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US 12,005,571 B2Granted
Robotic apparatus for operating on fixed frames
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsShubhabrata Biswas, Samuel Gardner Garrett, Dhruv Dipak Gajaria
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robotic apparatus including a plurality of rigid body sections that move relative to each other by one or more multi-degree of freedom joints. The robotic apparatus can traverse a fixed frame by attaching its distal ends to the frame and moving the rigid body sections relative to each other.
Claims14
A system, comprising:
- a robotic apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of rigid body sections, each rigid body section having a pair of first and second distal portions that are oppositely disposed from each other along the rigid body section, and each rigid body section defining a longitudinal axis that runs a length of the rigid body section and intercepts each of the first distal portion and second distal portion;
- one or more multi-degree of freedom joints, wherein each multi-degree of freedom joint directly couples a respective pair of rigid body sections so that the respective pair of rigid body sections move relative to each other by the multi-degree of freedom joint;
- a first end effector connected to a first distal portion of a first rigid body section, wherein a second distal portion of the first rigid body section is connected to a multi-degree of freedom joint;
- and
- a second end effector connected to a first distal portion of a second rigid body section, wherein a second distal portion of the second rigid body section is connected to a multi-degree of freedom joint;
- wherein:
- each of the first and second end effectors is configured to attach to a fixed frame, and is also configured to attach to movable objects;
- and
- at least one of the first and second end effectors includes an electrical coupling that is configured to electrically couple to a bus bar attached to a fixed frame, wherein when so electrically coupled to the bus bar, the robotic apparatus receives power from the bus bar.
7 more elements
A method performed by a robotic apparatus, the method comprising:
- moving, by signals generated from a control system, a plurality of rigid body sections relative to each other by one or more multi-degree of freedom joints, wherein:
- each rigid body section has a pair of first and second distal portions that are oppositely disposed from each other along the rigid body section;
- each rigid body section defines a longitudinal axis that runs a length of the rigid body section and intercepts each of the first distal portion and second distal portion;
- and
- each multi-degree of freedom joint directly couples a respective pair of rigid body sections;
- connecting a first end effector to a first distal portion of a first rigid body section, wherein a second distal portion of the first rigid body section is connected to a multi-degree of freedom joint;
- connecting a second end effector to a first distal portion of a second rigid body section, wherein a second distal portion of the second rigid body section is connected to a multi-degree of freedom joint;
- receiving power from a bus bar by the robotic apparatus when either the first end effector or the second end effector is electrically coupled to the bus bar, wherein each of the first and second end effectors include respective electrical coupling that are configured to electrically couple to a bus bar attached to the fixed frame.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.