Sri International

Grabit, Inc.

Nike, Inc.

Leland Stanford Junior University

Harsha Prahlad

Ronald E Pelrine

Roy D Kornbluh

Scott E Stanford

Joseph S Eckerle

Thomas P Low

Pablo E Garcia

Patrick Conall Regan

Kuo-Hung Lee

Chih-Chi Chang

Dragan Jurkovic

Chang-Chu Liao

Bryan Chavez

Susan Kim

Brian Keith McCoy

Howard Fu

Matthew Thomas Leettola

Patrick Denis Lincoln

Seajin Oh

John Matthew Farren

Patrick Wang

Daniel McConnell Aukes

Seiki Chiba

Richard J Casler

Kenneth Tan

Po Cheng Chen

Jon Smith

John Mathew Farren

Philip A Von Guggenberg

Aishwarya Varadhan

Jonathan R Heim

Ming-Feng Jean

Richard Mahoney

Annjoe Wong-Foy

Jon Heim

Honam Ko

Tsung Tai Chien

TaeHoun Kim

Youssef Iguider

Charlie S Duncheon

Karen Shakespear Koenig

Sunity Kumar Sharma

Rukman Senanayake

Richard P Heydt

Grit Denker

Sanjeev Dutta

Patrick Bournes

Robert Roy

Roger H Schmidt

Donald E Czyzyk

Eric Winger

Brian K Mccoy

Pat Bournes

Teh Kian Weng

Steve Annen

Jonathan Andrew Smith

Bobby Neil Roy

Sierra J Lincoln

Karl D Van Dyk

Qingde Chen

Geoffrey A Mangus

Greg Miller

Roy D Kombluh

Natalia Isaza

Steven J Annen

Taehoun Kim

Tae-Houn Kim

Patrick Allen Bournes

Systems, apparatus, and methods of manufacturing an article using electroadhesion technology for the pick-up and release of materials, respectively.

Methods and systems for electroadhesion-based manipulation in manufacturing

Systems, apparatus, and methods of manufacturing an article using electroadhesion technology, either as a sole modality of handling such materials or in concert with vacuum for the pick up and release of materials, respectively.

Methods and systems for combined negative pressure and electroadhesion-based manipulation in manufacturing

Systems, apparatus, and methods of manufacturing an article using electroadhesion technology, either as a sole modality of handling such materials or in concert with at least one mechanically actuated modality for the pick-up and release of materials, respectively. The mechanically actuated modality in one embodiment is configured as a netting configured to be placed over a contact surface of an electroadhesive plate to facilitate the handling of an object.

Methods and systems for electroadhesion-based manipulation and mechanical release in manufacturing

Provided herein are solutions to automated material handling comprising systems that allow automated 'each pick handling' without requiring the complexity of robotic grasping. Numerous examples of pre-configurable and reconfigurable transport containers, partitioning devices, and automated container configuration stations are described in addition to methods of use and associated material handling systems that utilize such containers. Further described are containers that are individually configured or customized according to specific lot sizes to more efficiently and optimally contain, store and distribute articles as a component of a picking system. Configurable containers or 'totes' may be customized on a per-order basis to create optimally configured containers that maximize the use of space in a container, on a single-item-per-space basis, regardless of item quantity, size or volume, by customizing the size of each space within a container or tote. Still further, each containment area comprises a releasable surface that allows for picking of an item by utilizing gravity in lieu of a robotic gripper.

Automated item handling with reconfigurable totes

A system to sort packages or parcels into chutes includes a package and parcel transporting component with a plurality of zones, each coupled to an electroadhesive material. The package and parcel transporting component is operable to move the plurality of zones. The electroadhesive material includes electrodes to exert an electroadhesive force and dynamically electrically couple to be energized by an applied voltage on demand. The system includes a controller to determine chutes into which to release packages or parcels and determine zones associated with packages or parcels. The controller selects zones associated with the packages or parcels to transport or release packages or parcels. The controller operates the electrodes to alter the electroadhesive material in the zones associated packages or parcels to transport and release the packages or parcels to one or more chutes.

