Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippon Sanso Corporation

Sony Corporation

Fujitsu Component Limited

Masato Hirose

Masao Nishikawa

Hiroshi Gomi

Masaru Ozawa

Hideaki Takahashi

Toru Takenaka

Takashi Matsumoto

Tadanobu Takahashi

Tomoharu Kumagai

Takeshi Ono

Mitsuaki Hirakawa

Kazuya Shimomura

Masayuki Miyamoto

Shoei Abe

Toru Goto

Naoki Hasegawa

Takashi Hotta

Kunio Hatsumoto

Yasuhiro Kowa

Kazuhiro Yasuno

Ryutaro Yoshino

Mari Sasaki

Masanobu Kimoto

Kazuo Hirai

Kenji Morii

Hideyuki Yoshimura

Eiji Otsuka

Yoshinori Ota

Yuji Anami

Hiroshige Hayakawa

Kaoru Kamiyama

Tomoharu Kamagai

Atsuro Hirakawa

Akira Takeno

Akihiro Shironouchi

A KVM (K: Keyboard, V: Video, M: Mouse) switch includes: a plurality of first ports each of which is connected to at least one of a computer and another KVM switch, the another KVM switch having a plurality of third ports connectable to a computer; a second port; a connection unit that selects a first port from the plurality of first ports, and connects the selected first port to the second port; and a control unit that transmits a control signal to the another KVM switch via the selected first port when the first port connected to the computer is connected to the second port, the control signal being a signal for selecting a third port to be connected to the second port from the third ports.

KVM switch and KVM system

A display device includes: a monitor and receiving set having a video signal receiving section, a display section, an image quality control section, a first control signal transceiver, and a first control section; and a control and transmission set having a television broadcast receiving section, a video signal input section, a video signal transmitting section, a second control signal transceiver, a key input section, and a second control section. The Power consumption of a first radio transmission path formed by the video signal transmitting section and the video signal receiving section is larger than that of a second radio transmission path formed by the first and second control signal transceivers. A control signal for a user interface is communicated by the first and second control signal transceivers. Only the second radio transmission path of the first and second radio transmission paths is communicable in a standby state.

Display device and radio transmission control method

In a legged mobile robot having at least a body and a plurality of legs each connected to the body through a first joint and a foot each connected to a distal end of each of the legs through a second joint, a floor reaction force detector is installed between the second joint and a contact end of the foot. More specifically, an upper portion of the floor reaction force detector is connected at a location near the second joint, and the contact end of the foot or thereabout is constituted by a spring mechanism that is lower in rigidity than a member constituting the second joint or thereabout such that a lower portion of the floor reaction force detector is connected to the contact end through the spring mechanism. With this, it becomes possible to provide the floor reaction force detector that can improve detection accuracy of the floor reaction force and prevent the performance of control from being degraded, while enabling to maintain a stable posture during standing and to decrease the impact at foot landing.

Floor reaction detector of legged mobile robot

The height from floor surface contact ends of leg linkagesto shoulder joints of a biped robotwhen the biped robot is in an upright posture is defined to be a value falling within a range (Havg&#xb1;&#xbd;&#x3c3;) set based on an averaged value Havg obtained by averaging the heights of a group of objects (subject to operation) from the floor surface and the standard deviation &#x3c3; thereof, specifically a value in a range of from approximately 700 mm to 1000 mm. By this, the installation height of shoulder joints from the floor surface can be optimally determined in accordance with the heights of the objects, thereby improving operating efficiency in an existing operating space.

Biped robot

Provided is an arm structure for a robot which can favorably carry out jobs which are typically performed by humans. By determining the length of the arm and the height of the axis of rotation of the arm in such a manner that a range of rotational motion of the arm in accessing the region can be covered by a range in which the fore-and-aft distance to the tip of the arm can be linearly approximated, even though the trajectory of the arm is approximated by a line, the error in the distance to the object can be limited within a prescribed range, and the practicality and economy of computation can be achieved at the same time.

Method for designing a robot arm

A robot arm which allows the two hands to be brought together in front of the chest. In a robot arm comprising a shoulder joint attached to a body so as to be rotatable around a laterally extending axial line, an upper arm attached to the shoulder joint so as to be rotatable around an axial line perpendicular to the laterally extending axial line, a forearm attached to the upper arm via an elbow joint, and a hand attached to a free end of the forearm, the elbow joint is attached to the upper arm so as to be rotatable around a longitudinal axial line of the upper arm.

Robot arm

A liquid inlet located in the lower position of a liquid passage is sealed with the valve guide of a valve body. The lever pushes the valve guide of the valve body to open up the liquid inlet. A pair of fixing arms is provided on the edge of the lever. An insertion hole of the pivot installed in a protruding manner or two sidewalls of the liquid passage is formed on each fixing arm. When moving the lever in the direction opposite to operation around each fixing arm, the boss member is abutted on sidewalls to widen the gap between each fixing arm to remove the insertion hole from the pivot. This makes it easy to take apart and assemble the structured parts of the plug and makes it washable in every nook and corner inside the plug structure.

