Patents Assigned to Dynamics Inc.
  • Patent number: 12139217
    Abstract: An example method may include i) determining a first distance between a pair of feet of a robot at a first time, where the pair of feet is in contact with a ground surface; ii) determining a second distance between the pair of feet of the robot at a second time, where the pair of feet remains in contact with the ground surface from the first time to the second time; iii) comparing a difference between the determined first and second distances to a threshold difference; iv) determining that the difference between determined first and second distances exceeds the threshold difference; and v) based on the determination that the difference between the determined first and second distances exceeds the threshold difference, causing the robot to react.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Blankespoor, Alex Perkins, Marco da Silva
  • Patent number: 12136897
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to an energy efficient motor-generator which includes a stator, a main winding (M) of the stator for generating a rotating magnetic field (RMF), and a rotor disposed to rotate relative to the main winding (M) of the stator due to the RMF. The stator further includes a first additional winding (F) for producing an alternating EMF and a second additional winding (E) for producing a corresponding alternating EMF due to the rotation of the rotor. The two alternating EMFs are harvested through an electronic control unit (ECU) interfaced to the stator for continuously supplying power for the working of the motor-generator and for supplying power to drive electrical loads, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: PAL-K Dynamics Inc.
    Inventor: Kunjimon Thekypeedikayil Kuttyamu
  • Patent number: 12134181
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a method for generating a joint command. The method includes receiving a maneuver script including a plurality of maneuvers for a legged robot to perform where each maneuver is associated with a cost. The method further includes identifying that two or more maneuvers of the plurality of maneuvers of the maneuver script occur at the same time instance. The method also includes determining a combined maneuver for the legged robot to perform at the time instance based on the two or more maneuvers and the costs associated with the two or more maneuvers. The method additionally includes generating a joint command to control motion of the legged robot at the time instance where the joint command commands a set of joints of the legged robot. Here, the set of joints correspond to the combined maneuver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Klingensmith, Eric Whitman, Marco da Silva, Alfred Rizzi
  • Patent number: 12128570
    Abstract: An example method may include i) detecting a disturbance to a gait of a robot, where the gait includes a swing state and a step down state, the swing state including a target swing trajectory for a foot of the robot, and where the target swing trajectory includes a beginning and an end; and ii) based on the detected disturbance, causing the foot of the robot to enter the step down state before the foot reaches the end of the target swing trajectory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Blankespoor, Benjamin Stephens, Marco da Silva
  • Patent number: 12130625
    Abstract: An example implementation includes (i) receiving sensor data that indicates topographical features of an environment in which a robotic device is operating, (ii) processing the sensor data into a topographical map that includes a two-dimensional matrix of discrete cells, the discrete cells indicating sample heights of respective portions of the environment, (iii) determining, for a first foot of the robotic device, a first step path extending from a first lift-off location to a first touch-down location, (iv) identifying, within the topographical map, a first scan patch of cells that encompass the first step path, (v) determining a first high point among the first scan patch of cells; and (vi) during the first step, directing the robotic device to lift the first foot to a first swing height that is higher than the determined first high point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Douglas Perkins, Kevin Blankespoor
  • Patent number: 12129486
    Abstract: Provided herein are methods for the efficient in vitro differentiation of somatic cell-derived pluripotent stem cells to hematopoietic precursor cells, and the further differentiation of the hematopoietic precursor cells into immune cells of various myeloid or lymphoid lineages, particularly T cells, NK cells, and dendritic cells. The pluripotent cells may be maintained and differentiated under defined conditions; thus, the use of mouse feeder cells or serum is not required in certain embodiments for the differentiation of the hematopoietic precursor cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Maksym A. Vodyanyk, Xin Zhang, Andrew J. Brandl, Deepika Rajesh, Bradley Swanson, Christie Munn, Sarah A. Burton, Wen Bo Wang
  • Publication number: 20240350853
    Abstract: A Finger Weight System have a main central body portion and a pair of end body portions hinged to the main central body portion, allowing the end body portions to flex and hinge away from the main central body portion. A weight holder on each of the body portions for receiving weights. An outwardly bulb-shaped projection located on at least one of the end body portions, wherein the projection is sized to be received in an opening in a strap after the strap has been wrapped around a person's finger. A member hinged to a rear flange member for retaining the strap in position against the main central body portion, the member secured in a locked position against the strap by a front flange member including a tab or upstanding projection that fits into a groove on an end of the member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2024
    Publication date: October 24, 2024
    Applicant: Finger Dynamic Inc.
