US Patent Issued to KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN on Jan. 13 for "Contractile and extensile fluidic artificial muscle actuator" (Belgian Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 13 -- United States Patent no. 12,521,870, issued on Jan. 13, was assigned to KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN (Leuven, Belgium).

"Contractile and extensile fluidic artificial muscle actuator" was invented by Robert Lathrop (Leuven, Belgium), Emmanuel Vander Poorten (Mechelen, Belgium) and Mouloud Ourak (Leuven, Belgium).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A fluidic artificial muscle actuator may include at least one inflatable bladder defining a first inflatable segment coupled to a first member and to a second member arranged at opposite ends of the first inflatable segment, and a second inflatable segment coupled to a third member and to a fourth member arranged at opposite e...