Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yasunao Okazaki

Katsuhiko Asai

Yuko Tsusaka

Masaki Yamamoto

Mayumi Komatsu

Akira Enokihara

Michio Okajima

Toshiaki Nakamura

Minoru Tachibana

Yuji Adachi

Kunihiko Minami

Takayuki Nagata

Kazuo Inoue

Yudai Fudaba

Masamichi Nakagawa

Kazuyuki Sakiyama

Kazuo Yokoyama

Tamao Okamoto

Takashi Anezaki

Shusasku Okamoto

Takahiro Shiwa

Kentaro Setsune

Atsushi Ono

Yoshikazu Yoshida

Shinichi Mizuguchi

Tadashi Kimura

Provided is a mobile robot that moves autonomously over a floor covered by a carpet, the mobile robot including an acceleration sensor that measures a translational acceleration of the mobile robot, an estimation unit that estimates an inclination of a pile of the carpet on a basis of the translational acceleration measured by the acceleration sensor while the mobile robot is accelerating or decelerating, and a movement control unit that controls a movement velocity and a movement direction of the mobile robot on a basis of the inclination of the pile estimated by the estimation unit.

Mobile robot, control method, and storage medium

A robot hand apparatus includes a first holder having a first sucking surface that is bendable at any position and configured to suck an object using negative pressure; a second holder arranged to oppose the first sucking surface of the first holder; and a driving mechanism configured to change a distance between the first holder and the second holder to sandwich the object between the first holder and the second holder.

Robot hand apparatus, robot hand system, and holding method

A robot hand apparatus includes a first holder having a bendable first sucking surface that sucks an object using negative pressure; and a second holder having a bendable second sucking surface that sucks the object using negative pressure. The first holder and the second holder are arranged such that the first sucking surface opposes the second sucking surface. When the first holder and the second holder hold the object, in a state in which the first sucking surface is bent at a first position and the second sucking surface is bent at a second position, the object is sucked to a region of the first sucking surface between the first position and a distal end of the first holder, and the object is sucked to a region of the second sucking surface between the second position and a distal end of the second holder.

A robot hand apparatus includes a holder having a bendable sucking surface that sucks an object; a magnetic elastic body arranged at the holder and formed of an elastic material containing magnetic particles; and a magnetic-field generator that is arranged at the holder and applies a magnetic field to the magnetic elastic body to change a coefficient of elasticity of the magnetic elastic body. When the magnetic-field generator applies a magnetic field to the magnetic elastic body, a flexible portion and a hardened portion having a bigger coefficient of elasticity than that of the flexible portion are formed in the magnetic elastic body. When the holder holds the object, in a state in which the sucking surface is bent at a position corresponding to the flexible portion, a region of the sucking surface between the position and a distal end of the holder sucks the object.

A robot includes a motion mechanism capable of operating in accordance with each of a first motion pattern for supporting a user with a first motion representing a standing-up motion and a second motion pattern for supporting a user with a second motion representing a sitting-down motion, a battery that supplies electric energy to the motion mechanism, a control unit that determines a multiple-motion availability index indicating the availability of an operation in accordance with a multiple-motion pattern including the first and second motion patterns on the basis of the battery level and the amounts of energy charge in the battery required for the operations performed by the motion mechanism in accordance with the first and second motion patterns if the control unit detects that the battery level is a first threshold value or lower, and a presentation unit that presents the multiple-motion availability index determined by the control unit.

Robot, method for controlling robot, recording medium, and method

A robot includes an arm mechanism that operates in accordance with a first motion pattern for supporting a user with a standing-up motion which starts in a sitting posture and finishes in a standing posture, a control unit that (i) acquires first information used to identify a predetermined position of the arm mechanism corresponding to a half-crouching posture of the user during a motion in accordance with the first motion pattern and (ii) detects whether the current position of the arm mechanism operating in accordance with the first motion pattern is included in a first range including the predetermined position identified by the first information, and a presentation unit that presents a first signal if the control unit detects that the position of the arm mechanism is included in the first range.

Robot, robot control method, method, and recording medium

A robot includes a tractor, a walker, an input device, and a controller. The tractor includes a connector and pulls a user through the connector. The walker includes wheels for moving the tractor and one or more brakes for the wheels and is coupled to the tractor. The input device receives an instruction to operate at least one of the tractor and the walker. In response to reception of the instruction by the input device, the controller determines whether or not to permit the tractor and/or the walker to perform a process based on the instruction, in accordance with a current state of the robot, the current state being one of a plurality of states of the robot. Each state is represented by using values of items, one of the items being an item indicating whether or not the one or more brakes are applied to the wheels.

