Systems and methods for maintaining vacuum hose life in hose routing systems in programmable motion systems
AssigneeBerkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc.
InventorsCalvin Toothaker, John Richard Amend, Jr., Benjamin Cohen, Christopher Geyer, Matthew T. Mason, Thomas Wagner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A programmable motion robotic system is disclosed that includes a plurality of arm sections that are joined one to another at a plurality of joints to form an articulated arm, and a hose coupling an end effector of the programmable motion robotic system to a vacuum source. The hose is attached to at least one arm section of the articulated arm by a pass-through coupling that permits the hose to pass freely through the coupling as the plurality of arm sections are moved about the plurality of joints.
Claims32
A programmable motion robotic system comprising:
- a plurality of arm sections that are joined one to another at a plurality of joints to form an articulated arm;
- and
- a hose coupling an end effector of the programmable motion robotic system to a vacuum source;
- a pass-through coupling, said hose being attached to at least one arm section of the articulated arm by the pass-through coupling that permits the hose to pass freely through the coupling as the plurality of arm sections are moved about the plurality of joints;
- and
- a control system processor that identifies one or more restricted areas of movement of the articulated arm based on a movement model of the hose to prevent unwanted forces on the hose, wherein the unwanted forces includes any of a stress, a strain, a bending, a torsion, and a compression on the hose.
The programmable motion robotic system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the programmable motion robotic system further includes a ring collar to which the hose is attached, said ring collar permitting free rotational movement of the hose with respect to the collar.
A programmable motion robotic system comprising:
- a plurality of arm sections that are joined one to another at a plurality of joints to form an articulated arm;
- and
- a hose coupling an end effector of the programmable motion robotic system to a vacuum source;
- a pass-through coupling, said hose being attached, in a joint portion of the hose, to at least two arm sections with a joint between the at least two arm sections, such that the hose is coupled to one arm section of the at least two arm sections by the pass-through coupling that permits the hose to pass freely through the coupling when the one arm section is rotated about the joint with respect to another arm section of the at least two arm sections;
- and
- a control system processor that determines a plurality of possible routes for moving the articulated arm from a first position to a second position, models a stress on the hose associated with each route, and moves the articulated arm from the first position to the second position along a selected route from among the plurality of possible routes, wherein the modeled stress on the hose for the selected route is less than a predetermined threshold.
A method of minimizing forces on a hose in a programmable motion system that includes an end effector on an articulated arm that is coupled to a vacuum source by the hose, said method comprising:
- providing a pass-through coupling on an arm section of the articulated arm;
- moving the arm section of the articulated arm;
- permitting the hose to move through the pass-through coupling to reduce any of binding or bending of the hose;
- and
- restricting a movement of the articulated arm from a first position to a second position when the movement is determined to potentially cause unwanted forces on the hose, which includes:
- modeling an amount of any bending, torsion, and binding of the hose that is expected to occur along a proposed route for moving the end effector of the articulated arm from a first position to a second position;
- eliminating the proposed route for moving the end effector of the articulated arm in response to determining that the modeled amount of any bending, torsion, and binding of the hose along the proposed route exceeds a threshold;
- and
- moving the end effector from the first position to the second position along the proposed route in response to determining that the modeled amount of any bending, torsion, and binding of the hose along the proposed route does not exceed the threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.