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US 12,746,675 B2Granted
Robots and methods for protecting fragile components thereof
AssigneeSanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation
InventorConnor Richard Shannon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to protecting fragile members of robots from damage during fall events. In response to detecting a fall event, a fragile member of a robot can be actuated to a defensive configuration to avoid or reduce damage. An actuatable protective member can be actuated to protect a fragile member to avoid or reduce damage to the fragile member. Actuatable protective members can be dedicated protective members, or can be other members of the robot which serve different functionality outside of a fall event but act as a protective member during a fall event.
Claims14
A robot comprising:
- a body;
- at least one actuatable member;
- at least one support structure coupled to the at least one actuatable member, wherein the support structure is actuatable between a stowed configuration in which the support structure is stowed and a support configuration in which the support structure supports the at least one actuatable member;
- a fragile member;
- at least one processor;
- at least one sensor communicatively coupled to the at least one processor;
- at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one non-transitory processor-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the robot to:
- detect, by the at least one processor, a fall event of the body based on sensor data from the at least one sensor;
- and
- in response to detecting the fall event:
- actuate the fragile member to a defensive configuration which protects the fragile member from damage during the fall event;
- actuate the at least one actuatable member to a protective configuration which protects the fragile member from damage during the fall event;
- and
- actuate the at least one support structure from the stowed configuration to the support configuration to protect the at least one actuatable member from damage during the fall event.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.