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:
Mar. 31, 2020
Filed:
Oct. 20, 2016
Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia, Genoa, IT;
Universitá Degli Studi Di Genova, Genoa, IT;
Wooseok Choi, Seoul, KR;
Nikolaos G. Tsagarakis, Genoa, IT;
Gustavo A. Medrano-Cerda, Swinton, GB;
Darwin Gordon Caldwell, Serra Riccó, IT;
Abstract
A humanoid robot foot () comprises: a foot base (), at least one leaf spring () acting as a flexible toe of the foot, said at least one leaf spring () having a rear portion () rigidly connected to a flat surface () of the foot base (), a front portion () projecting from the foot base () and an intermediate portion () which is not rigidly connected to the foot base () and is therefore freely deflectable, along with the front portion (), as a result of the application of an external force on the front portion (), and a stiffness adjustment device () for actively changing the stiffness (K) of said at least one leaf spring (). The stiffness adjustment device () comprises a roller assembly (), which is held in contact with the intermediate portion () of said at least one leaf spring () and is movable relative to said at least one leaf spring () along a longitudinal axis (x) of said at least one leaf spring (), and an actuation unit () arranged to move the roller assembly (), and hence the point of contact (P) of the roller assembly () with said at least one leaf spring (), thereby varying the length (l) of the cantilevered portion of said at least one leaf spring (), and hence the stiffness (K) of said at least one leaf spring ().