Did You Know...
...Chester Carlson was a patent agent who tired of having to make multiple copies of patent applications using the only duplication method available at the time: carbon paper. In 1959 he came up with a new copying system and took it to IBM for evaluation. The "experts" at IBM determined potential sales to be only 5,000 units because people wouldn't want to use a bulky machine when they had carbon paper. Carlson's invention was the xerography process, the company founded on the system is Xerox.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7402972 | Device for feeding an actuating drive that can be driven wirelessly An actuating drive (60), that can be fed by a battery (6), for an actuator (5) comprises a drive unit (61) for operating the actuator (5), and a control unit (62), capable of communicating with an external station (70... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7336814 | Method and apparatus for machine-vision A system and method facilitate machine-vision, for example three-dimensional pose estimation for target objects, using one or more images sensors to acquire images of the target object at one or more positions, and to identify features of the target object in the re... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7245994 | Apparatus for cleaning lines on a playing surface and associated methods, enhancements An apparatus and method for clearing a playing surface are provided. The apparatus preferably includes a chassis or frame, a sensor connected to the chassis to sense a location of a line on a playing surface that needs to be cleaned, and a drive connected to the cha... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7231277 | Surface shape determining device for a machining apparatus and surface shape determining method In a state of separating a front end face of an air injecting nozzle 23 from a worked work W by a predetermined interval h, the air injecting nozzle 23 is moved at a constant speed in an X axis direction, injects air from an injecting hole 27... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7151368 | Insert block with pusher to push semiconductor device under test The present invention relates to an insert block for testing semiconductor devices. The insert block comprises one or more pushers, installed in a block body having a loading space to accommodate a semiconductor device under test, including a first push rod to apply... | 12/19/2006 |
| 6847868 | Apparatus for cleaning lines on a playing surface and associated methods An apparatus and method for clearing a playing surface are provided. The apparatus preferably includes a chassis or frame, a sensor connected to the chassis to sense a location of a line on a playing surface that needs to be cleaned, and a drive connected to the cha... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6816754 | Method and system for controlling drive of a robot A method and system for controlling drive of a robot having two or more drive axes and driven in accordance with an action program transmitted from a system controller to a robot controller by a wireless transmission way, checks whether a detected current position o... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6816755 | Method and apparatus for single camera 3D vision guided robotics A method of three-dimensional handling of an object by a robot uses a tool and one camera mounted on the robot and at least six target features which are normal features of the object are selected on the object. The features are used to train the robot in the frame ... | 11/09/2004 |
| 6430473 | Power assist apparatus and control method for same A power assist apparatus includes an autonomously mobile base on which a manipulator for holding a load is mounted. The movement of the mobile base is controlled such that when the manipulator tip is within a prescribed operating region relative to the mo... | 08/06/2002 |
| 6430472 | Robot feature tracking devices and methods Motorized slides are inserted between the end of a robot arm and a robot tool/sensor arrangement to provide additional positioning ability. A control unit of the slides cooperates with the control unit of the sensor to maintain the tool correctly position... | 08/06/2002 |
| 6356807 | Method of determining contact positions, calibration parameters, and reference frames for robot assemblies A method of determining contact positions of a robot relative to a workpiece in a workspace of the robot. The method utilizes the contact positions to determine a location of the workpiece in the robot workspace. The method also monitors an integral opera... | 03/12/2002 |
| 5869945 | Infrared scanner A scanner which includes a motor for driving a load and circuitry for providing a position error signal responsive to the difference between a predicted position of the load and the actual position of the load, preferably a mirror scanning a scene. The mo... | 02/09/1999 |
| 5796610 | Method of detecting seam characteristic points In order to provide a method of detecting seam characteristic points which makes it possible to accurately and quickly detect seam characteristic points, which are used as work target positions, by using coordinate data of a series of distance points dete... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5576605 | Micro robot and holding case therefor A micro robot which is less than about one cubic centimeter in size and adapted for wireless control and which includes at least two photo sensors (12,14) having detection areas partly overlapping each other, at least a pair of drive units (28, 30) adapte... | 11/19/1996 |
| 5465037 | System and method for tracking a feature on an object using a redundant axis A system and method for seam tracking in real time without path preprogramming uses at least two degrees of freedom and at least one degree of freedom created by a redundant axis. A robot can be used to weld or apply adhesive or sealant to a workpiece tha... | 11/07/1995 |
| 5463292 | Imaging apparatus having rotary table In an imaging apparatus with rotary table having a plurality of control items, operation completion of control items, such as horizontal angle, vertical angle, zoom and focus, of the imaging apparatus and the rotary table is detected by respective complet... | 10/31/1995 |
| 5436543 | Device for duplicating irregular shapes There is disclosed a device for the duplication of irregular shapes that must be reproduced on a surface but cannot be traced directly on the surface. The device includes a stylus, a length of chain or the like attached to the stylus, and a duplicator att... | 07/25/1995 |
| 5426356 | Non-contact profile control method A non-contact profile control method capable of being effectively applied to a model whose contour has an irregularity such as a step-like contour. A non-contact distance sensor generates a dark alarm signal when its measuring beam spot is formed out of i... | 06/20/1995 |
| 5396160 | Method of real-time machine path planning from a math model A robot carrying a milling cutter or other multi-axis machine cuts a physical model and is directly driven in real time from a CAD generated mathematical model. The path planning is carried out in parametric space but with velocity constraints in the mach... | 03/07/1995 |
