Specifiable mobility for a robotic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9827679-B2
Application number	US-201514938909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 12, 2015
Priority date	Nov 20, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A robotic device includes a kinematic chain of a plurality of components, movable relative to each other; a sensor device configured to capture a force and/or moment exerted on at least one of the mobile components; a control device configured to control a movement of the at least one of the mobile components, in the direction of the force that is exerted, as a function of the force captured by the control device and/or of the moment captured by the control device; and a first capture device coupled to the control device and provided for the purpose of contactlessly capturing an operating action of an operator. In a normal operating mode, the control device is configured to specify a mobility of at least one of the mobile components as a function of the captured operating action, improving accuracy and reliability of the device in interaction with a human operator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A robotic device, comprising:
a kinematic chain of a plurality of mobile components, movable relative to each other;
a sensor device, configured to capture at least one of a force and a moment exerted on at least one of the mobile components;
a control device, configured as to control a movement of the at least one of the mobile components at least one of,
in a direction of the force exerted,
as a function of the force captured by the sensor device,
as a function of the moment captured by the sensor device;

a first capture device, coupled to the control device and provided for hands free capturing constraint commands of an operator during operation of the robotic device; and
a further capture device, coupled to the control device and used to capture at least one of a further constraint command or an operating action, wherein
in a normal operating mode, the control device is so configured as to specify a mobility of at least one of the mobile components, as a function of the constraint command captured by the first capture device, by enabling or disabling at least one movement assigned to the constraint command, and wherein the control device is configured to take the constraint command captured by the first capture device, in the event that the operating action relates to a disabling of an assigned movement, into consideration only if it is captured within a specified time interval with a further input captured by the further capture device and, in the event that the constraint command relates to an enabling of an assigned movement, to take the constraint command into consideration irrespective of a further input being captured by the further capture device.

2. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to enable or disable at least one group of movements as a function of the constraint command.

3. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device is a robot of lightweight construction having a mass of less than 70 kg.

4. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the first capture device comprises at least one of a voice capture device and a gesture capture device, and is configured to capture a voice instruction or a gesture as the constraint command.

5. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the control device is configured to take the constraint command captured by the first capture device into consideration only if it is captured within a specified time interval with the at least one further constraint command or the operating action captured by the further capture device.

6. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein, in an emergency mode, the control device is configured to restrict the mobility of the at least one mobile component to at least one backward movement, in which the at least one mobile component of the kinematic chain moves opposite to a last performed movement.

7. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensor device comprises at least one of:
a torque sensor device, integrated in the robotic device, and
a force sensor device, integrated in the robotic device.

8. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device comprises an identification device coupled to the control device and is used to identify the operator, and wherein the control device is configured so as to at least one of enable and disable a movement assigned to the constraint command only if the operator identified by the identification device is authorized to at least one of enable and disable according to a specified assignment.

9. The robotic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a device to at least one of
prevent movement into a spatial region occupied by a person, and
avoid or give way to a person who moves into a spatial region occupied by the robot.

10. The robotic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a medical robotic device.

11. The robotic device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a detection device, coupled to the control device and by which at least one movement of at least a partial region of a patient is capturable, wherein in addition to the specification of the mobility of the at least one mobile component in the normal operating mode, in a compensation mode the control device is configured to compensate for the movement of the partial region of the patient by moving at least one mobile component irrespective of the mobility that has been set.

12. A method for operating a robotic device including a kinematic chain of a plurality of mobile components movable relative to each other, a sensor device to capture a force exerted on at least one of the mobile components of the robotic device, and a control device to control a movement of the mobile components in a direction of the exerted force as a function of a force captured by the sensor device, the method comprising:
hands free capturing a constraint command of an operator during operation of the robotic device via a first capture device; and
specifying a mobility of at least one mobile component via the control device in a normal operating mode as a function of the captured constraint command
capturing at least one further constraint command or an operating action via a further capture device coupled to the control device, and
taking the constraint command captured by the first capture device, in the event that an operating action relates to a disabling of an assigned movement, into consideration only if it is captured within a specified time interval with a further input captured by the further capture device and, in the event that the constraint command relates to an enabling of an assigned movement, to take the constraint command into consideration irrespective of a further input being captured by the further capture device.

13. The robotic device of claim 2 , wherein the control device is configured to at least one of:
disable translational movements having a movement portion which extends parallel to a specified plane or surface,
disable translational movements in a specified direction,
disable translational movements having a speed which exceeds a maximum speed,
disable rotational movements which do not take place about a specified axis of rotation or a specified center of rotation, and
disable rotational movements having an angular speed which exceeds a threshold angular speed.

14. The robotic device of claim 3 , wherein the robotic device is a robot of lightweight construction having a mass of less than 35 kg.

15. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the further capture device is at least one of:
a foot switch,
a heel switch, and
a viewing direction detector.

16. The robotic device of claim 6 , wherein, the at least one mobile component of the kinematic chain is an end element of the kinematic chain, and moves opposite to a last performed movement along a trajectory.

17. The robotic device of claim 1 , wherein the robotic device is configured for human-robot cooperation.

18. The robotic device of claim 9 , wherein the robotic device is configured for human-robot cooperation.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the mobility of the at least one mobile component is specified by enabling or disabling at least one movement assigned to the constraint command.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Kuth Rainer
• Mewes Philip

Classifications

• B25J13/02

  Hand grip control means {(handles or pedals for crane control B66C13/56; for measuring the force applied to control members G01L5/22; hand-held casings for switching devices, e.g. joy-sticks H01H9/0214)} · CPC title

• B25J9/1676

  Avoiding collision or forbidden zones · CPC title

• B25J13/04

  Foot-operated control means · CPC title

• B25J9/1689 Primary

  Teleoperation · CPC title

• Y10S901/04

  Manual lead through · CPC title