Patents on the soles of your shoes...: safety

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Oh, patents! Nao's joints

Still a few more state of the art robotics patents!

Nao’s joints arise as a safety issue in the larger focus on how to prevent unanticipated movement of a humanoid robot, and in particular, injury to a human who might get pinched in the robot’s movements or joints. The anti-pinching system disclosed in WO2015185671, titled Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot, was thus designed to address problems of the prior art focused on solving issues of safety when using humanoid robots, and in particular the risks of pinching.

Indeed, the state of the art had previously explored reducing, or leaving a gap in the movement of a robot’s joints to prevent pinching, which by the same token reduced the sorts of movements that could be performed, and thus limited the anthropomorphism of the humanoid. The state of the art also attempted to limit the force deployed to actuate a joint, but this solution tended to reduce the overall capacity of the humanoid robot, for example, to lift heavy equipment.

In response, this anti-jamming invention thus discloses a passive solution that limits the pinching force of a humanoid joint. It consists in a strategically positioned, soft and flexible membrane, at any area of a humanoid joint (e.g.; hip, elbow, shoulder, knee, wrist) where a risk of pinching might be anticipated. This membrane is able to distort a certain distance (i.e.; the diameter of the round black circle (20) representing a finger in the two included patent drawings), in cases where such a finger might get caught in the humanoid joint, or area between the robot’s trunk and joint. Thus, while the outer shell of the robot’s limbs and trunk are made of hard plastic, certain researched areas of the robot’s outer shell comprise the contiguous invention areas, made of soft and flexible silicone, or rubber, able to accommodate a finger, that could get caught, and thereby passively limiting the pinching force.

This anti-jamming invention is disclosed in a family of patents. The hyperlinked list of patents in this family appears below. The English abstract of the WIPO member of this patent family, WO2015185671, titled Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot, is also included with two patent figure drawings. The two drawings respectively show a black circle (20) representing a finger potentially pinched in Nao’s elbow joint (below), and a black circle (20) representing a finger potentially caught in the space between Nao’s shoulder joint and trunk (above), with both drawings showing the anti-jamming flexible area designed to accommodates the finger, or to limit the pinching force.

The invention relates to the safety of use of a humanoid-type robot. The humanoid-type robot comprises two elements (2, 3) and an articulation (11) with at least one degree of freedom that connects the two elements, the two elements each comprising a skin (22, 23) delimiting the outer surface thereof, the articulation (11) allowing movement in a given range, a first of the two elements (2, 3) being intended to come substantially into contact with a region (25, 26) of the skin (22, 23) of a second of the two elements at one end of the range. According to the invention, the region (25, 26) is flexible such that it can be deformed by a given distance with a force less than a given force. The first element (3) is coupled to the second element (2) by passing through the flexible region (26). [Abstract WO2015185671]

Patent Family

WO2015185671 (A1) ― 2015-12-10 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
AU2015270477 (A1) ― 2016-12-01 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
CA2950652 (A1) ― 2015-12-10 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
EP3152013 (A1) ― 2017-04-12 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
FR3021573 (A1) ― 2015-12-04 - Système anti coincement dans un robot a caractère humanoide
JP2017516672 (a) ― 2017-06-22 -ヒューマノイド型ロボットにおける噛み込み防止システム
KR20170021828 (A) ― 2017-02-28 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
MX2016015823 (A) ― 2017-06-28 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
SG11201609419R (A) ― 2016-12-29 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot
US2017080582 (A1) ― 2017-03-23 - Anti-jamming system in a humanoid-type robot

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Oh, patents! Nao’s sibling (Romeo)

Nao’s youngest and largest sibling is Romeo, a humanoid robot designed as a companion for the elderly. Thus, Romeo is being developed with both specific automated physical capacities and artificial intelligence for cognitive assistance and communication with an elderly population. The robot’s cognitive assistance module includes, for example, breakfast, lunch, nap and dinner routines, and reminders to drink fluids. The conversation module, for example, enables patients to query the robot for time of day, date and the latest news, or for certain tasks, such as “turn on the lights”, “show me a movie”, “answer the phone”, “bring me my glasses”, “follow me”, “let’s exercise:”, “hold this”, “empty the dishwasher”, plus much more, since this is a connected robot, whose functionalities are, in principle, indefinitely expandable with new apps, new extensions, and upgrades.

Indeed, the Romeo platform was actually tested with a consortium of 16 top industrial and academic robotics research partners, such as the CNRS (France’s National Center for Scientific Research) and INRIA (France’s Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation), for more than 4 years. This mega-collaboration has given rise to many patented inventions, some of which inform the design of Nao second-generation robots and the design of Pepper, or alternatively, some of which were tested on Nao before becoming available on Romeo. Such R&D research projects have, for example, focused on hand and wrist operation, gestures to enhance communication, enhanced visual recognition or coordination of visual recognition with gestures in communication, robot safety, and collision avoidance. The following video shows just one such R&D project, focused on Romeo pouring a glass of water, while still tethered to a computer workbench.

The below-listed patent family, related to safe use of a humanoid robot, discloses one of the important inventions, connected to the Romeo project. This is an invention that addresses the issue of preventing damage to surroundings, in case the robot falls, and loses control of its movements. In fact, this invention, titled Safety of a humanoid-type robot in US2017072560, discloses an emergency stop button.

The emergency stop button is triggered when a certain force is exerted that exceeds a given threshold, for example, in case of impact, or if the robot falls, for one reason or another. The button can also be actuated by an operator who wants to take the robot out of service because of some observed malfunction. Otherwise, the force exerted that exceeds a given threshold is preferably exerted by the robot’s movements, and in particular, the robot's head on its trunk, as shown in the appended patent Figure 4, below.

The following is a list of the patents belonging to the patent family disclosing the emergency stop button for the purpose of safely using humanoid robots. The abstract for the US member of the patent family is also included below with Figure 4 of the patent showing the robot's head actuating the switch on the robot's trunk.

A humanoid-type robot comprises two elements and an articulation with at least one degree of freedom linking the two elements, the articulation allowing a travel in a given range in operational operation, a first of the two elements being intended to come into contact with an abutment belonging to a second of the two elements at the end of the range. According to the invention, the robot further comprises at least one switch. The switch is configured to actuate an electrical contact when a force exerted by the first element against the abutment exceeds a given force. [Abstract US2017072560]