Did You Know...
...that Robert Adler has the dubious distinction of being the Father of the Couch Potato? Back in 1955 Adler was employed by what was then Zenith Radio Corp., where he was charged to invent something that would allow viewers to turn down the TV volume without leaving their chairs. After a series of flops (such as a wired contraption that people tripped over), Adler hit on the idea of using sound waves. Thus the Remote Control was born...
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5184051 | Method for program control for an industrial robot for automatic coating of workpieces In the program control of a robot intended for painting vehicles and in order to facilitate finding the numerous coating parameters stored in a robot movement program, coordination between the process parameter change point and the relevant coating parame... | 02/02/1993 |
| 5159249 | Method and apparatus for controlling robot motion at and near singularities and for robot mechanical design This invention relates to the field of computer controlled robotics. More specifically, it relates to a novel method and algorithm to symbolically decompose the robot jacobian matrix, in such a way that the robot jacobian Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse is o... | 10/27/1992 |
| 5153492 | Servo amplifier The servo amplifier is used for driving power transistors supplying current to a D.C. servo motor. The servo amplifier includes a control signal input; a tach signal input; circuitry coupled to the inputs for creating an error signal between the control s... | 10/06/1992 |
| 5070481 | Coordinated circuit for supplying power from a D-C source to a microcomputer and its semiconductor memories A microcomputer (10) in a motor vehicle is supplied with regulated operating voltage through a regulator (12) and a semiconductor (11) for the microcomputer is supplied with voltage from the same vehicle battery, through a voltage divider including a Zene... | 12/03/1991 |
| 5063337 | Electric motor regulation to obtain desired speed curve Regulation of the speed of an electric motor is accomplished by counting the number of periods of AC current and modulating the pulses supplied to the motor. The speed of the motor is regulated according to a speed reference curve. The technique is especi... | 11/05/1991 |
| 5038089 | Synchronized computational architecture for generalized bilateral control of robot arms A master six-degree-freedom Force Reflecting Hand Controller ("FRHC") is available at a master site where a received image displays, in essentially real-time, a remote robotic manipulator which is being controlled in the corresponding six-degree-freedom b... | 08/06/1991 |
| 5013986 | Actuating drive for positioning a rotary element A rotary element (10) such as a robot arm is to be positioned by an actuating drive to a position determined by a desired value signal. An angle pick-off (20) provides an actual value signal. A first controller (36) provides a first controller output sign... | 05/07/1991 |
| 4999553 | Method and apparatus for configuration control of redundant robots A method and apparatus to control a robot or manipulator configuration over the entire motion based on augmentation of the manipulator forward kinematics. A set of kinematic functions is defined in Cartesian or joint space to reflect the desirable configu... | 03/12/1991 |
| 4998051 | Adaptive control system An adaptive control system, for a plant such as a servo motor, a heat pump and the like where its input distribution matrix is known and the number of effective inputs is the same as the number of independent outputs, comprising: an unknown dynamics value... | 03/05/1991 |
| 4992711 | Positioning controlling device A positioning controlling device for improving the machining accuracy of a work of a non-circular shape. A control axis is driven in accordance with an input function consisting of position instruction data corresponding to a machining shape of a work, an... | 02/12/1991 |
| 4992672 | Dual or single voltage vehicular power supply with improved switch driver and load pump A dual voltage power supply is disclosed for vehicles equipped with a DC generator, a single storage battery, a low voltage load circuit including the storage battery, and a high voltage load circuit including load devices designed to be powered by voltag... | 02/12/1991 |
| 4990841 | Magnetically guided vehicle Disclosed is a computer control device designed to be incorporated in a vehicle such as, for example, a robotic vehicle, which device is designed to be used to guide the vehicle in a desired path. The device includes a multiplicity of Hall effect sensors ... | 02/05/1991 |
| 4990838 | Movement trajectory generating method of a dynamical system A movement trajectory generating system of a dynamical system uses neural network units (1, 2, 3) including cascade connection of a first layer (11, 21, 31), a second layer (12, 22, 32), a third layer (13, 23, 33) and a fourth layer (14, 24, 34), to learn... | 02/05/1991 |
| 4990844 | DC braking of inverter-driven AC motors A DC braking system for an inverter-driven induction motor, (e.g., three-phase). When a braking command occurs, the normal gating sequence of the inverter stops. Mode 1 of the braking procedure starts. In Mode 1, two semiconductor phase switches of the gr... | 02/05/1991 |
| 4990839 | Modular robotic system A modular robotic system is provided with one or more robotic arm sets constructed from modular components and controlled by a central processor to displace an end effector or tool through a desired movement or movements as a function of time. Each arm se... | 02/05/1991 |
| 4988936 | Correlated coarse position error processor A technique for overcoming the difficulties that arise from the transition between coarse and fine loop control. Coarse and fine phase locked loops, each having a respective latch, provide a coarse number in the range 000.0°-359.9° and a fine number in ... | 01/29/1991 |
| 4985638 | Valve control circuit for irrigation system A circuit for the remote control of solenoid operated valves in an irrigation system reduces by one half the amount of wire required for the system. At least one pair of first and second solenoids are connected to a source of supply of alternating curent,... | 01/15/1991 |
| 4980626 | Method and apparatus for positioning a robotic end effector A robotic end effector and operation protocol provide for a reliable grasp of a target object irrespective of the target's contours. A robotic hand 30 includes a plurality of jointed fingers 31-34, one of which, like a thumb 31, is in opposed relation to ... | 12/25/1990 |
| 4980627 | Numerically controlled apparatus A numerically controlled apparatus wherein a tool can be returned by a high speed retrograding operation without damaging a chip of a tool or a work. The numerically controlled apparatus comprises a command executing block which decodes a working program ... | 12/25/1990 |
