US Patent Issued to Toyota Research Institute on Feb. 17 for "Robotic tool control with compliant force/geometry sensor" (Massachusetts Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,552,046, issued on Feb. 17, was assigned to Toyota Research Institute Inc. (Los Altos, Calif.).

"Robotic tool control with compliant force/geometry sensor" was invented by Andrew M. Beaulieu (Somerville, Mass.) and Naveen Suresh Kuppuswamy (Arlington, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, a flexible tactile sensor includes a conductive target positioned in a first plane, a tool holder coupled to the conductive target configured to receive a tool, at least three coils forming an array within a second plane, the second plane spaced apart from the first plane, a pliable material co...