Robotics | Office of Technology Licensing

Available Technologies by Category
An Approach to Human-Robot Collaborative Drilling & Fastening in Aerospace Final Assembly	The invention is a new, collaborative, and adaptive robot-based approach to complete drilling and fastening tasks autonomously in an adaptable, unstructured environments using an expert demonstrator and human operator. The human trains the robot to autonomously complete tasks by defining its environment and demonstrating how to locate, classify, and insert fasteners into a fuselage using a camera and 3D sensor that surveys the area. While the system starts with no information, it can use online and offline learning techniques to develop a data bank of information to utilize throughout the insertion process.	8805
Quantum Tunneling Radio Positioning System Achieves Higher Levels of Accuracy and Longer Range for Next-Generation Wireless Networks	This radiolocation system uses quantum tunneling tags (QTT) capable of operating in non-line-of-sight conditions to achieve longer range communications in outdoor and indoor applications. The use of QTTs, paired with a frequency hopping reader, results in positioning accuracy not achievable with standard methods. QTTs are inexpensive and operate under low power requirements to offer an affordable orientation system with long battery life.	8535
Superluminescent Light Projection (SLP) System Decreases Nanoscale Printing Costs by 10–50 Times	This superluminescent light projection (SLP) system decreases overall nanoscale printing costs by 10–50 times. A parallel writing mechanism supports higher throughput speeds: up to 100 times higher than existing metal printing methods and four times higher than existing polymer printing methods. SLP creates sharp-edged images with minimal speckling patterns, resulting in high-resolution images and structures on both polymer and metal-based films.	9066
Versatile Continuum Robots with Variable Stiffness Control for Improved Positioning and Manipulation	Continuum robot design offers stiffness control continuously along the length of a guidewire or at variable discrete locations along the structure’s length. Versatile design is not restricted to one actuator type along the length of the guidewire, and elements can be placed along any section of the guidewire body. With better control of the wire positioning within a patient’s anatomy, it may be possible to improve treatment outcomes.	9166
AI Systems for Personalized Wearable Robotic Systems	The system generalizes to different users, varying terrain conditions and walking speeds. The system is designed to transfer between different wearable robotics devices. The system optimally estimates the physiological state of the user to provide the best assistance that the wearable robot can give the user allowing for optimal control across tasks.	8985
High-Precision, Hands-Free Remote Control of Complex Robotic Systems Via Eye Movements	This two-camera eye-tracking system (TCES) integrates a commercial eye tracker with machine-learning technology for continuous real-time classification of gaze and eye directions for robotic arm control. The system provides highly accurate classification for four directions of eye movement and has achieved 99.99% accuracy in studies. Using simple eye movement, the TCES offers low-cost, high-precision control of external devices/hardware for people with disabilities, surgery robots, warehouse systems, construction tools, and more.	9184
Automated Bioreactor Sampling System Can Eliminate Cross-Contamination of Samples	Automated bioreactor sampling system maintains sample integrity by changing the syringe between samples In addition to savings related to reduced cross-contamination, automated sampling can further lower costs by reducing hands-on time and speeding sampling. Flexible platform can be used with any type of collected sample.	8886
Enhanced Cybersecurity for Networked Motion Control Systems with Somewhat Homomorphic Encryption	Increase cybersecurity with expression rewrite rules for encrypted dynamic control schemes that reduce the multiplicative depth of somewhat homomorphic encryption and improve numerical stability. New approach generates motion commands to servo systems without creating a security hole. Information decryption and control signal calculation can be performed and executed inside the plant, while all sensitive system information outside of the plant is always encrypted.	9012
patcherBotPHARMA Automated Intracellular Pharmacological Electrophysiology Robot	Increased efficiency: Autonomous operation ensures accurate placement of components and creates high success rates for experiment completion. Decreased human effort: Performs typical ligand-gated ionotropic receptor experimentation protocols autonomously for up to a tenfold reduction in operator interaction time over the duration of the experiment Higher experiment yield: Rapidly replicates previous datasets, reducing the time to produce an 8-point concentration response curve from weeks of recording to ~13 hours of recording	8717