| 4980625 | Apparatus and method for servo control system The present invention is provided to suppress mechanical resonance which is likely to be generated in a mechanically driven and controlled apparatus such as robots, machine tools, etc. due to their low rigidity. In order to achieve this object, the presen... | 12/25/1990 |
| 4978865 | Circuit for regulating a pulsating current In a circuit for controlling a pulsating current through an inductor, particularly the coil of an electromagnetic valve, the inductor is connected in series with a semiconductor switch and in parallel with a free-running diode. Furthermore a desired-value... | 12/18/1990 |
| 4978900 | DC sine cosine servo system A DC to DC sine/cosine positioning servo system has an electro-mechanical DC to AC converter. The latter includes a DC torquer, having a rotor with respective windings for receiving two DC input signals proportional to the error signals detected. Mechania... | 12/18/1990 |
| 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 |
| 4973895 | Motor drive method for an industrial robot A motor drive method is provided which is capable of preventing suspension of operation of an industrial robot, and preventing deviation of the track of movement from a command track, attributable to an overload state of a motor. Output torque command val... | 11/27/1990 |
| 4972133 | Fail-safe means for electrical power steering A fail-safe arrangement for an electrical power steering system is directed to providing a control arrangement for a power steering motor which will prevent abnormal operation from having adverse impact. The control system detects the welding or sticking ... | 11/20/1990 |
| 4972131 | Method of an apparatus for controlling velocity of industrial robot A method of and apparatus for controlling the velocity of an industrial robot where the velocity is controlled without producing an edge when an instruction velocity is higher than an allowable velocity and an operator can readily recognize the actual vel... | 11/20/1990 |
| 4972094 | Lighting devices with quantum electric/light power converters Lighting devices are described in which the light source comprises a plurality of light emitting structures utilizing the direct conversion of electron energy to photon energy, at high efficiency. Structures are described which will emit color or white li... | 11/20/1990 |
| 4970448 | Method of and apparatus for ascertaining motion abilities of industrial robot In an industrial robot employing electric motors (Mz, Mθ, Mu, Mw) as drive sources for driving functional robot units for movement respectively about articulatory axes (Z, θ, U, W), electric drive currents supplied to the electric motors (Mz, Mθ, Mu, M... | 11/13/1990 |
| 4970450 | Deriving rotational rate and angular position with a function generator Angular position and rotation rate of a function generator having stator windings and rotor windings are determined by first amplitude modulating a carrier oscillation to form a sine signal and a cosine signal and then feeding the sine signal and cosine s... | 11/13/1990 |
| 4970447 | Software servo control apparatus for use in an injection molding machine A software servo control apparatus for use in an electrically-operated injection molding machine, which is capable of changing servo control variable constants, without the need of changing hardware arrangement, for greatly enhancing versatility for the m... | 11/13/1990 |
| 4968924 | Driving apparatus for running unit of robot A driving apparatus for smoothly driving a running unit of a robot, including a movable table movably supported by first and second gear mechanisms driven by independent first and second motors engaging with respective two parallel racks to carry a robot ... | 11/06/1990 |
| 4968923 | Servo control system A servo control system has a motor for a control and a device for commanding target distance and velocity of movement of the control so as to actuate the motor in accordance with commands from the commanding device. The system further includes a distribut... | 11/06/1990 |
| 4968925 | Universal field-oriented controller A universal field-oriented controller (UFO) for an induction machine drive is capable of decoupling flux and torque in an arbitrary flux reference frame. Transitions between reference frames, including rotor flux, stator flux and air gap flux, are made by... | 11/06/1990 |
| 4967125 | Tool posture control method for a robot A tool posture control method for a robot is provided, which is capable of always controlling the posture of a tool as intended, between a starting point and an ending point of operation, in moving the tool from the starting point toward the ending point ... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4967124 | Servo control apparatus In a servo control apparatus wherein a load is controlled by a deviation between a command signal corresponding to a target value and a detected position signal of an actuator of a servo system and which has a plurality of the servo systems arranged in pa... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4967131 | Electronic motor starter An electronic motor starter for use with a single-phase induction motor in which the hysterisis width can be adjusted in the range of 75 volts by providing for the control of a positive feedback characteristic of NAND gates and a strength of input signal.... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4967126 | Method of controlling a seven degree of freedom manipulator arm The present invention is a control system for a seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. The robotic arm (10) includes two links (12 and 14), each having two degrees of freedom, and a spherical wrist (26) having three degrees of freedom. The kinematics of the... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4967127 | Robot with controlled tool tracking displacement A tracking control robot controls its arm end, which holds a tool, to track a taught path so that a reaction force between a workpiece and the tool remains constant. An ideal state for the arm end is determined from the present state of the arm end and th... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4967130 | Method and apparatus for controlling a storage and retrieval machine A control system for a storage and retrieval machine is disclosed in which a supervisory control is responsive to operating commands from a remote source to provide operating instructions for the control of the base, carriage and shuttle of the storage an... | 10/30/1990 |
| 4965461 | Automatic light-extinguishing circuit An automatic light-extinguishing circuit (60) is disclosed for extinguishing, for example, the headlights (30) of an automobile some interval of time after the ignition switch (54) is opened. The circuit includes a temperature-actuated switch (72), switch... | 10/23/1990 |
