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:
Dec. 15, 1981
Filed:
Jan. 21, 1980
Applicant:
Inventors:
Carl G Ringwall, Scotia, NY (US);
Allen W Case, Jr, Amsterdam, NY (US);
Assignee:
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01D / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
250229 ; 250215 ;
Abstract
A tactile area sensor for robots has an array of pneumatic flow passages. The air flow in each passage is dependent on a localized force exerted by an object pressing against an elastic pad on the face of the sensor. The air flow impinges on a metallic tab and its angular displacement is sensed by directing a light beam from an optical fiber onto the tab and monitoring the quantity of light reflected to a paired optical fiber. The array of optical outputs can be presented to a charge injection device and are dependent on the shape of the object.