Cap for a robot arm
AssigneeUniversal Robots A/S
InventorRasmus Borgbjerg Nielsen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to as a cap removably connectable to a robot arm element, the robot arm element comprises a housing having an outer surface and an inner surface. The cap is removably connectable to the outer surface via an upper cavity connectable to an upper protrusion and via at least a first lower cavity connectable to a first lower protrusion. When the cap is connected to the robot arm element, the upper protrusion is fixed in an engaged position in the upper cavity and the first lower protrusion is fixed in an engaged position in the at least first lower cavity by a flexible suspension element.
Claims41
A system comprising:
- a cap that is removably connectable to an element of a robotic arm, the element comprising an upper cavity comprising a protruding part and a lower cavity, the cap comprising:
- an upper protrusion;
- and
- a lower protrusion;
- and
- a flexible suspension element,
- wherein:
- the upper protrusion is connectable to the upper cavity;
- the lower protrusion is connectable to the lower cavity;
- and
- the flexible suspension element is flexible relative to the upper protrusion to hold the upper protrusion in the upper cavity by forcing the upper protrusion against the protruding part of the upper cavity.
A method of applying a cap to an element of a robotic arm, where the cap comprises an upper protrusion and a lower protrusion, where the element of the robotic arm comprises an outer surface comprising an upper cavity and a lower cavity, and where the upper cavity comprises an upper cavity protruding part and an upper cavity suspension rest part, the method comprising:
- causing a flexible suspension element to contact the upper cavity suspension rest part;
- applying a force to the flexible suspension element towards the upper cavity suspension rest part;
- causing the upper protrusion to engage with the upper cavity protruding part and the lower protrusion to engage with the lower cavity;
- and
- releasing the force (i) to allow the flexible suspension element to maintain engagement of the upper protrusion with the upper cavity protruding part and (ii) to maintain engagement of the lower protrusion with the lower cavity.
A system comprising:
- a cap that is removably connectable to an element of a robotic arm, the element comprising an inner surface and an outer surface, the outer surface comprising an upper cavity and a lower cavity;
- and
- a flexible suspension element;
- where the cap comprises:
- an upper protrusion;
- and
- a lower protrusion;
- and
- wherein:
- the upper protrusion is connectable to the upper cavity;
- the lower protrusion is connectable to the lower cavity;
- and
- the flexible suspension element is configured to perform one or both of the following functions:
- (i) to force at least a part of the upper protrusion against a part of the upper cavity or (ii) to force at least a part of the lower protrusion against a part of the lower cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.