US Patent Issued to 3M Innovative Properties on Sept. 1 for "Optimally controlled tape removal system and method" (Minnesota Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 -- United States Patent no. 12,722,308, issued on Sept. 1, was assigned to 3M Innovative Properties Co. (St. Paul, Minn.).

"Optimally controlled tape removal system and method" was invented by Erich A. Mielke (St. Paul, Minn.), Brett R Hemes (Woodbury, Minn.), John J. Schmidt (Mathtomedi, Minn.), John W. Henderson (St. Paul, Minn.), Xin Dong (Woodbury, Minn.) and Timothy J. Reddy (Maplewood, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Automated systems and methods of using an end-effector mounted on a robot arm to remove a tape from an object surface are provided. The end-effector includes a gripping mechanism and a force sensor, which is instructed by a controller to automa...