Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
Some patented designs never make it to mass production (Hindle, 2005). This was the case for the following design patent, USD185504, titled Panel for walls, ceilings, screens and the like, granted on June 16, 1959, to Ruth Asawa Lanier. A patent that covered origami-type paper-folding to create cladding for various vertical surfaces.
The patent Figures 1-5 are included below. The Figures 1-5 respectively depict: a front elevational view of the panel (Fig. 1); a sectional view through line 2-2 on Figure 1 (Fig. 2); a sectional view through line 3-3 on Figure 1 (Fig. 3); a sectional view through line 4-4 on Figure 1 (Fig. 4), and a sectional view through line 5-5 on Figure 1 (Fig. 5).
Below the patent Figures 1-5, a photograph, showing Albert Lanier, Ruth Asawa’s husband, in front of a panel, cladding a wall with the patented design.
The future of bubble wrap and airbags might be linked to MIT's AeroMorph invention. An invention that
subsumes programmable paper, plastic, and self-folding,origami-inspired, fabrics, that inflate. The video below shows the AeroMorph invention in action.
The AeroMorph invention is
recited in the US patent US9777753B2, titled Methods and apparatus for shape control. A patent that recites how
to control the shape of an inflatable object. Succinctly, an inflatable bladder comprises
regions that are variably flexible. The bladder further bends in the regions
that are more flexible. Depending on the
embodiment of the invention, paper, fabric or plastic, the more flexible
areas have creases, notches or indentations, allowing for varied shapes to form,
including spirals, helices; or shapes that morph during inflation.
The
Abstract of this invention is provided below, together with the patent Figures
11A-D, showing how depending on the angle of the same number of creases on the shape controller,different shapes are
obtained, in particular a planar spiral vs. a helix. Thus, in Fig. 11A, the creases (e.g., 1103, 1105) are
perpendicular relative to the longitudinal axis 1107 of the shape controller 1100,
resulting in the bladder of Fig. 11B to form a planar spiral, when it is
inflated. In contrast, in Fig. 11C, the creases(e .g., 1153, 1156) are at an angle different from 90 degrees,
relative to the longitudinal axis of 1157, of the shape controller 1150,
resulting in the bladder to form a helix 1161, as shown in Fig. 11D, when the
bladder is inflated. In certain embodiments, Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) (e.g.
1108, 1109, 1158, 1159) might be included, which might be bonded together with the wires and paper.
In exemplary implementations of this invention, a shape controller controls the shape of a bladder as the bladder inflates. The shape controller includes a first set of regions and a second set of regions. The second set of regions is more flexible than the first set of regions. The shape controller is embedded within, or adjacent to, a wall of the bladder. When the bladder is inflated, the overall shape of the bladder bends in areas adjacent to the more flexible regions of the shape controller. For example, the shape controller may comprise paper and the more flexible regions may comprise creases in the paper. Or, for example, the more flexible regions may comprise notches or indentations. In some implementations of this invention, a multi-state shape display changes shape as it inflates, with additional bumps forming as pressure in the display increases. [Abstract US9777753B2]
Foldaway, a spinoff company from the Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory (RRL) of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, in Switzerland (EPFL- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), brings origami-inspired research to haptic interfaces, on thumbsticks in particular. For example, with Foldaway technology, Virtual Reality (VR) users are provided with an added sense of touch of the resilience of a rubber ball (RRL-EPFL 1; RRL-EPFL 2). The video below shows this sensory experience added to a thumbstick, using an origami-inspired pop-up haptic interface.
At the Computer Electronics Show (CES) of Las Vegas, in 2019, Foldaway demonstrated their origami-inspired technology on a VR Game called LamaSlam, where the VR payers obtain an added sense of touch, for example, for how slippery or heavy, the various creature characters of the game feel, when users try to pick them up (Lang, 2019). An invention, that paves the way to a more tactile shopping experience. Imagine, for example, being able to determine how light a pair of shoes, or how resilient their soles. Likewise, how soft or light the cashmere, you are contemplating to purchase.
The Foldaway, foldable, origami-inspired, pop-up actuator invention is recited in the mechanical engineering patent application US20180038461A1, titled Planar Pop-Up Actuator Device with Embedded Electro-Magnetic Actuation. The exploded patent Figure 1 drawing, showing the various layers of the pop-up actuator is included below, together with a video, showing the versatility of the popup foldable actuator, including the thumbstick application.