| 5373150 | Line tracing method and apparatus therefor A FIG. 1 is taken by a camera having optical/electrical elements arrayed in matrix, signals of pixels of the picture taken by the camera 2 are converted into binary data in a binary circuit 11, and the binary data is temporarily stored in a binary data st... | 12/13/1994 |
| 5357096 | Line tracing method and line tracing apparatus A FIG. 1 is taken by a camera having optical/electrical elements arrayed in matrix, signals of pixels of the picture taken by the camera 2 are converted into binary data in a binary circuit 11, and the binary data is temporarily stored in a binary data st... | 10/18/1994 |
| 5343402 | Non-contact digitizing control unit The purpose of the invention is to carry out the most appropriate attitude control of non-contact distance detectors (5a, b) onto the tracer model (6) surface and provide a digitizing control unit with high accuracy. A non-contact distance detecting devic... | 08/30/1994 |
| 5331232 | On-the-fly position calibration of a robotic arm A system and method for verifying the positional integrity of a robotic arm are disclosed. The robotic arm includes a servo mechanism which causes movement of the arm. The servo mechanism has a position encoder which indicates the relative position of the... | 07/19/1994 |
| 5327351 | Non-contact digitizing method When a non-contact tracing of a configuration of a three-dimensional model is carried out, the measurement axis of a tracer head is controlled to always be facing in an optimum direction with respect to a model surface by controlling the attitude of the t... | 07/05/1994 |
| 5321353 | System and method for precisely positioning a robotic tool A system and method for precisely positioning a robotic tool relative to a worksite, wherein the worksite includes a positioning target located at a fixed position relative thereto is disclosed. A camera coupled to the robotic tool detects the target and ... | 06/14/1994 |
| 5283509 | Tracing control system A tracing control system machines a workpiece to a desired contour corresponding to the surface of a model which is being traced. The tracing control system comprises a tracing control circuit, a digitizing circuit, and numerical circuits. The tracing con... | 02/01/1994 |
| 5274563 | Noncontact tracing control system A noncontact tracing control system for tracing machining a workpiece through a tracing of the contour of a model without contact. Coordinate values of a plurality of points on the model surface are acquired from measured values obtained by a plurality of... | 12/28/1993 |
| 5247233 | Digitizing control device for generating tracing data A digitizing control device for generating tracing data related to a shape of a model while a tracer head carries out a non-contact tracing of the model shape. The rotation of the tracer head (4) is controlled in accordance with the inclination of a model... | 09/21/1993 |
| 5245264 | Real time straightness deviation measuring and compensation device for machine tools A real time straightness deviation measuring and compensation device for a machine tool that automatically and continuously compensates for bed way deviation from a truly straight line relative to a workpiece. A wire, parallel to the workpiece or axis of ... | 09/14/1993 |
| 5194791 | Compliant stereo vision target A compliant device attaching to the end of a robot arm and used in conjunction with a stereo vision system. The compliant device compensating for misalignment error in six degrees of freedom, that is x, y, z, pitch, yaw, and clocking (roll) between the en... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5140239 | Non-contact tracer control device A non-contact tracer control device for carrying out a profile machining on a workpiece while tracing the profile of a model in a non-contact fashion. Two non-contact distance detectors (5a, 5b) are slantingly mounted to a tracer head 4) controlled throug... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5136223 | Robot operating method capable of manual correction A robot operating method capable of easily performing manual correction of a previously taught teaching point during an automatic robot operation, and of accurately and effectively performing a desired robot operation without the need of employing a visua... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5126648 | High resolution piggyback linear motor design for placement systems and the like A positioning system for accurately positioning components and the like in which a two-dimensional linear motor moves upon an air bearing across a large platen having a predetermined grid pattern yielding reasonably good resolution. A second two-dimension... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5111126 | Stereo optical guidance system for control of industrial robots A device for the generation of basic electrical signals which are supplied to a computerized processing complex for the operation of industrial robots. The system includes a stereo mirror arrangement for the projection of views from opposite sides of a vi... | 05/05/1992 |
| 5083073 | Method and apparatus for calibrating a vision guided robot A method and apparatus for calibrating a vision-guided robot of the type having a slit light unit for illuminating a workpiece with a target image, a camera for detecting the target image, a tool for working upon the workpiece and a controller for positio... | 01/21/1992 |
| 5079490 | Spindle drive system of machine tool A spindle drive system of a machine tool, wherein a control mode changeover section of a control unit selects one of both a speed control mode for controlling a rotational speed of a spindle through negative feedback of the rotational speed of the spindle... | 01/07/1992 |
| 5079491 | Robot control system A robot control system including a robot, a robot controller for controlling operation of the robot, and a teaching box for teaching the robot through the robot controller. The teaching box includes an input unit separate from the robot controller for ent... | 01/07/1992 |
| 5068588 | Apparatus for mounting a flat package type IC An apparatus for mounting a flat package type IC on a printed circuit board is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a robot hand for holding the IC; cameras each for taking an image of a part of the IC taking an image of a part of the board, which cameras a... | 11/26/1991 |
| 4988200 | Apparatus for automatic tracking and contour measurement Apparatus for automatic tracking and contour measurement comprising electro-optical sensing apparatus mounted on a CNC machining head for providing an output indication of contours of an object in the precise frame of reference of the CNC machining head.... | 01/29/1991 |
| 4977361 | X-Y addressable workpiece positioner and mask aligner using same In an X-Y addressable workpiece positioner the workpiece to be positioned, such as a semiconductive wafer to be aligned with a mask image, is coupled to move with a work stage moveable in X and Y direction and having a two-dimensional array of positioning... | 12/11/1990 |
