US Patent Issued to The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama on Aug. 12 for "Reconfigurable modular soft robots and methods of designing the same" (Alabama, Tennessee Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,384,023, issued on Aug. 12, was assigned to The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Ala.).

"Reconfigurable modular soft robots and methods of designing the same" was invented by Vishesh Vikas (Tuscaloosa, Ala.), Caitlin Freeman (Memphis, Tenn.) and Michael Maynard (Birmingham, Ala.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Various implementations include a modular soft robot including a base, an arm coupled to the base, and an actuator. The arm includes a first surface and a second surface opposite and spaced apart from the first surface. The first surface defines a plurality of channels, each channel comprising a proximal e...