Methods and apparatus for controlling a gripper of a robotic device
AssigneeBoston Dynamics, Inc.
InventorsNeil Neville, Kyle Edelberg, Scott Gilroy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for controlling a robotic gripper of a robotic device are provided. The method includes activating a plurality of vacuum assemblies of the robotic gripper to grasp one or more objects, disabling one or more of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is less than a first threshold, assigning a score to each of the one or more disabled vacuum assemblies, reactivating the one or more disabled vacuum assemblies in an order based, at least in part, on the assigned scores, and grasping the one or more objects with the robotic gripper when a grasp quality of the robotic gripper is higher than a second threshold.
Claims22
A method, comprising:
- activating a plurality of vacuum assemblies of a robotic gripper to grasp one or more objects;
- disabling one or more of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is less than a first threshold;
- and
- reactivating the one or more disabled vacuum assemblies in an order based, at least in part, on a proximity of the disabled vacuum assembly to at least one activated vacuum assembly of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is greater than the first threshold.
4-7. (canceled)
A controller for a robotic gripper, the controller comprising:
- at least one computer processor programmed to:
- activate a plurality of vacuum assemblies of a robotic gripper to grasp one or more objects;
- disable one or more of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is less than a first threshold;
- and
- reactivate the one or more disabled vacuum assemblies in an order based, at least in part, on a proximity of the disabled vacuum assembly to at least one activated vacuum assembly of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is greater than the first threshold.
(canceled)
A mobile robotic device, comprising:
- a robotic gripper comprising a plurality of vacuum assemblies and at least one pressure sensor associated with each vacuum assembly of the plurality of vacuum assemblies;
- and
- at least one computer processor programmed to:
- activate the plurality of vacuum assemblies of the robotic gripper to grasp one or more objects;
- disable one or more of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is less than a first threshold;
- and
- reactivate the one or more disabled vacuum assemblies in an order based, at least in part, on a proximity of the disabled vacuum assembly to at least one activated vacuum assembly of the plurality of vacuum assemblies having a seal quality with the one or more objects that is greater than the first threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.