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US 12,350,820 B2Granted
Robotic grippiing system with contact-sensitive pads
AssigneeOcado Innovation Limited
InventorDavid Gabriel Hallock
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A robotic system includes a robotic manipulator having one or more contact pads. The contact pads have features therein that are detectable to determine or measure a degree to which they have worn down. Such features may include fluorescent materials, colorful materials, and/or RFID tags. A robotic environment may include one or more sensors to detect such features, and may be configured to generate a signal indicating that one or more contact pads are in need of maintenance.
Claims20
A robotic system comprising:
- first and second gripping fingers comprising first and second contact pads respectively, wherein each of the contact pads comprises a conductive contact pad;
- and,
- a contact sensor comprising the contact pads and an electrical circuit connected to the contact pads, wherein, when the contact pads contact to close the electrical circuit, the contact sensor is configured to generate a contact signal.
A method of operating a robotic system, the method comprising:
- providing first and second gripping fingers having first and second conductive contact pads, respectively;
- providing a contact sensor comprising the contact pads and an electrical circuit connected to the contact pads;
- generating a contact signal by the contact sensor when the contact pads contact to close the electrical circuit;
- and
- controlling the operation of the gripping fingers based on the generated contact signal.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.