The abstract of this invention is also include below:
A planar actuator device, including a base plate including a first, second, and third pair of planar coils, each pair of planar coils having an inner coil and an outer coil, each pair of planar coils arranged along a first, second, and third linear motion axis, respectively, the first, second, and third linear motion axis arranged in a star configuration, and an actuation mechanism including a first, second, and third planar legs and a centerpiece, the first, second and third planar legs pivotably connected to the centerpiece, the planar legs including a first, second, and third sliding element and a first, second, and third middle section, respectively, a sliding element and middle section of a respective leg pivotably connected to each other, each sliding element including a permanent magnet. [AbstactUS20180038461A1]
According
to Jamie Paik, Director of the Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory (RRL) at the
Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), in Switzerland, origami robots, also termed robogamis, are part of a paradigm shift
in robotic design. Indeed, they are so different and new that they form a framework for robotic design. A
framework that extends, for example, to soft robotics, haptics and modular design (EPFL1, EPFL 2, EPFL3). In contrast to traditional, anthropomorphic
robots with a single memetic form, robogamismorph. They transform from one
form to another, considering that in the terms of mathematics, any 3D shape can be obtained from
folding a 2D surface.
The video below shows the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) origami robot, and how this little robot is programmed to morph (CSAIL 1, CSAIL 2). According to Daniela Rus, Director of MIT CSAIL, and of the origami robot project, manufacturing the origami robot is also an innovation, as the MIT origami robots are printed flat (CSAIL 3). A manufacturing process that is fast, inexpensive and convenient. Succinctly, the MIT CSAIL origami robot has a body comprising three layers. The middle layer is heat-reactive, causing the material to shrink (and bend) under the effect of heat. A process that is controlled, for angle degree, via gaps cut-out in the two outer structural layers. Thus, once printed, the robot actually self-folds using a self-folding compiler.
In particular, for example, the MIT CSAIL origami robot was further researched and bench-tested as an ingestible device (Hardesty, 2016). In this simulated application, the MIT CSAILorigamirobotis first ingested in a medium that dissolves (e.g., ice). TheMIT CSAILorigamirobot, once
released, then unfolds like an accordion inside a simulated stomach medium, where it is guided
via a programmable magnetic field to find small ingested objects such as a button
battery. The MIT CSAILorigamirobotthen attaches to the object
via a magnet, dislodging the battery from where it is embedded in the simulated lining
of the stomach or esophagus. Thus, the origami robot would fulfill its mission to prevent risks of serious organ ulceration, resulting from ingested button batteries that are stuck.
The MIT CSAILorigamirobotthen might disintegrate, or
fracture, under the effect of gastric fluids, so that it can also be expelled through the GI tract. In future versions, the MIT CSAILorigamirobotmight search and retrieve small ingested objects autonomously using algorithm-driven sensors and cameras,
or it might perform different endoscopic interventions, such as delivering medicine or
patching wounds, using its own origami structure.
The MIT CSAIL, ingestible, endoscopic, origami robot invention is recited in the US patent application US20200038061A
titled Origami robots, systems, and method of treatment. The abstract of the
invention is included below, together with the Figure 1 drawing of the patent application. The Figure 1 drawing depicts a magnified view of the origami robot deployed inside the
stomach of a patient. The origami robot invention is intended to resolve issues of the
prior art of endoscopic devices, as it is a non-invasive procedure, invoking no surgery that relies on a tethered endoscope. Likewise, the origami robot is intended to resolve issues of the prior art of
pill-cam endoscopes, devices that are unguided, once ingested.
Specifically,
the Figure 1 drawing depicts a
patient 130, and an origami robot 103 that is encapsulated by biocompatible
material 101, in the shape of a
capsule or pill 100. The biocompatible
material 101 is meltable or
degradable, once ingested into the patient’s GI tract 132. The origami robot 103
comprises a foldable body portion 102,
comprising actuation means for unfolding. The foldable body portion 102 initially appears
folded 110,inside the stomach, once
the encapsulation has disintegrated/melted. Then, the body portion 102, is also depicted unfolded 120. A magnet 104, designed to retrieve a lodged button battery, is also depicted in this embodiment of the origami robot 103. Finally, an area 104 is also shown. The area 104 corresponds to a wound site that the endoscopic origami robot is designed to treat.
Origami robots, and associated systems, methods of treatment, and methods of manufacture are provided. A system includes an origami robot encapsulated for ingestion by a patient, such as in a biocompatible material that is dissolvable or meltable within the gastrointestinal tract. A method of treatment includes delivering an origami robot in a folded position into a gastrointestinal tract of a patient, causing the origami robot to unfold within the gastrointestinal tract, and directing the origami robot to a site requiring treatment in the gastrointestinal tract.
