Patent ID: 8082064

Claim:
A robotic arm and control system, comprising: a robotic arm which moves in response to one or more command signals; one or more independently controllable fiducials located on said arm, each of said fiducials being an “active” self-illuminating fiducial such that each emits its own light when activated; a 3D sensing device having an associated field-of-view (FOV), positioned such that at least one of said active fiducials and a target object to be manipulated with said arm are in said sensing device's FOV, said sensing device arranged to produce output signals with which the spatial locations of said at least one of said active fiducials and said target object can be determined; and a controller arranged to control the activation of said independently controllable active fiducials, said controller further arranged to receive said output signals from said sensing device, to activate one or more of said active fiducials, and to provide said one or more command signals to said robotic arm, said controller arranged to provide closed loop control of said arm such that said at least one of said active fiducials is moved towards said object.