Showing papers on "Robot published in 1977"

Light-weight program controller

Abstract: A control system for programming operations of a spraygun robot for spraying paint comprises a mobile control structure having jointed parts of the robot, and also possesses transducers corresponding to transducers of the robot, for transforming electrical signals respectively from and into operations of the mobile structure and of the robot. The control structure is relatively light and mobile to facilitate manual operation. The robot is sufficiently massive and heavy to permit numerous operations of the joint devices thereof in a point-spray atmosphere.

The navigation system of the JPL robot

Abstract: The control structure of the JPL research robot and the operations of the navigation subsystem are discussed The robot functions as a network of interacting concurrent processes distributed among several computers and coordinated by a central executive The results of scene analysis are used to create a segmented terrain model in which surface regions are classified by traversibility The model is used by a path-planning algorithm, PATH, which uses tree search methods to find the optimal path to a goal In PATH, the search space is defined dynamically as a consequence of node testing Maze-solving and the use of an associative data base for context-dependent node generation are also discussed Execution of a planned path is accomplished by a feedback guidance process with automatic error recovery

Method and means for controlling an industrial robot

Abstract: Robot control with programmed positioning modified by a sensor sensing position error, force or the like. To maintain flexibility, the sensor axis need not coincide with any of several degrees of freedom of the robot. To employ sensor generated signals to modify programmed positioning where sensor and robot degrees of freedom are different, a normalized correction is computed relating a sensor output to each axis of freedom. Merely multiplying sensor output with the appropriate normalized correction provides a quantity in the proper coordinates for correction or position modification, as desired. Further, the robot includes apparatus to change direction of motion under certain circumstances, i.e., a collision with an obstruction. This allows the robot to move around obstructions whose location and extent were unknown at the time of movement programming.

Control of industrial robots by means of microprocessors

Abstract: The paper deals with the investigation and simulation of various control concepts for industrial robots The nonlinear and the linearized model of a robot with three degrees of freedom of the arm is given and the control laws for the linearized and nonlinear version are compared

Autonomous guidance and control of a roving robot

Abstract: Introduction NASA has embarked upon a Robotics Research Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the purpose of which is to establish a technology base in robotics and semi-autonomous control of unmanned machines or vehicles to support lunar and planetary exploration. The long term objective of the robotics work at JPL is to provide an integrated hardware/software system which is capable of nearly autonomous performance. The present design philosophy seeks to limit the need for human interaction to selection of goals and similar higher level functions. The Rover must then analyze the scene for traversability, generate a planned path to the goal, and follow that path, avoiding any obstacles along the route. We have achieved the capability of performing the scenario just described in a simplified environment; a laboratory with a flat surface, a limited number of obstacles and constant illumination. This paper focuses upon the autonomous guidance and control functions of the Rover which executes the planned trajectory in an incompletely defined environment.

Robot controlling method for preventing collision of the robot with man

Abstract: PURPOSE:To achieve complete automatization of operation of a robot, by laying a load mat in the operable range of robot for detecting the position of a man who walks on the mat, and defining a danger region for making the robot act to meet with the special situation.

Assembly by robots

Abstract: Assembly by robot has been a challenging goal for research and industry from the very beginning of industrial robot development.

Robot learning and error correction

Abstract: We describe a learning paradigm designed to improve the performance of a robot in a partially unpredictable environment The paradigm was suggested by phenomena observed in animal behavior and it models aspects of that behavior (See FI for details) An implementation as a working program is under way, intended for incorporation in the now operational JPL robot Rieger's CSA system is the implementation language and includes a plan synthesizer (RI) A brief overview of the robot's existing system organization is given in Thompson's paper on robot navigation in these proceedings (TI)

Method of controlling industrial robot

Abstract: PURPOSE:To eliminate repeated instruction for an industrial robot by storing the position relation of working pattern as mutual position deviation so that the working object and the position relation with the robot are different.

Incidental and state-dependent phenomena in robot problem solving

Abstract: Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic provides access to digitized documents strictly for personal use. Each copy of any part of this document must contain these Terms of use. This paper has been digitized, optimized for electronic delivery and stamped with digital signature within the project DML-CZ: The Czech Digital Mathematics Library An attempt at a unifying, formal, approach to robot problem solving is outlined. Various new ideas are presented and analyzed. Important among them are the concept of incidental pheno­ mena, which enables us to cope with side-effects of the robot's actions, and an approach dealing with objects identifiable only in certain specific situations.

Adaptive control of a robotic manipulator

Abstract: A control hierarchy for a robotic manipulator is described. The hierarchy includes perception and robot/environment interaction, the latter consisting of planning, path control, and terminal guidance loops. Environment-sensitive features include the provision of control governed by proximity, tactile, and visual sensors as well as the usual kinematic sensors. The manipulator is considered as part of an overall robot system. "Adaptive control" in the present context refers to both the hierarchical nature of the control system and to its environment-responsive nature.

