US 11,787,045 B2
Robot with an inverse kinematics (IK)-based controller for retargeting input motions
Moritz Niklaus Bacher, Zurich (CH); Lars Espen Knoop, Zurich (CH); Michael Anthony Hopkins, Pasadena, CA (US); Kyle Michael Cesare, Burbank, CA (US); Christian Gabriel Schumacher, Aarau (CH); and Stelian Coros, Zurich (CH)
Assigned to Disney Enterprises, Inc., Burbank, CA (US)
Filed by Disney Enterprises, Inc., Burbank, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 6, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/224,012.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/139,242, filed on Jan. 19, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0226987 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. B25J 9/16 (2006.01); B25J 13/08 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 9/1607 (2013.01) [B25J 13/088 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A robot, comprising:
a kinematic structure with mechanical joints, bodies interconnected with the mechanical joints, and at least one actuator for imparting movements to the kinematic structure; and
a controller generating control signals to operate the kinematic structure to selectively move the at least one movable body,
wherein the controller includes an inverse kinematics (IK) solver,
wherein the controller processes input motions with the IK solver by solving inverse kinematics to retarget the input motions onto the kinematic structure with the control signals,
wherein the IK solver solves the inverse kinematics by applying kinematic constraints to at least one of the mechanical joints to prevent disassembly of the kinematic structure, and by applying soft constraints to an IK target associated with a point on the kinematic structure, and
wherein the solving of the inverse kinematics is configured to prevent velocity singularities when the kinematic structure operates based on the control signals.