Robotic arm including edge computer and cabling arrangement facilitating flexible function advanced distal arm end tooling

Abstract

A robotic arm assembly is described that incorporates a distributed control arrangement. The robotic arm assembly includes a host computer, a set of robotic arm segments, and a set of actuators, each actuator being interposed between adjacent pairs of the set of robotic arm segments to affect a relative movement between the adjacent pairs of the set of robotic arm segments. The robotic arm assembly further includes an end effector controller configured with a first interface configured to support a first communication link between the end effector controller and the host computer, and a second interface, separate from the first interface. The robotic arm assembly furthermore includes an end effector adapter configured to provide a high speed data interface between the end effector controller and an end effector.