Electroadhesive tilt sorter and control system

A process for sorting materials using material-selective electroadhesive grippers is disclosed. At least one of an electroadhesive surface or a plurality of articles is manipulated such that multiple ones of the plurality of articles are at least intermittently proximate the electroadhesive surface. Voltage is applied to one or more electrodes in the electroadhesive surface to thereby cause the electroadhesive surface to selectively adhere to a subset of the plurality of articles based on the subset of the plurality of articles having different material properties than others of the plurality of articles. While the voltage is applied, the electroadhesive surface is moved with respect to the others of the plurality of articles to thereby separate the subset of the plurality of articles from the others of the plurality of articles.

Handling and sorting materials using electroadhesion

Acquisition or pick-up tools that themselves aid in improving the ease with which images of an acquired substrate may be captured, and methods of operating such pick-up tools, are provided. The pick-up tools may include a pick-up surface adapted to interface with a foreign substrate and a light source integrated with the pick-up tool such that light emitted from the light source passes through the pick-up surface to the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface to create a silhouette of the foreign substrate. A vision system may be adapted for capturing the silhouette of the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface. The substrate pick-up surface may be formed of one of a transparent, a semi-transparent, or a translucent material such that light may at least partially pass there through.

Pick-up tool with integrated light source

A system utilizes electroadhesive surfaces for braking and metering objects in an automated environment. An electroadhesive surface can include electrodes that are configured to induce an electrostatic attraction with nearby objects upon application of voltage to the electrodes. The systems described utilize various configurations of electroadhesive surfaces, sensors, controllers and programmable processors to create smart braking, capturing and metering systems for improved automated material handling.

Eletroadhesive gripping system with smart brake and metering

The present invention relates to an adaptable input/output device. One embodiment of a hardware device for facilitating an interaction between a computing system and a user includes: an interaction surface for supporting the interaction, a single actuator capable of driving a first region of the interaction surface, and a first selective clamping mechanism capable of restricting movement of one or more second regions of the interaction surface that partly intersect the first region, wherein a displacement of one or more desired portions of the interaction surface is dynamically controllable.

Adaptable input/output device

Acquisition or pick-up tools that themselves aid in improving the ease with which images of an acquired substrate may be captured are provided. The pick-up tools may include a pick-up surface adapted to interface with a foreign substrate and a light source integrated with the pick-up tool such that light emitted from the light source passes through the pick-up surface to the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface to create a silhouette of the foreign substrate. A vision system may be adapted for capturing the silhouette of the foreign substrate when the foreign substrate is temporarily coupled with the pick-up surface. The substrate pick-up surface may be formed of one of a transparent, a semi-transparent, or a translucent material such that light may at least partially pass there through.

An electroadhesive device includes an outer surface adapted to interface with a surface of a foreign substrate, a plurality of electrodes, and a semi-conductive insulation material disposed adjacent to at least one of the electrodes. Each electrode has a respective conductive volume and is configured to apply a voltage at a respective location of the outer surface, and the difference in voltage between applied voltages includes an electrostatic adhesion voltage that produces an electrostatic force between the device and the substrate that is suitable to maintain a current position of the device relative to the substrate. The insulation material can be polyurethane or any other suitable material having a resistance of about 10to 10ohms*m. The insulation material effectively operates to expand the conductive volume of the electrodes when they are actuated.

Materials for electroadhesion and electrolaminates

An electroadhesive cleaning device or system includes electrode(s) that produce electroadhesive forces from an input voltage to adhere debris against an electroadhesive surface, from which the debris is removed when the forces are controllably modified. Controlling the input voltage may designate the size of debris to be cleaned. A power source provides the input voltage, and the electroadhesive surface can be a continuous track across one or more rollers to move the device across a dirty foreign surface. Electrodes can be arranged in an interdigitated pattern having differing pitches that can be actuated selectively to clean debris of different sizes. Sensors can detect the amount of debris adhered to the electroadhesive surface, and reversed polarity pulses can help repel items away from the electroadhesive surface in a controlled manner.

Electroadhesive surface cleaner

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Harsha Prahlad