US 11,806,864 B2
Robot arm assemblies including fingers having deformable sensors
Alexander Alspach, Somerville, MA (US); Naveen Suresh Kuppuswamy, Arlington, MA (US); Avinash Uttamchandani, Cambridge, MA (US); Samson F. Creasey, Cambridge, MA (US); Russell L. Tedrake, Needham, MA (US); Kunimatsu Hashimoto, Brookline, MA (US); Erik C. Sobel, Newton, MA (US); and Takuya Ikeda, Nagakute (JP)
Assigned to TOYOTA RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., Los Altos, CA (US); and TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by Toyota Research Institute, Inc., Los Altos, CA (US); and TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on Jan. 18, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/156,113.
Application 18/156,113 is a continuation of application No. 16/909,804, filed on Jun. 23, 2020, granted, now 11,584,026.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/984,083, filed on Mar. 2, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/977,468, filed on Feb. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0150148 A1, May 18, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B25J 15/12 (2006.01); B25J 15/00 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 15/12 (2013.01) [B25J 15/0033 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A robot arm assembly for detecting a pose and a force associated with an object, the robot arm assembly comprising:
a robot arm including an end effector;
a deformable sensor provided on the end effector, the deformable sensor comprising:
a housing; and
a deformable membrane coupled to the housing;
a processor communicatively coupled to the deformable sensor; and
a memory module comprising a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
receive an output from the deformable sensor, the output comprising a contact region of the deformable membrane as a result of contact with the object;
determine an amount of displacement of the contact region of the deformable membrane based on the output from the deformable sensor; and
determine the pose and the force associated with the object based on the amount of displacement of the contact region of the deformable membrane.