ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,490,876, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to BISSELL Inc. (Grand Rapids, Mich.).
"Robot with obstacle-detecting deformation sensors" was invented by Andrew J. Brouwers (Grand Rapids, Mich.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A robot such as a floor cleaning robot includes a body, a motorized drive system connected to the body and operable for moving the robot relative to a floor surface, at least one deformation sensor, and a controller. Each deformation sensor may be a strain sensor, such as a strain gauge, and is connected to the body and configured to measure a deformation thereof, and to output an electronic signal indicative of the deformat...