A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8083013 | Multimodal agile robots Examples and implementations of various robotic mechanisms, devices, components, systems and techniques are provided, including multimodal robotic devices and systems. For example, a multimodal robot can be configured to autonomously reconfigure between two or more ... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8051930 | Vehicle for positioning transportable and relocatable heavy equipment A vehicle for positioning a transportable and relocatable equipment having at least four walking assemblies attached to a frame, each walking assembly having a walking pad, a roller tread, a lift assembly connected to a central collar, a rotatable motion gear assemb... | 11/08/2011 |
| 7958955 | Automotive inspection device An automotive device for the inspection of internal spaces having ferromagnetic surfaces includes at least two magnetic wheels (3) or caterpillars, or at least two magnetic legs for the advancement of the device along the surfaces to be inspected. According t... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7836983 | Bimodal conveyance mechanism A virtual wheel provides a leg pair as a conveyance mechanism for a land vehicle. The virtual wheel propels the vehicle across a surface using a repetitive motion of the legs that contact the ground as would a wheel, due to their geometry. Vehicle embodiments includ... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7658245 | Mobile robot There is provided a high-speed and stable robot apparatus realizing stable walking by surely grounding legs having wheels even on an irregular ground surface. The mobile robot includes a body having a control device and an inclination angle detecting device which de... | 02/09/2010 |
| 7464775 | Payload module for mobility assist A ground vehicle and a method for articulating a payload module for mobility assist are disclosed. The ground vehicle comprises a chassis; and a payload module capable of articulating relative to the chassis to assist the mobility of the ground vehicle. The method c... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7434815 | Stair climbing wheelchair carrier A stair climbing wheelchair carrier operable by an unassisted wheelchair user is provided. The carrier includes a crawler drive unit and a carrying unit. The carrying unit includes a carrier main frame whose position is adjustable up and down relative to the crawler... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7424923 | Mobile robot A mobile robot having wheels which maintain contact forces against a surface even when the mobile robot meets an obstacle on the surface and a body of the mobile robot is forced up against the obstacle. The mobile robot easily surmounts the obstacle on the surface, ... | 09/16/2008 |
| 7398843 | Reconfigurable robot drive A robot including a robot body, a plurality of wheels on the robot body for propelling the robot body, and an axle for each wheel. Each wheel is configured to alternately attach to an axle at or proximate the center of the wheel for high efficiency mobility on flat ... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7384046 | Powered wheeled vehicle capable of travelling on level ground, over uneven surfaces and on stairs Powered wheeled vehicle (1), capable of travelling both on level ground and over uneven surfaces, comprising at least one driving tread (BR11) as well as two pairs of front wheels (R61) and rear wheels (R21), of which at least one is a dr... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7363994 | Wheeled platforms A wheeled platform 100 is disclosed, which is characterized by high mobility and reliability, and which can be used in a wide range of applications including transport and robotic devices. The wheeled platform 100 has fore and aft body portions 130,... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364044 | Safety device against overturning crane The present invention provides a safety device against crane overturning which operates in a crawler crane comprising at least four outriggers in a frame, the safety device comprising a load detector 2 that detects a ground reaction to each of the outriggers,... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7350787 | Vehicles and methods using center of gravity and mass shift control system A center of gravity (C/G) control system for a vehicle includes sensors to measure the center of gravity shift and mass shift of the human body in relation to the vehicle, a controller to determine outputs, a dynamically adjustable vehicle system, and a power supply... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7347511 | Rotary walker robotic platform A rotary walking device having multiple sequential ground engaging elongated struts interconnected between pairs of annular drive disks. Each pair of drive disks having multiple pivot attachment points for the respective opposing apertured ends of each strut. Each s... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7311162 | Apparatus and method for traversing compound curved and other surfaces A traction unit capable of traversing and turning on surfaces that include compound curves like the surface of a sphere or are inverted like a ceiling. The traction unit includes a plurality of trucks operable to propel the unit across a surface and a plurality of a... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7270334 | Wheel assemblies for use with load bearing platforms A wheel assembly for supporting a load bearing platform includes a primary wheel and at least four secondary wheels that are of equal size. The primary wheel includes at least one planar member having an even number of axles at fixed locations extending perpendicula... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7262573 | Medical tele-robotic system with a head worn device A robot system that includes a robot and a remote station. The remote station includes a head worn device worn on the head of a user. The head worn device senses movement of the user's head and generates corresponding input signals. The input signals are processed i... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7261176 | Articulated vehicle suspension system shoulder joint An articulated vehicle suspension system shoulder joint is disclosed. A vehicle includes a plurality of wheel assemblies; a plurality of rotating shoulder joints, each wheel assembly being mounted to a respective one of the shoulder joints and rotatable in a plane b... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7249640 | Highly mobile robots that run and jump The present invention relates to novel, highly mobile small robots called “Mini-WHEGS™” that can run and jump. They are derived from our larger WHEGS™(“wheel-like lecis”) series of robots, which benefit from abstracted cockroach locomotion principles. Pa... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7182166 | Footrest tuck mechanism A wheelchair with a footrest that tucks as a power base on which the wheelchair seat is mounted rotates about an axis parallel to a surface. The rotation of the power base raises the height of the seat above the surface. The footrest, which is coupled to the support... