Methods and apparatus for robotic zipper

A robotic zipper system for joining and separating zipper halves of a zipper tape with a zipper slide geometry, the robotic zipper system comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• an actuator retained by the chassis wherein the actuator drives the zipper slide geometry along the zipper tape thereby to join or separate the zipper tape wherein the actuator comprises a motor and further comprising a control module to provide an electrical signal to the motor to move in a forward direction to join the zipper halves of the zipper tape or a reverse direction to separate the zipper halves of the zipper tape.

A robotic zipper system for joining and separating zipper halves of a zipper tape with a zipper slide geometry, the robotic zipper system comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• an actuator retained by the chassis wherein the actuator drives the zipper slide geometry along the zipper tape thereby to join or separate the zipper tape wherein the zipper slider geometry is integrated into the chassis.

A robotic zipper system for joining and separating zipper halves of a zipper tape with a zipper slide geometry, the robotic zipper system comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• an actuator retained by the chassis wherein the actuator drives the zipper slide geometry along the zipper tape thereby to join or separate the zipper tape wherein the actuator comprises a motor and a gear system and wherein the motor and gear system selectively switch a back-drivable transmission for manual operation.

A robotic zipper system for joining and separating zipper halves of a zipper tape with a zipper slide geometry, the robotic zipper system comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• an actuator retained by the chassis wherein the actuator drives the zipper slide geometry along the zipper tape thereby to join or separate the zipper tape wherein the actuator comprises a motor and a power source comprising a battery for supplying electric power to the motor.

A robotic zipper system for joining and separating zipper halves of a zipper tape with a zipper slide geometry, the robotic zipper system comprising:

• a chassis;
• and
• an actuator retained by the chassis wherein the actuator drives the zipper slide geometry along the zipper tape thereby to join or separate the zipper tape wherein the actuator is removable from the zipper tape.