Safety system for hand-guiding a robot
AssigneeMantis Robotics, Inc.
InventorsGerry Vannuffelen, Pei Jui Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A safety system for allowing a robot having a controller and at least one movable member to be manually guided by a user includes a sensor module is disposed on a surface of the robot that comprises a user-interaction sensor that produces a sensing signal. The sensor module further includes a resilient member having an outer surface. A motion control module is adapted to move the robot through the controller according to a first threshold of the sensing signal. A safety module is adapted for stopping movement of the robot through the controller according to a second threshold of the sensing signal and represents a potential threat of harm to the user.
Claims13
A robot system comprising:
- a robot having a movable part;
- a sensor disposed on the movable part, wherein the sensor has a layer and is configured to generate a sensor signal indicative of depression of the layer relative to the movable part;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- move the robot according to a manual instruction of guiding the robot when there is a first amount of depression of the layer relative to the movable part, and
- stop the robot when there is a second amount of depression of the layer relative to the movable part, the second amount of depression being greater than the first amount of depression.
A method of controlling a robot, the method comprising:
- with a sensor layer covering at least some of a movable member of the robot, generating sensor signals indicative of an external object that applies a force to the sensor layer that teaches a motion of the movable member to the robot;
- with an actuator, moving the movable member according to the motion when the sensor signal is within a range of values between a first threshold value and a second threshold value, the first threshold value being associated with a first non-zero amount of depression of the sensor layer towards the movable member and the second threshold value being associated with a second non-zero amount of depression of the sensor layer towards the movable member;
- and
- performing a safety stop of the movable member when the sensor signal is outside the range of values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.