Robot, method for controlling robot, and recording medium

A robot system for assisting a patient in standing up and/or sitting down is provided. The robot system includes the following elements. A drive mechanism executes a drive pattern for assisting the patient in standing up and/or sitting down. An instruction input device receives an instruction to cause the drive mechanism to execute the drive pattern. A state acquirer acquires an execution state of the drive mechanism which is executing the drive pattern. A controller decides whether or not to cause the drive mechanism to execute the instruction received by the instruction input device, on the basis of the execution state acquired by the state acquirer, and controls the driving of the drive mechanism.

Robot system, instruction input device, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, and control method for robot system

A holding mechanism holds a care-receiver, a traction mechanism that is connected to the holding mechanism, and the traction mechanism pulls the holding mechanism so that the holding mechanism draws a predetermined path. On the basis of a position of the holding mechanism detected by a position sensor and a force detected by a force sensor, if the position of the holding mechanism is not on the predetermined path, a controller controls the traction mechanism so that the holding mechanism draws the predetermined path by changing the position of the holding mechanism to a position on the predetermined path at a time after the time at which the position is detected.

Standing/sitting motion assist system, standing/sitting motion assist method, standing/sitting motion assist robot, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium

A robot determines whether or not an operator or an object is jammed between a robot arm and an external structure, classifies an area in which an end portion of the robot arm moves into a restricted area and an unrestricted area, and sets a restriction period. If a period after detection of the jam is in the restriction period and the end portion is in the restricted area, restriction on movement is imposed on one or more joints of the robot arm. The restriction on movement is a stoppage of movement of one or more joints. If the period after detection of the jam is after the restriction period, the restriction on movement is removed. If the period after detection of the jam is in the restriction period and the end portion is in the unrestricted area, the restriction on movement is not imposed on the joints.

Robot, device and method for controlling robot, and computer-readable non-transitory recording medium

A robot having joints includes a position information acquiring section that acquires time series information about a robot position, speed information, or acceleration information, a dynamics parameter switching section that switches a gravity term component and an inertia force term component of a motion equation separately between dynamics parameters including dynamics parameter of the robot gripping no object and dynamics parameter including the object gripped by the robot which robot arm gripping the object, and a desired torque calculation section that outputs a desired robot joint torque value as a desired joint torque based on the motion equation after the dynamics parameter switching section switches the dynamics parameters and the time series information about the robot position, the speed information, or the acceleration information acquired by the position information acquiring section. The robot controls an operation of the robot based on an output from the desired torque calculation section.

Robot, robot control device, robot control method, and robot control program

A robot arm temporarily stops when a contact detector detects contact. A holding motion selecting unit then selects one of continuously stopped motion, directionally limited motion, and directionally unlimited motion in accordance with information including one or both of a distance between the robot arm and a contacted object and force applied to the robot arm by a person. A motion controller causes the selected motion to achieve holding motion.

Robot, robot control apparatus, robot control method, and robot control program

Provided is a control apparatus for a robot arm performing assembly. The control apparatus includes an operation database recording information as to an operation of the robot arm, and includes a correction operation type determining unit determining a correction type for the operation. The control apparatus also includes a force detecting unit detecting a force of a person, and an operation correction unit correcting an operation in accordance with the force of the person and the correction type, while the robot arm is performing a task.

Control apparatus and control method for robot arm, assembly robot, control program for robot arm, and control-purpose integrated electronic circuit for robot arm

Provided are a multi-joint robot arm, a manipulation force acquiring unit that acquires a manipulation force from a person, the manipulation force acquiring unit disposed on the multi-joint robot arm, an external force acquiring unit that acquires an external force to be applied to a gripped object, the external force acquiring unit disposed on the multi-joint robot arm, an impedance controller that performs impedance control on the multi-joint robot arm based on the manipulation force acquired by the manipulation force acquiring unit and a set impedance parameter, and an assist force correcting unit that corrects a force component vertical to the resistance force of an assist force generated by the impedance controller according to the resistance force generated by friction caused by contact between the gripped object and an external environment.

There is provided a control apparatus for a drive mechanism driven by a pneumatic artificial muscle, the control apparatus including a pressure controller that controls pressure of the pneumatic artificial muscle, a desired pressure calculator that calculates, based on a pneumatic artificial muscle model, a desired pressure of the pneumatic artificial muscle in order to control motion of the drive mechanism, a pneumatic artificial muscle model error estimator that estimates aging variation in a contraction percentage error between the pneumatic artificial muscle and the pneumatic artificial muscle model, a pneumatic artificial muscle model updater that updates the pneumatic artificial muscle model so as to reflect the aging variation based on an estimation result of the pneumatic artificial muscle model error estimator, and a lifetime predictor that predicts a lifetime of the pneumatic artificial muscle based on the estimation result of the pneumatic artificial muscle model error estimator.

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Shiga, Japan

Yasunao Okazaki