ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,703,445, issued on Aug. 11.
"Tethered mobile climbing robot for inspecting tanks in confined environments" was invented by James Walter Beard III (Cookeville, Tenn.), David Andrew Bryant (Lebanon, Tenn.) and Stephen Lee Canfield (Cookeville, Tenn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A Mobile Climbing Robot (MCR) with wheel or endless-track type propulsion using magnetic attraction for generating adhering forces is adapted to climbing non-planar surfaces such as intersecting walls, pipes or other structural members. A tether is connected to the MCR through a tether linkage that causes the tether to bend with a radius that keeps it from protrud...