Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

X Development LLC

Schaft Inc.

Google Inc.

Preferred Robotics, Inc.

Yoshito Ito

Junichi Urata

Makoto Hamada

Masaki Hamafuji

Takahiro Yamana

Toru Isobe

A conveyance object is configured to be coupled to an autonomous vehicle and conveyed by the autonomous vehicle to move. The conveyance object includes a bottom plate; a coupling provided on a lower surface of the bottom plate and configured to be coupled to the autonomous vehicle; a pair of guide frames provided on the lower surface and configured to guide the autonomous vehicle so as to move to a position of the coupling from a predetermined direction; and a pair of brackets provided to extend downward from the lower surface between the pair of guide frames and disposed on both sides of the coupling in the predetermined direction, each of the brackets being provided with a marking that faces the predetermined direction and that is recognizable by the autonomous vehicle.

Conveyance object, conveyance object-coupling unit, and conveyance system

In a VM migration system, a controllerdetermines a priority group to which a VM whose performance is insufficient is desired to belong based on the amount of resource usage of each VMand priority group setting informationacquired from a physical server. Upon acquiring performance guarantee failure alarm information, the controllerselects a VM to be migrated from VMs currently belonging to a priority group in which there are no vacancies, selects a physical server having the largest margin as another physical server to which the VM is to be migrated, and transmits migration instruction information to the physical server. The physical server migrates the selected VM to the other physical server.

VM migration system and VM migration method

In a virtual machine (VM) performance guarantee system, a physical server includes a storage unit that divides physical resources into a plurality of groups and stores priority group setting information containing priority groups for setting different numbers of VMs capable of sharing physical resources, and a priority group changing unit that receives an instruction for changing a priority group and changes a priority group to which a VM belongs, with reference to the priority group setting information. In addition, the controller includes a priority changing determination unit that determines insufficient performance and excessive performance for a calculated performance value on the basis of the resource use amount of the VM and performs the instruction for changing a priority group of the VM.

VM performance guaranteeing system and VM performance guaranteeing method

A physical server of a virtual machine (VM) priority control system transmits priority group setting information in which the amounts of resource usage of VMs and priority groups to which the VMs belong are stored to a controller. The controller determines a priority group to which each VM is desired to belong on the basis of an acquired amount of resource usage of the VM, generates dummy VMs corresponding to vacancies belonging to each group, and determines whether performance of each VM can be guaranteed. Further, the controller determines a new current priority group of the VM by exchanging the current priority group of the VM with the current priority group of a pair whose priory groups are paired with those of the VM among pairs of the current priority group and the desired priority group of each of the VMs and the dummy VMs.

VM priority level control system and VM priority level control method

An autoscale-type performance assurance system performs autoscaling to increase or reduce the number of VMs/containers Vto Vgenerated in a server and resources of Vto V. A compute includes a plurality of types of Vto V, a data collection unit that collects a resource allocation amount of Vto V, and a resource control unit that performs autoscaling to increase or reduce the amount of resources of Vto Vaccording to a resource control amount. A controller includes a dependency calculation unit that calculates, based on the collected resource allocation amount, a degree of dependency indicating whether the resource allocation amount is dependent on a performance related to Vto Vfor providing a communication service quality, and an autoscaling determination unit that obtains a resource control amount for increasing or reducing only resources related to the calculated degree of dependency indicating being dependent.

Auto-scale performance assurance system and auto-scale performance assurance method

Example embodiments relate to a robotic device with at least two legs. Each leg includes a foot including a first sole and a second sole perpendicular to the first sole. Each leg additionally includes an ankle joint configured to rotate the foot from a first position in which the first sole is contacting a ground surface to a second position in which the second sole is contacting the ground surface. The robotic device includes a control system. When the foot of a given leg of the at least two legs is in the first position, the control system may determine to cause the foot of the given leg to switch from the first position to the second position, and may cause the ankle joint of the given leg to rotate the foot of the given leg from the first position to the second position.

Rotatable robot foot with perpendicular soles

Example embodiments relate to a foot for a walking robot. An example foot includes a central portion including a first surface and at least one foot extension including at least one respective first surface parallel to the first surface of the central portion. The foot additionally includes at least one hinge component that is configured to rotate the at least one foot extension away from the central portion when at least one respective second surface of the at least one foot extension is contacted. The foot also includes at least one spring component configured to cause the at least one hinge component to rotate the at least one foot extension toward the central portion until the at least one respective first surface is parallel to the first surface of the central portion when the at least one respective second surface is no longer contacted.

Rotatable extension for robot foot

An example method includes determining one or more first movements that begin with a robot at a first position, determining one or more second movements that begin with the robot at the first position and end with the robot standing at a second position, making a first prediction of whether one or more motors of the robot executing the one or more first movements would cause a future temperature of any of the one or more motors to exceed a threshold temperature, making a second prediction of whether the one or more motors executing the one or more second movements would cause a future temperature of any of the one or more motors to exceed the threshold temperature, and causing the one or more motors to execute either (i) the one or more first movements or (ii) the one or more second movements.

Determining a trajectory for a walking robot to prevent motor overheating

An implementation may involve causing a foot of a robot to orient in a first position, where the foot comprises a sole configured to contact a surface, where the sole comprises a first edge and a second edge, and where in the first position: (i) the first edge contacts the surface, and (ii) a zero moment point (ZMP) is located on the first edge; receiving, from a force sensor, (i) first force data indicative of a first force and (ii) first moment data indicative of a first moment; determining a calibration of the force sensor based at least in part on the first force data, the first moment data, and a distance between the ZMP and a measurement location on the robot; and while the robot is engaged in bipedal movement, controlling the bipedal movement of the robot based at least in part on the calibration.

Methods and systems for force sensor calibration

An example method for detecting a movable element on a surface involves receiving, from a depth sensor coupled to a mobile robot, a first depth measurement between the depth sensor and a ground surface. The method also involves causing at least one transducer coupled to the mobile robot to emit a directional pressure wave toward the ground surface. The method further involves receiving, from the depth sensor coupled to the mobile robot, a second depth measurement between the depth sensor and the ground surface after emitting the directional pressure wave. Additionally, the method involves identifying one or more differences between the first depth measurement and the second depth measurement indicating that the ground surface includes a movable element. Further, the method involves providing navigation instructions to the mobile robot based on the identified one or more differences between the first depth measurement and the second depth measurement.

Detection of movable ground areas of a robot's environment using a transducer array

Disclosed are robotic systems, methods, bipedal robot devices, and computer-readable mediums. For example, a robotic system may include a robotic body, a robotic hip connected to the robotic body, and a ball screw connected to the robotic hip. Further, the robotic system may include a robotic leg connected to the robotic hip parallel to the ball screw. Yet further, the robotic hip includes a motor that is linearly movable to one or more positions along the ball screw between one end of the robotic leg and an opposite end of the robotic leg.

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Tokyo, Japan

Yoshito Ito