    Inventor: Andrew S. Geller
  • Patent number: 12121328
    Abstract: A card is provided, such as a credit card or security card, that may transmit information to a magnetic stripe reader via a magnetic emulator. The emulator may transmit the information in order to reduce the amount of circuitry needed to emulate a particular block of information. Additionally, for example, one or more buttons may be included on the card. Buttons may be includes, for example, to provide a control interface to navigate through various options of the card. Additionally, coding schemes may be selected via buttons. Furthermore, a card may be locked until a private number is entered into a card or a number may only be generated (e.g., displayed and/or emulated) once a particular private number is entered into a card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: Dynamics Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey David Mullen, Will Reutzel
  • Patent number: 12122044
    Abstract: A drive system includes a linear actuator with a drive shaft and having an actuation axis extending along a length of the linear actuator. A motor assembly of the drive system couples to drive shaft and is configured to rotate the drive shaft about the actuation axis of the linear actuator. The drive system further includes a nut attached to the drive shaft and a carrier housing the nut. A linkage system of the drive system extends from a proximal end away from the motor assembly to a distal end. The proximal end of the linkage system rotatably attaches to the carrier at a first proximal attachment location where the first proximal attachment location offset is from the actuation axis. The drive system also includes an output link rotatably coupled to the distal end of the linkage system where the output link is offset from the actuation axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventor: Jacob Daniel Webb
  • Patent number: 12123481
    Abstract: A robot leg assembly including a hip joint and an upper leg member. A proximal end portion of the upper leg member rotatably coupled to the hip joint. The robot leg assembly including a knee joint rotatably coupled to a distal end portion of the upper leg member, a lower leg member rotatably coupled to the knee joint, a linear actuator disposed on the upper leg member and defining a motion axis, and a motor coupled to the linear actuator and a linkage coupled to the translation stage and to the lower leg member. The linear actuator includes a translation stage moveable along the motion axis to translate rotational motion of the motor to linear motion of the translation stage along the motion axis, which moves the linkage to rotate the lower leg member relative to the upper leg member at the knee joint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven D. Potter, Zachary John Jackowski, Adam Young
  • Publication number: 20240342899
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods directed to an industrial robot that can perform mobile manipulation (e.g., dexterous mobile manipulation). A robotic arm may be capable of precise control when reaching into tight spaces, may be robust to impacts and collisions, and/or may limit the mass of the robotic arm to reduce the load on the battery and increase runtime. A robotic arm may include differently configured proximal joints and/or distal joints. Proximal joints may be designed to promote modularity and may include separate functional units, such as modular actuators, encoder, bearings, and/or clutches. Distal joints may be designed to promote integration and may include offset actuators to enable a through-bore for the internal routing of vacuum, power, and signal connections.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2024
    Publication date: October 17, 2024
    Applicant: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua Timothy Geating, Geoffrey Peyton, Christopher Everett Thorne, Jacob Webb
  • Patent number: 12110503
    Abstract: Provided herein are methods of producing a photoreceptor precursor (PRP) cell population derived from stem cells. Further provided herein are methods of using the PRP cell populations, such as for therapeutics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Lucas Chase, Kyle Wallace, Benjamin Meline, Andrew Dias, Brandon Shelley, Marisa Fenn, Debjani Phillips, Matthew Sternfeld, Nathan Meyer
  • Patent number: 12111241
    Abstract: A method and apparatus to create water vapor supersaturation and particulate counts from an air sample. The method and apparatus include introducing an air sample into a chamber connected to an optical detector and an outlet by pumping at the outlet. The method further includes passing air through the chamber and optical detector in a steady flow, and subsequently closing the inlet while continuing the pumping to expand the air sample and exhaust a portion of the air sample through the optical detector. The walls of the particle chamber are wetted with a fluid such as water, and one portion of the wall is warmer than the other portions such that there is some condensational growth prior to the expansion, and yet more condensational growth during the expansion. The cycles are repeated by continuously repeating the introducing, passing and closing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: Aerosol Dynamics Inc.
    Inventors: Susanne Vera Hering, Gregory Stephen Lewis, Steven Russel Spielman
  • Patent number: 12105002
    Abstract: A method and apparatus to create water vapor supersaturation and particulate counts from an air sample. The method and apparatus include introducing an air sample into a chamber by passing a flow into the chamber through the inlet by pumping at the outlet. The method further includes closing the inlet while continuing the pumping to exhaust the air sample from the chamber through the outlet. The pumping is performed at a rate operable to reduce pressure inside the chamber such that the air sample in the central portion of the chamber cools, and water vapor from walls of the chamber has time to diffuse into the air sample in the chamber from the walls. The cycles are repeated by continuously repeating the introducing and closing. The walls of the chamber may be wet or dry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Aerosol Dynamics Inc.
