Implements or apparatus for applying pushing or pulling force – Apparatus for hauling or hoisting load – including driven... – Device includes rotatably driven – cable contacting drum
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-15
2003-04-29
Brahan, Thomas J. (Department: 3652)
Implements or apparatus for applying pushing or pulling force
Apparatus for hauling or hoisting load, including driven...
Device includes rotatably driven, cable contacting drum
C212S331000, C254S266000, C414S005000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06554252
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to material handling devices. More specifically, this invention is a lift assist device that, among other components, includes a sensory glove and a controller. The sensory glove is worn by an operator and measures the vertical force that the wearer is imposing on an object that is being maneuvered by the lift assist device or on the lift assist device itself. The measured force is then transmitted in terms of radio frequency (RF) signals to the controller of the lift assist device. The lift assist device lowers and lifts the load so always the human operator exerts a pre-programmed small portion of the force, and the actuator of the material handling device provides the remaining force. Therefore, the actuator of the lift assist device adds effort to the lifting task only in response to the operator's hand force either on the object that is being maneuvered by the lift assist device or on the lift assist device itself.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A new class of material handling devices is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426 (Kazerooni), where the human operator force on the material handling device is amplified electronically by use of a computer to drive the material handing device.
FIG. 1
shows a lift assist device
17
according to specifications of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426. At the top of the device, a take-up pulley
18
, driven by an actuator
28
, is directly attached to a ceiling, wall, or overhead crane. Encircling pulley
18
is a line
26
. Attached to line
26
is a sensory end-effector
46
, that includes a human interface subsystem (including a handle
23
) and a load interface subsystem, which in this embodiment includes a pair of suction cups
60
. Human interface subsystem is designed to be gripped by a human hand and measures the human force, i.e., the force applied by an operator
24
against handle
23
. Load interface subsystem is designed to interface with a load and contains various holding devices. In addition to suction cups
60
shown in
FIG. 1
, hooks and grippers are examples of other means that connect to load interface subsystems. Human interface subsystem contains a sensor (described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426) that measures the magnitude of the vertical force exerted by human operator
24
. A signal representing the human force imposed on sensory end-effector
46
by operator
24
, as measured by the force sensor in handle
23
, is transmitted to controller
20
, via signal cable
48
, which controls actuator
28
of lift assist device
17
. A cable
21
is used for communication between actuator
28
and controller
20
. Controller
20
causes lift assist device
17
to move sensory end-effector
46
and load (box
45
) appropriately so always only a pre-programmed small proportion of the load force is supported by human operator
24
, and the remaining force is provided by actuator
28
of the material handling system. If the operator's hand pushes upwardly on handle
23
, take-up pulley
18
moves sensory end-effector
46
and box
45
upwardly. If the operator's hand pushes downwardly on handle
23
, take-up pulley
18
moves sensory end-effector
46
and box
45
downwardly.
FIG. 2
shows an embodiment of the lift assist device
25
of the invention described here which is different from the devices described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426. At the top of the device, a take-up pulley
18
, driven by an actuator
28
, is directly attached to a ceiling. Encircling pulley
18
is a line
26
. Attached to line
26
is an end-effector
22
. End-effector
22
of the invention here, as shown in
FIG. 2
, consists of only load interface components that attach to the load; end-effector
22
of this invention does not have any human interface subsystem to measure the human operator force. Instead lift assist device,
25
, of this invention has an instrumented glove
10
that is not connected to line
26
or any part of the lift assist device, but is worn by operator
24
and therefore remains with operator
24
. Instrumented glove
10
consists of a leather (or cloth) glove
29
with an embedded sensory system
11
(described in detail in later paragraphs). Embedded sensory system
11
in instrumented glove
10
measures the force exerted by human operator
24
on the object being lifted (container
47
in
FIG. 2
) or on the lift assist device itself. The signal representing operator vertical contact force is then sent to a transmitter circuitry
13
via a signal cable
19
. Transmitter circuitry
13
transmits a set of control signals in terms of radio frequency (RF) signals or infrared (IR) signals
15
to a receiver circuitry
16
installed in controller
27
of the lift assist device. Once the transmitted control signals are received, they will then be used for processing and control of actuator
28
as a function of the measured operator vertical contact force. Using the data created by receiver circuitry
16
, controller
27
calculates the necessary actuator speed to either raise or lower line
26
to create enough mechanical strength to assist the operator in the lifting task as required.
The important advantage of the lift assist device described here over the devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426 is that operator
24
is able to lift and lower a load by contacting any point either on the load (container
47
in the example of FIG.
2
), or on the lift assist device itself.
FIG. 27
shows an example of the material device where operator
24
is holding onto a handle
187
(connected to line
26
) for lifting and lowering loads. In operating the devices described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,915,673 and 5,865,426, operator
24
needs to grab a handle which is a part of sensory end-effector
46
and includes a sensor to measure the operator force. End-effector
22
of the invention described here which interfaces line
26
and loads (container
47
in
FIG. 2
) does not have a sensor to measure operator force; it simply includes tools and equipments to grab loads. The human interaction force with the device is measured in a glove, which is always with the operator. The measured signal, representing the operator force, is then sent to a receiver wirelessly (e.g. via a RF signals) for control of the actuator of the lift assist device.
Since the instrumented glove is an important component of the invention described here, we will describe below the prior arts that relate to the instrumented glove of our invention. Currently, instrumented gloves are used in various applications. For instance, gloves with actuators that create forces on the fingers according to a set of computer instructions are designed to emulate forces on the wearer's fingers and thumbs in telerobotics and virtual reality applications. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,319 (Kramer) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,505 (Burdea et al.) are patents teaching examples of this application of instrumented gloves.
Another type of instrumented glove device includes sensors that measure kinematics type data (i.e., position, orientation, and posture) of the fingers, thumbs and wrists for various applications. Applications for gloves with embedded sensors measuring kinematics type data include for example: transforming human hand movements into electronic letters and characters, controlling the movement and actions of video characters, providing biofeedback for sports training such as tennis and golf, and assessing the mobility of human and/or animal joints. Examples of transforming human hand movements into electronic letters and characters are taught by, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,537 (Grimes) and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,047,952 and 6,035,274 (Kramer et al.). Examples of controlling the movement and actions of video characters are found in the inventions taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,796,354 (Cartabiano et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,139 (Robinson II). U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,530 (Hock) teaches a method and an apparatus with sensors to measure body movement and flexure during kinetic activi
Chen Albert
Fairbanks Dylan Miller
Kazerooni Homayoon
Shin Gene
Brahan Thomas J.
Kazerooni Homayoon
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