Continuous motion robotic manipulator

Abstract

A continuous motion robotic device including a first robotic arm, a second robotic arm, a third robotic arm, and a drive system. The robotic arms are coaxially arranged, each including an end effector for performing useful work on an object and can continuously rotate a full 360. The drive system commonly controls the three robotic arms and defines a central axis about which the device rotates. The device is capable of high-speed operation in that the robotic arms are sequentially presented to various work environment stations via rotation about the central axis. In one preferred embodiment, each of the robotic arms provides three degrees of freedom. In another preferred embodiment, each robotic arm includes at least a first primary joint and a second primary joint, with the first primary joints being coupled and the second primary joints being coupled. Alternatively, the primary joints are decoupled.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.