    Inventors: Susanne Vera Hering, Gregory Stephen Lewis, Steven Russel Spielman
  • Patent number: 12103164
    Abstract: A gripper mechanism includes a pair of gripper jaws, a linear actuator, and a rocker bogey. The linear actuator drives a first gripper jaw to move relative to a second gripper jaw. Here, the linear actuator includes a screw shaft and a drive nut where the drive nut includes a protrusion having protrusion axis expending along a length of the protrusion. The protrusion axis is perpendicular to an actuation axis of the linear actuator along a length of the screw shaft. The rocker bogey is coupled to the drive nut at the protrusion to form a pivot point for the rocker bogey and to enable the rocker bogey to pivot about the protrusion axis when the linear actuator drives the first gripper jaw to move relative to the second gripper jaw.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventor: Brian Todd Dellon
  • Publication number: 20240315910
    Abstract: Systems and methods for a perception system for a lower body powered exoskeleton device are provided. The perception system includes a camera configured to capture one or more images of terrain in proximity to the exoskeleton device, an at least one processor. The at least one processor is programmed to perform footstep planning for the exoskeleton device based, at least in part, on the captured one or more images of terrain, and issue an instruction to perform a first action based, at least in part, on the footstep planning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2023
    Publication date: September 26, 2024
    Applicant: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Shervin Talebi, Ran Tao, John Aaron Saunders, Dong Jin Hyun, San In Park
  • Patent number: 12097609
    Abstract: The disclosure provides systems and methods for mitigating slip of a robot appendage. In one aspect, a method for mitigating slip of a robot appendage includes (i) receiving an input from one or more sensors, (ii) determining, based on the received input, an appendage position of the robot appendage, (iii) determining a filter position for the robot appendage, (iv) determining a distance between the appendage position and the filter position, (v) determining, based on the distance, a force to apply to the robot appendage, (vi) causing one or more actuators to apply the force to the robot appendage, (vii) determining whether the distance is greater than a threshold distance, and (viii) responsive to determining that the distance is greater than the threshold distance, the control system adjusting the filter position to a position, which is the threshold distance from the appendage position, for use in a next iteration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen Berard, Alex Yu Khripin, Benjamin Swilling
  • Patent number: 12094195
    Abstract: A method of identifying stairs from footfalls includes receiving a plurality of footfall locations of a robot traversing an environment. Each respective footfall location indicates a location where a leg of the robot contacted a support surface. The method also includes determining a plurality of candidate footfall location pairs based on the plurality of footfall locations. The candidate footfall location pair includes a first and a second candidate footfall location. The method further includes clustering the first candidate footfall location into a first cluster group based on a height of the first candidate footfall location and clustering the second candidate footfall location into a second cluster group based on a height of the second candidate footfall location. The method additionally includes generating a stair model by representing each of the cluster groups as a corresponding stair and delineating each stair based on a respective midpoint between each adjacent cluster group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventor: Adam Komoroski
  • Patent number: 12090656
    Abstract: A method of manipulating boxes includes receiving a minimum box size for a plurality of boxes varying in size located in a walled container. The method also includes dividing a grip area of a gripper into a plurality of zones. The method further includes locating a set of candidate boxes based on an image from a visual sensor. For each zone, the method additionally includes, determining an overlap of a respective zone with one or more neighboring boxes to the set of candidate boxes. The method also includes determining a grasp pose for a target candidate box that avoids one or more walls of the walled container. The method further includes executing the grasp pose to lift the target candidate box by the gripper where the gripper activates each zone of the plurality of zones that does not overlap a respective neighboring box to the target candidate box.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Sachin Chitta, David Hershberger, Karl Pauwels
  • Publication number: 20240303858
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for determining a pose of an object sensed by a camera system of a mobile robot are described. The method includes acquiring, using the camera system, a first image of the object from a first perspective and a second image of the object from a second perspective, and determining, by a processor of the camera system, a pose of the object based, at least in part, on a first set of sparse features associated with the object detected in the first image and a second set of sparse features associated with the object detected in the second image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2023
    Publication date: September 12, 2024
    Applicant: Boston Dynamics, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew Turpin, Andrew Hoelscher, Lukas Merkle