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7182163 | Positioning mechanism for a vehicle The invention contemplates a selectably operable hydraulic means for laterally shifting one end of a non-moving vehicle in order to provide a desired alignment. The present invention is particularly applicable to vehicle-mounted equipment which has an invariant late... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7163088 | Lift truck for the transport of a battery block of an industrial truck A lift truck (6) for the transport of a battery block (1) of an industrial truck, such as a fork-lift truck. The lift truck (6) includes at least one electrical unit. The electrical unit can be connected with the battery block (1) to be t... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7143850 | Leg joint assist device for legged movable robot An assist device is provided with a spring device that generates an auxiliary driving force, by an elastic energy, acting on a joint of a leg. The spring device includes a gas spring having a cylinder and a piston. Bending/stretching motion between link members and ... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7111696 | Legged mobile robot In a legged mobile robot (10) having a motor (42) that rotates the ankle joint (26R (26L)) about a right-and-left axis of the robot (26RY (26LY)) and a speed reducer (58) that reduces speed of an output of the motor, ... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7090042 | Floating drive for vehicle A vehicle having a load frame with wheels, a drive frame, a drive wheel, a non-driven rigid castor wheel, and a pivot link assembly. The drive wheel and non-driven rigid castor wheel are each fixed to move with the drive frame. The pivot link assembly couples the dr... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7017687 | Reconfigurable articulated leg and wheel A reconfigurable leg and wheel device includes an array of components joined in series configurable as i) an articulated leg with the components movable with respect to one another in a walking motion, and reconfigurable as ii) a wheel with the components forming a ... | 03/28/2006 |
| 6935447 | Stair-climbing hand truck A stair-climbing hand truck comprising two casters held in a chassis and a supporting foot constituted by a two-arm lever having a lower support end and an upper end, a supporting foot guide connected to and guiding the upper end of the two-arm lever, a connecting r... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6923453 | Suspension leveling system In the operation of work machines of the type required to carry heavy loads over uneven ground conditions, it is oftentimes desirable to provide the work machine with a way to automatically maintain the chassis in a substantially horizontal condition. The present in... | 08/02/2005 |
| 6915878 | Self-balancing ladder and camera dolly A device and methods for supporting a payload, such as a user, at a variable height above the ground and for repositioning the payload in a dynamically stabilized mode of operation. The transporter device has two laterally disposed primary wheels and a payload suppo... | 07/12/2005 |
| 6907945 | Wheel chair Disclosed is a wheel chair capable of going over an obstacle or ascending or descending a stair. The wheel chair comprises a wheel frame; an actuator coupled to the wheel frame; a power generating unit coupled to the actuator; a first transmission having a sun gear ... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6845830 | Method of climbing up/down a step, bogie and wheelchair A bogie is provided with a wheel mechanism that can move each wheel in a vertical direction, and a control unit to perform impedance control of moving force to be applied to a wheel supporting unit in which a motor provided in the wheel mechanism is supporting the w... | 01/25/2005 |
| 6819780 | Method and apparatus for automatically steering a vehicle in an agricultural field using a plurality of fuzzy logic membership functions A combine having a camera system is disclosed in which pictures of the ground in front of the vehicle are processed to extract the slope and intercept of a characteristic line indicative of the boundary between the cut and uncut portions of the field. A fuzzy logic ... | 11/16/2004 |
| 6793026 | Wall-climbing robot A wall-climbing robot or mobility platform able to ascend and descend various horizontal and vertical surfaces having a chassis, a rotor rotatable with respect to the chassis, one or more prominences on the rotor, and means for adhering to a surface attached to the ... | 09/21/2004 |
| 6752400 | Moving unit A moving unit provides a wheel that supports a body portion in a condition that the body portion can be moved, a supporting member that is mounted at a position that does not interfere with rotation of the wheel and an arm that is mounted at a position shifted from ... | 06/22/2004 |
| 6742617 | Apparatus and method for traversing compound curved and other surfaces A traction unit capable of traversing and turning on surfaces that include compound curves like the surface of a sphere or are inverted like a ceiling. The traction unit includes a plurality of trucks operable to propel the unit across a surface and a plurality of a... | 06/01/2004 |
| 6550787 | Conveying apparatus for ascending or descending stairways A conveying apparatus capable of ascending or descending stairways and carrying goods consists of a frame, a transmission mechanism and a driving mechanism located on a lower section of the frame. The transmission mechanism includes a planetary gear set a... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6484829 | Battery powered stair-climbing wheelchair A self-propelled battery-powered wheelchair replaces an ordinary wheelchair and provides improved access to homes. The wheelchair includes stair climbing, slope climbing, and reclining while requiring only minimal driver skill and strength. Operation on l... | 11/26/2002 |
| 6397960 | Transporting device A transporting device has wheels, a stair climbing unit having climbing legs, an electric motor provided for driving of the stair climbing unit, a drive shaft which is driven by the electric motor and is formed as a crank shaft located symmetrically to a ... | 06/04/2002 |
| 6341784 | Motor-driven stair climbing device A motor-driven stair climbing device (10) to carry equipment and goods, more particularly wheel chairs (9) with disabled persons. The wheel chair (9) can be detachably fixed to the stair climber (10) and essentially comprises a stable frame (101) with an ... | 01/29/2002 |
| 6328120 | Stair climbing vehicle In a stair-climbing vehicle for negotiating steps, ledges and stairs comprising a vehicle body having wheel support arms mounted thereon at opposite sides and in spaced relationship so as to be pivotable about a wheel support arm shaft and wheels rotatabl... | 12/11/2001 |