US Patent Issued to ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY on Dec. 16 for "Bioinspired horizontal self-burrowing device" (Arizona Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,497,839, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

"Bioinspired horizontal self-burrowing device" was invented by Junliang Tao (Chandler, Ariz.), Sichuan Huang (Tempe, Ariz.), Yong Tang (Tempe, Ariz.) and Yi Zhong (Tempe, Ariz.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A burrowing apparatus may comprise an anterior segment and a posterior segment coupled by a linear actuator that is configured to extend and contract the distance between the anterior segment and the posterior segment to effectuate horizontal translation of the burrowing apparatus in a granular medium. The a...