US Patent Issued to The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois on July 22 for "Adhesive gripper comprising a shape memory polymer for pick- and-place applications" (South Korean, American Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,365,816, issued on July 22, was assigned to The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Urbana, Ill.).

"Adhesive gripper comprising a shape memory polymer for pick- and-place applications" was invented by Seok Kim (Pohang, South Korea) and ChangHee Son (Urbana, Ill.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An adhesive gripper for pick-and-place maneuvers comprises one or more legs, where each leg terminates in a foot rotatably connected to the respective leg. Each foot includes a SMP dry adhesive comprising a shape memory polymer, and a rigid backing layer attached to a back side of the SMP dry adhesive, such that a front side of the SMP ...