Assistive robot systems for container lifting

An assistive robot system comprising:

• a lifting mechanism;
• a movable arm assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism, the movable arm assembly comprises:
• a pair of movable arms, each movable arm of the pair of movable arms comprises a longitudinal telescoping assembly and a lateral telescoping assembly,
• the longitudinal telescoping assembly comprises a plurality of longitudinal telescoping segments configured to extend and retract in the system longitudinal direction, and
• the lateral telescoping assembly comprises a plurality of lateral telescoping segments configured to extend and retract in the system lateral direction;
• a sensor device that senses an area surrounding the assistive robot system;
• and
• a processing device communicatively coupled to the sensor device, the lifting mechanism, and the movable arm assembly,
• wherein:
• data is transmitted from the sensor device to the processing device,
• the processing device processes the data and determines one or more movement commands, and
• the processing device transmits one or more signals corresponding to the one or more movement commands to:
• cause the lifting mechanism and the movable arm assembly to move and grip a container,
• cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system longitudinal direction such that the container gripped within the movable arm assembly is positioned at a release location, and
• cause the movable arm assembly to extend in a system lateral direction such that the container gripped within the movable arm assembly is released from the movable arm assembly at the release location.

An assistive robotic system for transporting a container, the assistive robotic system comprising:

• a drive mechanism comprising a motor;
• one or more wheels coupled to the drive mechanism that drives movement of the one or more wheels;
• a lifting mechanism coupled to the drive mechanism;
• a movable arm assembly coupled to the lifting mechanism, the movable arm assembly comprises:
• a pair of movable arms, each movable arm of the pair of movable arms comprises a longitudinal telescoping assembly and a lateral telescoping assembly,
• the longitudinal telescoping assembly comprises a plurality of longitudinal telescoping segments configured to extend and retract in the system longitudinal direction, and
• the lateral telescoping assembly comprises a plurality of lateral telescoping segments configured to extend and retract in the system lateral direction;
• a processing device communicatively coupled to the lifting mechanism, the movable arm assembly and the drive mechanism;
• and
• a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the processing device, the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to:
• determine a grip position of the container to receive the movable arm assembly,
• generate one or more movement commands that corresponds to one or more movements for the drive mechanism, the lifting mechanism and the movable arm assembly wherein the one or more movement commands correspond to the movement command to grip the container,
• transmit one or more movement commands to the movable arm assembly, the lifting mechanism and the drive mechanism, wherein the one or more movement commands correspond to the movement command to move the container in a system vertical direction,
• determine a release position of the container,
• transmit one or more movement commands to the movable arm assembly, the lifting mechanism and the drive mechanism, wherein the one or more movement commands correspond to the movement command to transport the container, and
• generate at least one movement command to the movable arm assembly, the lifting mechanism and the drive mechanism, wherein the one or more movement commands correspond to the movement command to release the container.