Plug structure for drinking container

A bi-directional closure to dispense liquid through the open mouth of a container having a projecting handle. The closure includes a closing member fitting into the container open mouth to seal the mouth and the closing member has a pair of spaced outlet ports. A lid is rotatably mounted relative to the closing member and has a pair of spaced liquid pouring openings and a pair of spaced air holes and an operating lever is mounted on one of the closing member and lid and projects therefrom for rotating one relative to the other. When the lid is in a home position relative to the closing member with the operating lever aligned with the container handle the pair of outlet ports of the closing member are sealed. Rotation of the lid relative to the closing member in one direction from the home position by a predetermined amount to a first position by moving the operating lever aligns a respective one of the lid pouring openings with a closing member outlet port and one of the lid air holes with the other of the closing member outlet ports. Rotation of the lid relative to the closing member in a second direction opposite to the first direction by a predetermined amount to a second position by operating the lever aligns the other of the lid pouring openings with the other outlet port of the closing member and the lid one other air hole with the closing member one outlet port. The arrangement permits use by a person who uses either the right or left hand.

Bi-directional operating closure for a liquid container

Adiabatic cooking ware

A legged mobile robot having a body and two legs each connected to the body. The robot is quipped with a mechanism for absorbing and moderating impacts produced by external forces during footfall or the like. The mechanism includes an elastic member interposed between the body and legs, or interposed between the leg links, or interposed between the distal end of the legs and foot portions. The robot further has a foot structure for enhancing the ground gripping force and absorbs the impacts. For enhancing the gripping force, the foot sole is provided, for example, with a first elastic member and second elastic member sandwiching a plate spring therebetween. The first elastic member absorbs the impacts, while the second elastic member enhancing the gripping force. The plate spring restrict the deformation of the elastic members in the direction vertical to the foot sole. The invention further includes a locomotion control system using one shock absorbing mechanism.

Legged mobile robot and a system for controlling the same

An impact absorber for a legged mobile robot having a body and two legs each connected to the body for absorbing impact arising when the robot collides with pipes or other objects in its walking environment so as to protect both the robot and the object. In a first embodiment, the impact absorber comprises a balloon disposed around the body and filled with air. When the balloon comes into contact with the object, it is deflated so as to absorb impact arising from the contact. In a second embodiment, the impact absorber comprises a cylinder fixed to the robot leg and a piston slidably disposed in the cylinder so as to define a chamber filled with an oil. A flat member is fixed to the rod of the piston and when it comes into contact with the object, the piston is thrust into the cylinder so as to absorb the impact. The impact absorber may be a resilient material coating on the robot to cushion the impact when the robot comes into contact with the object, or it may include air bags.

Legged mobile robot equipped with impact absorber

A foot structure of a biped waling mobile robot having a body and two articulated legs each having a foot at its distal end. In the foot structure, a movable foot piece is housed in each foot which is driven by an actuator to be swung out to enlarge the ground contact surface. A controller provided for the actuator and based on a condition of walking such as stair descending, it controls the operation of the actuator such that the foot's ground contact surface is enlarged. The structure has another aspect in which a ratio between distances from a point at which the foot is connected to the leg to the foot ends can also be adjusted in response to the walking condition. Moreover, the foot can be arranged such that the foot is configured to have portions to be contact with the ground at its four corners and the movable foot pieces have additional contact portion enlarging or reducing the ground contact portions.

Legged mobile robot foot structure

A method for driving an actuator for displacing a mechanism connected thereto to a target displacement and holding it there against static load, wherein the internal friction force is utilized for holding the displacement, thereby reducing the actuator load and energy consumption. Command value of the actuator is once directed above the target displacement with respect to the direction of gravity so as to cause the internal friction force to act in the direction opposite to the static load. For that purpose, the command value is varied by adding a bias or by changing a gain to be multiplied thereto.

Actuator driving method

An articulated mechanism for use as an articulated arm of an industrial robot, for example, includes a plurality of arms interconnecting articulations having respective fluid pressure angular displacement motors for angularly displacing the arms relatively to each other. The motors have sidewalls forming working chambers, where an inner surface of the sidewall is exposed to working fluid pressure tending to bow the sidewall outward, and an outer surface of the sidewall has a plurality of counteracting pressure chambers which apply a counteracting pressure force against the sidewall to oppose the outward bowing force, the counteracting pressure force increasing in pressure surface area as the piston is displaced within the motor chamber.

Angular displacement motor with counterbalance chambers

An armature winding structure for use in an electric motor includes a web-shaped strand bundle composed of a plurality of parallel strands. The strand bundle has a plurality of longitudinally spaced bends and a plurality of straight strand bundle segments. Adjacent ones of the strand bundle segments are positioned one on each side of one of the bends. The strand bundle segments are transversely staggered on one side of the strand bundle successively from one end to the other of the strand bundle, by intervals each substantially equal to the width of the strand bundle. The strand bundle segments thus staggered are longitudinally folded over along fold lines extending respectively across or near the bends transversely of the strand bundle, thereby providing a plate-like winding in which the strand bundle segments lie adjacent to one another.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masato Hirose