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:
Nov. 06, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 19, 2009
Peter J. Hopper, San Jose, CA (US);
Philipp Lindorfer, San Jose, CA (US);
William French, San Jose, CA (US);
Visvamohan Yegnashankaran, Cupertino, CA (US);
Peter J. Hopper, San Jose, CA (US);
Philipp Lindorfer, San Jose, CA (US);
William French, San Jose, CA (US);
Visvamohan Yegnashankaran, Cupertino, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A self-propelled robotic device moves through bodily and other passageways by inflating regions of an overlying bladder along the length of the robotic device in a sequence that imparts motion to the device. The regions of the overlying bladder are inflated by energizing a plurality of coils, which are surrounded by a ferrofluid, in a sequence. The ferrofluid responds to the magnetic field created by an energized coil by creating a bulge in the side wall of the overlying bladder.