US Patent Issued to University of North Texas on Oct. 6 for "Thermal-based variable impedance actuator" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,752,444, issued on Oct. 6, was assigned to University of North Texas (Dallas).

"Thermal-based variable impedance actuator" was invented by Amir Jafari (Dallas) and Trevor W. Exley (Dallas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An actuator includes an output link; an input member, wherein the output link and the input member are rotatable about an axis of rotation; an elastic member disposed between the output link and the input member and configured to allow transmission of torque between the output link and the input member about the axis of rotation, and to allow at the same time, as a result of elastic deformation of the elastic member, a rela...