Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Waseda University

Carnegie Mellon University

Kunihiro Iwamoto

Hirotaka Komura

Yuta Itozawa

Yutaro Takagi

Yoshiaki Nakamoto

Junya Ota

Nobuhisa Otsuki

Kentaro Ichikawa

Takashi Yamamoto

Yasuhiro Ota

Haeyeon Lee

Kota Oishi

Wataru Kaku

Taisuke Sugaiwa

Kenta Miyahara

Daisuke Sato

Takuya Watabe

Seiichi Tsunoda

Makoto Kakuchi

Keima Fukunaga

Shigeki Sugano

Shunji Inoue

Hiroyasu Iwata

Mitsutoshi Asano

Takatoshi Morimitsu

James J Kuffner

Junggon Kim

Nancy S Pollard

Nami Muramatsu

Ken Saruhashi

Isamu Furukawa

Konosuke Arata

Kentaro Tsuboi

Tetsuji Ueda

Junichi Ikeda

A rack includes: a casing; M pairs of supports that are provided inside the casing so as to extend in a depth direction and arrayed at regular intervals in an up-down direction; and a lock mechanism that locks returnable containers each housed while being supported so as to be slidable along one pair of supports. The casing of the rack is divided into N rows by (N−1) partition plates, with the M pairs of supports provided in each row, to be able to house a maximum of (M×N) returnable containers. The lock mechanism is provided in each of the (N−1) partition plates so as to extend through the partition plate and correspond to each tier, and simultaneously locks two returnable containers that are housed adjacent to each other on one side and the other side of the partition plate.

Delivery rack and delivery vehicle

A robot system and a method for driving a robot capable of moving the position of the center of gravity of the robot while minimizing the increase in the footprint thereof are provided. A robot system according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a robot. The robot includes a movable moving part, an upper body part disposed above the moving part, and a driving mechanism for tilting the upper body part and moving a lower end of the upper body part in a direction in which the upper body part is tilted.

Robot system and method for driving robot

A delivery shelf system includes a shelf extending from an exterior to an interior of a building, and a returnable box (RB) stored and slidably supported in the shelf. A first recessed part (FRP) is provided in an indoor-side end part of RB and a second recessed part (SRP) is provided in an outdoor-side end part thereof; a locking mechanism including a projecting part configured to be pressed and inserted into FRP or into SRP is provided at the indoor-side end part of the shelf; the projecting part is inserted into FRP while RB is stored in the shelf, so that RB is locked to the shelf; and when the projecting part is retracted from FRP by releasing the locking and RB is pulled out from the shelf into inside the building, the projecting part is inserted into SRP and the pulled-out RB is thereby stopped.

Delivery shelf system and its control method

An area recognition system, an area recognition method, and a program that simplify a control logic for recognizing a movement between travel areas are provided. An area recognition system recognizes a travel area of a robot. A magnetic member having a first magnetic pole and a magnetic member having a second magnetic pole different from the first pole are disposed between different travel areas. The robot includes a first magnetic sensor, a second magnetic sensor provided at a position different from a position where the first magnetic sensor is provided along a traveling direction of the robot, and a recognition unit configured to recognize a movement of the robot between the different travel areas by the first magnetic sensor detecting the first magnetic pole and the second magnetic sensor detecting the second magnetic pole.

Area recognition system, using magnetic sensors, area recognition method, using magnetic sensors, and program for executing area recognition method using magnetic sensors

One or more magnetic members including a magnetic member, and two magnetic members are disposed between the different travel areas. A polarity of the magnetic member on an upper surface side is a first magnetic pole. A polarity of each of the two magnetic members on the upper surface side is a second magnetic pole. The robot includes a magnetic sensor configured to detect the first magnetic pole, a safety apparatus configured to suppress an operation of the robot in response to the detection of the first magnetic pole, a magnetic sensor, a switching unit configured to switch between a stopped state and an operable state of the safety apparatus in response to the detection of the second magnetic pole, and a recognition unit configured to recognize a movement of the robot between the different travel areas by detecting each of the one or more magnetic members.