Microrobots for Neurosurgery Applications	Minimally invasive: Significantly reduces invasiveness of procedures in comparison to current macroscale, neurosurgical robots Precise control: Uses 3D position data of the microrobots on the brain surface in a closed-loop system to adjust the magnetic field parameters (i.e., magnitude, frequency, phase, and direct current [DC] offset of each coil) as well as the forces the robots exert to the biopsy tissue Facilitates movement: Employs microfabricated shapes that dictate the microrobot's movements, limits their contact with the brain surface to reduce adhesion, and may also provide a means for the robot to propel itself in fluid	8749
Chip-Scale Atomic Beam System	Precision timekeeping (e.g., chip-scale atomic clocks primarily used in cell phone base stations) Navigation (e.g., interferometers used in underwater oil and gas exploration) Robotics	8896
Steerable and Flexible Robotic Endoscopic Tool with Instrument-Changing System	Flexible: Offers multiple tendon-driven degrees of freedom and is designed to enable the surgeon to avoid obstacles within the workspace Simplifies instrument changes: Includes three instrument stations with a motorized shaft to allow insertion into or retraction from the working channel(s) without leaving the surgical field Reduces procedure time: Demonstrates potential to improve procedure efficiency and patient safety by reducing procedure time	8118
Robotically Steerable Guidewire for Improved Vascular Intervention	Robotic: Provides operational improvement of guidewire navigation to facilitate catheter placement by employing robotics, while most other commercially available guidewires lack active steering capability Versatile: Controls the guidewire bending angle and also adjusts the bending length of the joint, increasing the capabilities of the guidewire and accommodating varied vasculature geometries Flexible: Can be extended to multiple bending sections and degrees of freedom, in stark contrast to passive guidewires that offer clinicians very limited degrees of freedom	8451
Flight Control System for Miniature Aerial Robots	Lightweight: Features a core electronics board that weighs less than half a gram Flexible: Contains a core electronics board that can be conveniently reprogrammed for expanded functionality Compact: Offers a small form factor with an area of about 2 square centimeters	8591
Drive Belt with Surface Texture to Minimize Vibrations	Effective: Demonstrated significant reduction in vibration compared with flat, untextured belt surfaces in preliminary testing Simple: Provides a straightforward and easy-to-implement solution to a widespread problem Economical: Offers a far less expensive means of maintaining the operation of machinery compared with replacing worn belts or employing complex tension systems	8307
Bio-Inspired Gripper with Shear-Induced Clamping	Effective: Assists in lifting/releasing objects when in a shear-activated/disactivated mode Versatile: Works with a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and materials Robust: Does not require high precision in controlling vise jaws, making it easy to implement in an industrial environment	8393
ScheduleNet: Advancing Multi-Robot Coordination	Superior performance: Outperforms approximate human-robot scheduling methods in both schedule optimization and total number of feasible schedules Robust: Can autonomously learn scalable scheduling heuristics on multiple application domains and attains an order-of-magnitude improved computation speed compared with exact methods Novel: Is the first method to leverage graph neural networks involving simple temporal network (STN)-based scheduling problems with spatial constraints	8515, 8517
SlothBot: Sustainable Solution for Studying Climate Change	Wide-ranging: Can switch between two different wire branches and can therefore traverse a whole mesh of wires Sustainable: Utilizes solar energy and runs with a low power consumption, making the robot highly energy efficient Low risk: Employs a fail-safe design that protects the robot from damage in the event of a mechanical failure	8194
Near-Real-Time Positioning for Instruments and Tools in Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) and Imaging (MRI)	Precise: Extremely precise positioning mechanism enables orientation and control capable of sub-millimeter motions within the MR environment Rapid: Significantly speeds up procedure time over standard MRI and offers wavefield images in near real time High resolution: Uses high-frequency actuation to enable imaging of small, geometrically difficult targets	8412
Highly Effective Motion Capture Marker for Small Aerial Robots	Robust: Improves the reliability and accuracy of the motion capture measurement by eliminating excessive reflection Easy to use: Consists of only a miniature driver circuit and illumination stripe while requiring a simple plug-in power supply to operate Lightweight: Accommodates small robots with limited payload capacity—total weight of an active marker is approximately 1 gram	8528

Technologies