ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 18 -- United States Patent no. 12,325,127, issued on June 10, was assigned to SRI International (Menlo Park, Calif.).
"Serial manipulator for space applications" was invented by Thomas P. Low (Belmont, Calif.), Brian Foster (San Carlos, Calif.) and Brian K. McCoy (San Jose, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Multi-segment manipulator arms are provided that exhibit improved performance in space applications, include reduced weight, reduced cost, reduced size, reduced rotational inertia, reduced vibration, improved heat dissipation characteristics, and increased reliability and on-station reparability. These manipulator arms transmit torque from a single motor at the ba...