ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,351,341, issued on July 8, was assigned to AIRBUS OPERATIONS Ltd. (Bristol, Great Britain).
"Automated clamp" was invented by Anthony Jackson (Bristol, Great Britain), Michael Redman (Bristol, Great Britain), David Cantle (Bristol, Great Britain) and Matthew Foster (Bristol, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An automated clamp is disclosed including a clamp frame, motorised clamp jaws, and a robot end effector connector. One of the clamp jaws can receive a drilling tool and/or a fastening tool. One of the clamp jaws has a position sensor for detecting a position of the clamp. The clamp forms part of an automated clamping system...