Area recognition system, area recognition method, and program including magnetic members for recognizing a travel area of a robot

A conveyance apparatus capable of easily moving an object without the need for a precise alignment control for engaging an arm thereof with the object is provided. The conveyance apparatus includes: an arm that is movable in a horizontal direction; and a control unit configured to control a movement of the arm, in which the arm includes a ratchet claw, and the control unit moves the arm along a surface of an object, the surface including an engagement part.

Conveyance apparatus

An extension pipe includes a first belt including a plurality of first engagement pins formed on an upper side along the upper side and a plurality of second engagement pins formed on a lower side along the lower side, a second belt including a plurality of first engagement holes formed on the upper side along the upper side and a plurality of second engagement holes formed on the lower side along the lower side, and a first guide part including a spiral groove configured to spirally guide the first belt and the second belt. A difference between a length of a first trajectory in which each of the first engagement pins moves along the spiral groove and a length of a second trajectory in which each of the second engagement pins moves along the spiral groove is less than half a circumference of the spiral groove.

Extension pipe and transport robot

A transport system is a transport system in which an autonomous mobile robot transports an object. The autonomous mobile robot includes a mounting portion on which the object is mounted, and a hook that hooks on the object mounted on the mounting portion from below. An upper surface of the mounting portion includes a recessed portion having a shape corresponding to a shape of a bottom surface of the object mounted on the mounting portion.

Transport system

A logistics system provides a logistics service utilizing a logistics robot that delivers packages by autonomous traveling. The logistics system includes one or more processors. When delivery destinations of the packages are dispersedly located on a plurality of floors of a building, the one or more processors execute a priority determination process that determines priority among the plurality of floors. Then, the one or more processors execute a logistics robot control process that controls the logistics robot so as to deliver the packages to the plurality of floors in an order of the priority.

Logistics system, logistics robot, and logistics robot control method

A shelf inventory management system includes: a shelf including a plurality of storage boxes each of which is identified; a first sensor provided for each row of the shelf to detect a mass change of the storage boxes, and a second sensor for detecting that each of the storage boxes is pulled out from the shelf; and a management unit that manages an inventory of an article stored in each of the storage boxes. The management unit determines which article has been taken out from which of the storage boxes, based on detection results of the first sensor and the second sensor.

Shelf inventory management system, shelf inventory management method, and program

A transport system includes a transport robot and a plurality of kinds of loading platform portions each of which is able to be connected to the transport robot. The transport system includes: a determination unit that determines a loading platform portion to which the transport robot is to be connected, from the plurality of kinds of loading platform portions, based on a transport condition; and a connection control unit that controls a connecting operation between the transport robot and the loading platform portion determined by the determination unit.

Transport system, transport method, and transport program

A delivery system includes a plurality of delivery vehicles for delivering an article to a delivery destination with power charged in a battery that is able to be charged and discharged. The delivery vehicles are able to be charged with each other. A charging schedule including a combination of a charging vehicle and a vehicle to be charged selected from the delivery vehicles is determined based on a delivery schedule of the article and a remaining charge capacity of the battery for each of the delivery vehicles, and the delivery schedule for the charging vehicle and the vehicle to be charged is updated based on the charging schedule.

Delivery system, control method of delivery system, and storage medium

A transport system includes a transport robot configured to transport an item picked up from a shelving unit or to be stored into the shelving unit, wherein: the transport robot includes a placing table on which the item is to be placed, and a lifting mechanism configured to lift and lower the placing table; and the placing table includes an engaging portion configured to engage with the shelving unit.

Transport system, transport method, and non-transitory storage medium

A transport system is a transport system in which an autonomous mobile robot transports an object. The autonomous mobile robot includes a mounting portion on which the object is mounted. The mounting portion includes a guide that engages with the object and regulates a moving direction of the object on a surface of the mounting portion to a predetermined direction.

Transport system with protruding portions

A staircase area at which a staircase is installed across a first floor and a second floor is provided in a building. A part of the staircase area is a non-installation space in which a staircase is not installed, and a lifting space through which a transport robot moves up and down between the first floor and the second floor is provided using the non-installation space. The lifting space and a staircase hall having a spandrel wall there between are adjacent to each other the second floor. An opening through which the transport robot moves between the lifting space and the staircase hall is provided in the spandrel wall.

Growing community of inventors

Nagakute, Japan

Kunihiro Iwamoto