ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,279,540, issued on April 22, was assigned to Stout Industrial Technology Inc. (Salinas, Calif.).
"Smart tool arm for precision agriculture" was invented by Jeffrey L. Antle (Salinas, Calif.) and Steven T. Snyder (Salinas, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An illustrative modular smart tool arm operable by a precision agricultural implement includes a mount for coupling the tool arm to the implement, an articulating base including a pair of linkages, a lift actuator, and linear motion bearings coupling the base to the mount. A unitary backbone member is coupled to the linkages and defines a mount for an agricultural tool and defines a ...