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:
Jul. 23, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 07, 2000
Yoshiaki Hata, Ashiya, JP;
Hideaki Nakanishi, Osaka, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A plurality of linear actuators ( ) connected in sequence orthogonally to one another constitute rectilinear movement means having a plurality of degrees of freedom in rectilinear movement. Further, a rotary actuator ( ) has one end connected to the linear actuator ( ) on the last stage and the other end connected to a base side of an end effector ( ) and works as attitude change means for changing an attitude of the end effector ( ). When the rotary actuator ( ) changes the attitude of the end effector ( ), the linear actuators ( ) are driven to offset a positional movement of an object occurring with the attitude change. This makes it possible to offset the positional movement of the object occurring with the rotary operation with a relatively simple constitution, and further the actuators can be constituted of the minimum elements, thereby providing a downsized micromanipulator.