A method is provided that includes: receiving designation of one or more operation sections; generating a plurality of path candidates of a robot for a target operation section of the one or more operation sections; displaying the plurality of path candidates on a user interface; receiving a selection of one of the plurality of path candidates; and deciding the selected path candidate as the operation path of the target operation section.

Disclosed herein are systems, devices, and methods for real-time motion and path planning. The real-time motion and path planner may generate occupancy information about an environment around a robot. The occupancy information represents defined volumes of space of the environment, and each defined volume of space is associated with a corresponding occupancy probability. The motion/path planner also determines a sequence of robot configurations between a starting and a target configuration based on the occupancy information, wherein the sequence of robot configurations defines poses of the robot that occupy selected ones of the defined volumes of space. The motion/path planner also generates an instruction for the robot based on the sequence of robot configurations, wherein the instruction includes trajectory information to control the robot to move from the starting configuration to the target configuration through the sequence of robot configurations.

A transfer method transfers a substrate between a transfer unit configured to hold and transfer the substrate and a substrate stage serving as a transfer destination or a transfer source of the substrate. The transfer method includes: acquiring positional information of the transfer unit and positional information of the substrate stage; determining whether or not there is a risk for the substrate to contact with the substrate stage, based on the acquired positional information of the transfer unit and positional information of the substrate stage; and when determined that there is a risk for the substrate to contact with the substrate stage, notifying the risk according to the determination at the determining.

A method of performing motion planning for a robot in a workspace discretized into workspace elements includes generating or receiving a first model and determining a first set comprising one or more workspace elements that are at least partially in collision with the first model for each of a plurality of states and the respective transition(s) between those states. A first mapping is generated including information regarding the first set and the respective states and transition(s). The method further includes generating or receiving a second model extending from the first model and determining a second set including one or more further workspace elements, additional to those in the first set, that are at least partially in collision with the second model for each of the plurality of states and transitions between those states. A second mapping including information regarding said second set and the respective states and transition(s) is generated.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a technology enabling interference between a robot and a peripheral object to be reliably avoided, while confirming the safety of a generated robot path. A robot control device 3 is provided with: a data transmitting and receiving unit 32 for acquiring a robot path generated in such a way as to avoid interference between a robot 30 and a peripheral object, on the basis of a three-dimensional model of the robot 30 and the peripheral object; an interference determining unit 35 for determining, for each prescribed sector, whether there is a high probability of the robot 30 interfering with the peripheral object when the robot 30 is moved in accordance with the acquired robot path; and an override changing unit 36 for lowering the speed of the robot 30 or stopping the movement of the robot 30 for sectors in which the interference determining unit 35 has determined that the probability of interference is high.

A path planning apparatus is provided with a path planning unit that generates a path of a robot using a plurality of different path planning methods that respectively correspond to a plurality of different constraints determined from the posture of the robot and the characteristics of one or more obstacles that obstruct movement of the robot, an acquisition unit that acquires posture information indicating an initial posture of a robot for which a path is to be generated and a target posture of the robot, and obstacle information indicating a target obstacle that obstructs movement of the robot from the initial posture to the target posture, and a controller that controls the path planning unit so as to generate a path of the robot using a path planning method corresponding to a constraint determined from the posture information and the obstacle information acquired by the acquisition unit.

A robotic arm assembly includes a robotic arm, a base, and a utility member, the robotic arm extending between a root end attached to the base and a distal end including the utility member. A method for controlling the robotic arm assembly includes: determining a position of the base, the root end, or both relative to the environment; determining a task position and orientation for the utility member within the environment; determining a three-dimensional constraint of the environment; and determining a path for the robotic arm through the environment based on each of the position of the base, the root end, or both relative to the environment, the task position and orientation for the utility member within the environment, and the three-dimensional constraint of the environment.

An interference determination apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires region information indicating regions set in a configuration space in which the angles of rotation of two or three specific joints of an articulated robot are indicated by coordinate axes, the regions including an interference region in which the robot is determined to interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of the specific joints, and a non-interference region in which the robot is determined to not interfere with itself or an obstacle based on the magnitudes of the angles of rotation of specific joints; and a determination unit that determines whether the robot interferes with itself or an obstacle, by determining whether coordinates indicating a posture determined by the angles of rotation of the specific joints belong to the interference region or the non-interference region indicated by the acquired region information.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer-readable storage devices, for robot navigation using 2D and 3D path planning. In the disclosed method, a robot accesses map data indicating two-dimensional layout of objects in a space and evaluates candidate paths for the robot to traverse. In response to determining that the candidate paths do not include a collision-free path across the space for a two-dimensional profile of the robot, the robot evaluates a three-dimensional shape of the robot with respect to a three-dimensional shape of an object in the space. Based on the evaluation of the three-dimensional shapes, the robot determines a collision-free path to traverse through the space.

Apparatuses, systems, and techniques to perform collision-free motion generation (e.g., to operate a real-world or virtual robot). In at least one embodiment, at least a portion of the collision-free motion generation is performed in parallel.