US 11,738,457 B2
Motion planning of a robot for various environments and tasks and improved operation of same
Daniel Sorin, Boston, MA (US); George Konidaris, Boston, MA (US); Sean Murray, Cambridge, MA (US); William Floyd-Jones, Boston, MA (US); Peter Howard, Boston, MA (US); and Xianchao Long, Boston, MA (US)
Assigned to REALTIME ROBOTICS, INC., Boston, MA (US)
Appl. No. 16/981,467
Filed by REALTIME ROBOTICS, INC., Boston, MA (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 19, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/023031
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 16, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/183141, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 26, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/646,102, filed on Mar. 21, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0023706 A1, Jan. 28, 2021
Int. Cl. B25J 9/16 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01); B25J 13/08 (2006.01); B25J 15/00 (2006.01); B25J 15/04 (2006.01); B25J 17/02 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 9/1666 (2013.01) [B25J 9/0093 (2013.01); B25J 9/161 (2013.01); B25J 9/1697 (2013.01); B25J 13/088 (2013.01); B25J 15/0019 (2013.01); B25J 15/04 (2013.01); B25J 17/02 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operation in a robotic system on an assembly line that includes at least one conveyor that transports a plurality of objects being assembled along an assembly line, the robotic system including at least one motion planning processor and at least one robot, the at least one robot having at least one appendage, the at least one appendage having at least one joint and at least one end effector, the method comprising:
for each of the objects being assembled, receiving information that represents a respective position and orientation of the respective object;
processing by a plurality of logic circuits of the at least one motion planning processor to determine at least one motion plan for the at least one appendage of the at least one robot that moves the at least one appendage from a first pose to a second pose without collisions, the second pose being a defined position and a defined orientation of a portion of the at least one appendage relative to one of the objects being assembled; and
causing the at least one robot to execute at least one of the determined motion plans by moving the at least one appendage from the first pose to the second pose without collisions,
wherein the at least one appendage is removably coupleable to at least one of a moving portion of the conveyor, to a fixture carried by a portion of the conveyor or to the objects to be assembled to move along therewith, and processing by a plurality of logic circuits of the at least one motion planning processor to determine at least one motion plan for the at least one appendage includes processing to account for a motion of the respective object to be assembled with respect to the conveyor.