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:
Jun. 24, 2025
Filed:
Oct. 09, 2020
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Margaret M. Coad, Mishawaka, IN (US);
Rachel Thomasson, Stanford, CA (US);
Laura H. Blumenschein, Lafayette, IN (US);
Nathan Scot Usevitch, Bothell, WA (US);
Allison M. Okamura, Mountain View, CA (US);
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Stanford, CA (US);
Abstract
Technology is provided for controlling the motion of soft growing robots during retraction to prevent uncontrollable buckling or bending. A double walled flexible tubular robot is provided with an inside wall, an outside wall, and a folded tip. A retraction device located at the folded tip has a routing aperture sized to encompass the inside wall and for routing the inside wall through the retraction device. The retraction device further has a retraction mechanism inside the retraction device to controllably retract material of the inside wall through the routing aperture in the direction away from the folded tip, thereby decreasing the outside wall, creating more inside wall, and as such shortening the length of the flexible robot. This technology enables behaviors, such as (1) growing in one direction, and then retracting and growing in a different direction, and (2) retracting through a confined space without applying force to the environment.