US Patent Issued to Schmalz Flexible Gripping on March 18 for "Soft robotic actuators utilizing asymmetric surfaces" (Massachusetts Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,251,836, issued on March 18, was assigned to Schmalz Flexible Gripping Inc. (Raleigh, N.C.).

"Soft robotic actuators utilizing asymmetric surfaces" was invented by Joshua Aaron Lessing (Cambridge, Mass.), Ryan Richard Knopf (Cambridge, Mass.) and Noel McLellan (Salisbury, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A soft robotic actuator is disclosed. The actuator includes a first portion with a substantially constant profile and a second portion with a regularly varying profile, and bends in a pressure-dependent fashion as the internal pressure within the actuator is increased or decreased."

The patent was filed on April 12, 2023, under App...