Patents by Inventor Carl F. Ruoff

Carl F. Ruoff has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4921293
    Abstract: A robotic hand having a plurality of fingers, each having a plurality of joints pivotally connected one to the other, with actuators connected at one end to an actuating and control mechanism mounted remotely from the hand and at the other end to the joints of the fingers for manipulating the fingers and passing externally of the robot manipulating arm in between the hand and the actuating and control mechanism. The fingers include pulleys to route the actuators within the fingers. Cable tension sensing structure mounted on a portion of the hand are disclosed, as is the covering of the tip of each finger with a resilient and pliable friction enhancing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1984
    Date of Patent: May 1, 1990
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: Carl F. Ruoff, J. Kenneth Salisbury, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4558911
    Abstract: A robot joint comprising first and second link members having respective congruent arcuate surfaces joined by complementary flexible metal bands and having an integral potentiometer transducer mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1983
    Date of Patent: December 17, 1985
    Assignee: California Institute of Technology
    Inventor: Carl F. Ruoff
  • Patent number: 4553393
    Abstract: A mechanical actuator can be constructed by employing a plurality of memory metal actuator elements in parallel to control the amount of actuating force. In order to facilitate direct control by digital control signals provided by a computer or the like, the actuating elements may vary in stiffness according to a binary relationship. The cooling or reset time of the actuator elements can be reduced by employing Peltier junction cooling assemblies in the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 1983
    Date of Patent: November 19, 1985
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventor: Carl F. Ruoff
  • Patent number: 4513317
    Abstract: A remote television viewing system employing an eye tracker is disclosed, wherein a small region of the image appears in high resolution, and the remainder of the image appears in low resolution. The eye tracker monitors the position of the viewer's line of sight. The eye tracker position data is transmitted to the remote television camera and control. Both the remote camera and television display are adapted to have selectable high-resolution and low-resolution raster scan modes. The position data from the eye tracker is used to determine the point at which the high-resolution scan is to commence. The video data defining the observed image is encoded in a novel format, wherein in each data field, the data representing the position of the high-resolution region of predetermined size appears first, followed by the high-resolution zone video data and then the low-resolution region data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 23, 1985
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventor: Carl F. Ruoff, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4278920
    Abstract: A program controlled workpiece manipulator has a load cell supported between the manipulator clamp and the positioning elements which generate signals proportional to the various components of the forces exerted on the workholder by external instrumentalities. To generate a desired control program for the manipulator the outputs of the load cell and of the position transducers for the manipulator drive servos are used to generate command signals for the drive servos which urge motion of the clamp to reduce the externally imposed forces. The clamp is then manually grasped and urged toward the desired motion and the outputs of the position sensors are recorded during the motion to create a control program which may be replaced to control the manipulator to duplicate the motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 1978
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1981
    Assignee: The Bendix Corporation
    Inventor: Carl F. Ruoff, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4138884
    Abstract: A multi-axis load cell of the type adapted to generate signals corresponding to each of the various force and moment components exerted on the load cell is disclosed, comprised of a hub and a housing interconnected by three flexure arms, each flexure arm fixed at one end to one of the hub or housing and at the other end to a beam flexure element fixed to the other of the hub or housing. Each flexure beam is designed to be readily deflected in directions aligned with its respective flexure arm but offers substantially greater resistance to deflection in other directions, so that a centering bias force is provided without restricting the bending deflection of the flexure arms relied on to measure the force and moment components.Two sets of displacement transducers are provided, each set consisting of three transducers, with the first set arranged in pinwheel fashion about the load cell axis to measure the XY displacement components and torsional about the load cell axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1977
    Date of Patent: February 13, 1979
    Assignee: The Bendix Corporation
    Inventors: Carl F. Ruoff, Jr., James J. Edmond
  • Patent number: 4092854
    Abstract: A multi-axis load cell of the type adapted to generate signals corresponding to each of the various force and moment components exerted on the load cell is disclosed, comprised of a hub and a housing interconnected by three flexure arms, each flexure arm fixed at one end to one of the hub or housing and at the other end to a beam flexure element fixed to the other of the hub or housing. Each flexure beam is designed to be readily deflected in directions aligned with its respective flexure arm but offers substantially greater resistance to deflection in other directions, so that a centering bias force is provided without restricting the bending deflection of the flexure arms relied on to measure the force and moment components.Two sets of displacement transducers are provided, each set consisting of three transducers, with the first set arranged in pinwheel fashion about the load cell axis to measure the XY displacement components and torsional about the load cell axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 1977
    Date of Patent: June 6, 1978
    Assignee: The Bendix Corporation
    Inventors: James L. Henry, Carl F. Ruoff, Jr.
  • Patent number: 3986007
    Abstract: An automaton includes a work part supporting and manipulating system having sensors which provide signals indicative of the position of the work holder in a first coordinate system and a television system which can observe a part and generate signals representative of the position of the part in the television system's coordinate system. A subsystem for generating conversion factors used to translate positions in the vision system coordinates into the manipulating system coordinates receives the output of both the manipulator sensors and the vision system while the manipulator moves a target through a series of points along a line. The subsystem determines the angle of rotation between the two coordinate systems and the distance from the origin of one system to the origin of the other system through calculations involving lines drawn through the points in the vision system and manipulating system coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1975
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1976
    Assignee: The Bendix Corporation
    Inventor: Carl F. Ruoff, Jr.