Mobile robot system for handling railway IBC
OwnerMing Zhanginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a mobile robot manipulator system for handling railway inter box connectors for securement of shipping containers to the intermodal railcars, in a railway yard under an outdoor working environment, with a unique end-effector design incorporating at least two independently actuated and redundant grippers, supplemented by an additional aerial lift and aerial anchor to help stabilize the position of the movable base of the manipulator, a manipulator docking station to help protect the manipulator, end-effector, vision camera, and other sensitive equipment from damages against shock and under all weather conditions, and a sure grip methodology for safely transporting the railway inter box connector by the robot manipulator.
Claims20
A manipulator for manipulating a container connector, the manipulator comprising a controller, a robotic arm with a minimum of four degrees of freedom, an arm base, and a picking tool,
- the robotic arm being connected to the arm base at one end and the picking tool at the opposite end,
- the container connector having at least a connector flange, two connector cones, and a handle, the two connector cones being connected and rotatable relative to the connector flange, the container connector being capable of switching at least between a locked state and an unlocked state by rotation of the connector cones relative to the connector flange triggered by a position change of the handle,
- a container having corner posts and corner castings at the end of the corner posts,
- the connector cones being capable of fitting into the corner castings,
- the manipulator being capable of, solely through the movement of the robotic arm, performing the container connector manipulation including locking, unlocking, removal, and installation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.