Workpiece orientation correction with a robot arm using visual information

Abstract: If robots had the capability of supplying machines with workpieces which are not preoriented, there would be a substantial increase in the number of robots used in industry. A significant contribution to this development would be a method which yields a trajectory whereby such a robot held workpiece can be transported from its receptacle to a machine fixture without a collision. An algorithm is described to find such a trajectory. This algorithm employs refinement of an initial estimate of the position and orientation of a robot held workpiece. The refinement procedure uses visual information. With the refined estimate of the hand-to-workpiece transformation, the workpiece can be moved through a safe trajectory, which was established during a prior instruction phase.

On measuring errors in a placement task

Abstract: Geometrical transformations are used to specify the spatial relationship between two cubes. The analysis can be applied to the description of the error in a robot placement task in three‐dimensional space, or to the relative location between two arbitrary rigid bodies in such a space.

Control device for positioning robot

Abstract: PURPOSE:To execute complicated work such as arrangement of articles on a base disc by producing an output upon addition of output signal having integer ratio to robot's drive signal with simple control circuit added thereto to the robot for working simple operation of PTP system.

Industrial workpiece handling robot - uses corrective programming to ensure that robot handling head and workpieces arrive together

Abstract: Some general principles are used for controlling the movement of automated industrial workpiece handling robotic machines to ensure that the arrival of a workpiece and a robot handling head coincide correctly when required on the production line. A robotic machine (1) typically has a telescopic, movable arm (2) carrying some tool which is required to operate on workpieces (4, 5) as they move along a path (3) in a production line. The behaviour of the robot and its arm (2) are determined by a programme and the arm position must coincide with that of a workpiece at the beginning of each operation. This is ensured by a set of position transducers (6), which determine the workpiece positions and feed to the programme control a series of correction signals which affect the robot (1) in the required manner.

Method of controlling industrial robot

Abstract: PURPOSE:A controlling method which enables effective programming to be attained for a robot

Robot perception learning

Abstract: A model of robot perception learning is described that duplicates aspects of observed animal performance. The designer incorporates in the model abstract knowledge about the possible observable consequences of actions in the robot's world. In this way the robot can predict an outcome and can compare the expectation with the actual experience. The robot's internalized perceptions of the world may then be linked with the consequences. The model structure permits the robot to reinforce predictions if they are in accord with experience or augment its stored perception knowledge and predictive ability if the predicted consequences disagree with expectation. The learning is accomplished without extensive search over a multi-dimensional space. The model is being implemented as a system called RECOGNIZER, intended to work with situations actually arising in the world of the JPL robot, now operational.

System for controlling vertical and horizontal motions of an articulat ed arm carried in industrial robots

Abstract: PURPOSE:To provide a control system for industrial robots, capable of controlling as desired the vertical and horizontal motions of the arm end of the robot.

V/I‐A visual instruction software system for programming industrial robots

Abstract: The visual instruction software system was designed with typical industrial situations serving as guidelines. The programmer is assumed to have little knowledge of computers. Rather, he is expected to have a detailed knowledge of the task to be performed. The V/I system provides a safe and simple means to communicate this knowledge to the robot control computer. The design of a software system for programming industrial robots is presented. This software system allows the robot's task to be described through visual means. Television cameras and hand‐held arrays of small lights permit the time spent in programming a robot to be radically reduced. Programmers need only place an array of lights in the robot's field of view and press a button on a hand‐held keyboard to specify robot hand position and orientation. Hence, time delays usually encountered when co‐ordinating the movement of robot arm joints are eliminated.

Joint device for industrial robot

Abstract: PURPOSE:To automate complicated operations of an industrial robot by forming elastic joints of spring supports, providing the robot with a tactile sense during the searching operation and forming rigid joints by locking the elastic joints during the handling operation.

Programming a robot in quasi‐natural language

Abstract: The paper illustrates a system for man‐machine interaction in quasi‐natural language. The scope of the interaction is in the description of the sequence of tasks to be executed by an industrial robot for the assembly of mechanical systems.

Robot applications are increasing

Abstract: Industrial robots have become an accepted form of automation for many companies in Western Europe. The multi robot car assembly line is now the rule rather than the exception and this type of application has advanced the state of acceptance of robots as a viable form of automation. But what is the future in other areas and is the industrial robot an economic proposition in less glamorous areas? A recent visit to Sweden, with a few calls in West Germany, revealed a surprisingly wide range of applications for the industrial robot and none more so than in the production work shops of the robot manufacturers themselves. In Sweden high wage rates and strict laws on health and safety at work provide the type of incentive that is conducive to investments in robot automation. But even in this environment robots have to work hard to be economic. They invariably work on two or three shifts and in many applications perform numerous tasks.