The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 09, 2018
Filed:
Jul. 12, 2017
Disney Enterprises, Inc., Burbank, CA (US);
The California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Lanny S. Smoot, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Gunter D. Niemeyer, Pasadena, CA (US);
Aaron D. Ames, Pasadena, CA (US);
David Loyal Christensen, Glendale, CA (US);
Disney Enterprises, Inc., Burbank, CA (US);
The California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (US);
Abstract
A robot with an elastic, spherically-shaped body with controlled bouncing locomotion. This robot may be called 'a robotic bouncing ball.' The robotic bouncing ball can be used to provide a new class of robotic characters that are ball-like, and these new robotic characters bounce in place and from one location to another. The spherical body will typically be formed with a thin wall of elastic material such as a rubber or the like, and a drive or actuator assembly along with a local controller and a power source are positioned in the interior space of the hollow body. The controller controls the drive assembly to cause the spherical body to bounce up and down vertically and to provide horizontal/lateral movement of the spherical body through the applications of deforming and/or reforming forces on the elastic outer wall.