured for stabilizing or balancing objects in an upright state. The system includes a motion system with an upper support surface for receiving an object that is positionable in a vertical state. The system includes a sensor assembly with at least one sensor generating sensor data by tracking at least one of three dimensional (3D) position and angular movement for the object. The system includes a controller with a stabilizing module to process the sensor data to determine when the object is tipping from the vertical state, and, in response to the tipping away of the object from the vertical state, the stabilizing module generates control signals to modify operations of the motion system to move at least a portion of the upper support surface in contact with a lower contact surface of the object through stabilizing movements, whereby the object remains balanced in the vertical state.

System for stabilizing an object to control tipping during omnidirectional movement

An aerial show system that includes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), show systems onboard the UAVs, non-UAV or 'ground' show systems, and a global ground control system. The control system is configured to actively track a UAV's operations during a show performance and to react to make the UAV truly a part of the larger show performance. The system achieves dynamic show participation of the UAV with the distributed show systems, which may include other UAVs and non-UAV show systems on the ground but launch or provide effects in the airspace through which the UAV flies. For example, the control system may track a UAV with a show effect element to determine whether the UAV properly hits its cue or mark with respect to position and orientation in the show space and with respect to timing and, in response to location tracking, trigger show effects early, late, or on time.

Aerial show system with dynamic participation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with distributed show systems

A haptic floor system is provided that produces large vibration-based effects through the use of one-to-many panel or plate assemblies that can each be selectively operated by a controller in a programmed manner or in response to sensor outputs. Each of these panel or plate assemblies may be labeled a 'quake plate assembly' as the special effect delivered by the haptic floor system can provide a person supported by one of the quake plate assemblies with ground trembling and vibrations similar to that felt in an earthquake or when a super strong fictional character strikes the floor nearby or a large animal or robot walks or runs by the person. Each quake plate assembly may include a thin plate or panel with an upper contact surface for supporting people or objects and an opposite lower surface, and one-to-many actuators may be provided on the lower surface of the thin plate.

Haptic floor system with quake plate assemblies producing large vibration effects

The present invention provides a shear gripper device using fibrillar, gecko-inspired adhesives that have the characteristics of being non-tacky in its default state and requiring no normal force to grip a surface. The adhesion is turned 'on' by the applied shear load, and 'off as the shear load is removed. The shear adhesive gripper is able to grasp large, deformable or delicate objects using a delicate touch.

Air-bladder enhanced with gecko-adhesive for grasping applications

A modular floor with active tiles that utilize numerous friction or contact disks each with a raised segment or portion on their edges that together provide a planar contact surface for the active tile. Each disk is oriented at a fixed tilt angle to define which part of the disk's outer surfaces act as the raised portion, and each disk is oriented to position where the raised surface is located so as to define the direction that a supported object is moved over the modular floor. The drive system typically includes, for each disk assembly, a disk orienting mechanism along with a disk rotation mechanism to rotate the disk at a rotation rate about its central axis. The controller of the motion system operates the disk orienting mechanism to orient the disk so that a particular location on the disk behaves as the raised portion where an object is contacted.

Floor system providing omnidirectional movement of a person walking in a virtual reality environment

A controllable adhesive for non-flat surfaces is provided. The device has a conformable (i.e. flexible) film and directly cast thereto a synthetic dry adhesive film. The synthetic dry adhesive film has elastomeric wedges. The conformable film is capable to deform to a non-flat surface. In one embodiment, the controllable adhesive has a first loading mechanism at one end of the controllable adhesive to apply load to the controllable adhesive. In another embodiment, forming a gripper, the controllable adhesive has a second controllable adhesive with a second loading mechanism, such that the first and second loading mechanism face each other and join a common point of loading.

Controllable adhesive on conformable film for non-flat surfaces

A robot with an elastic, spherically-shaped body with controlled bouncing locomotion. This robot may be called 'a robotic bouncing ball.' The robotic bouncing ball can be used to provide a new class of robotic characters that are ball-like, and these new robotic characters bounce in place and from one location to another. The spherical body will typically be formed with a thin wall of elastic material such as a rubber or the like, and a drive or actuator assembly along with a local controller and a power source are positioned in the interior space of the hollow body. The controller controls the drive assembly to cause the spherical body to bounce up and down vertically and to provide horizontal/lateral movement of the spherical body through the applications of deforming and/or reforming forces on the elastic outer wall.

Robotic bouncing ball

A method of towing or pushing an object using a micro-robot is provided that includes attaching a micro-robot, using a first dry adhesive, to a surface, where the dry adhesive includes micro wedges, where the micro wedges are attached to the surface when the micro wedges are in a deformed state, applying a load to the attached micro-robot, advancing the micro-robot, using a lifting element, where the lifting element includes a uni-directional footing, where the lifting element is disposed to detach the first dry adhesive and advance the micro-robot across the surface while the uni-directional footing is attached to the surface, where the detached first dry adhesive includes micro wedges in an free-standing state, where the load is advanced across the surface.

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Glendale, CA, United States of America

David Loyal Christensen