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# U.S. Patent No. 11,842,605 (the "'605 Patent") — Claims Excerpt

**Title:** Adaptive Grip-Force Modulation for Robotic End Effectors
**Assignee (by assignment):** Sortwell Robotics, Inc.
**Issued:** November 19, 2024

> This is a partial excerpt — independent claim 1 and selected dependent claims, plus a short specification passage — provided so the GripSense module can be charted against the asserted claims. The full patent, file history, and figures are not reproduced here.

## What is claimed

**Claim 1.** A robotic end effector, comprising:

- a gripper body carrying a plurality of opposing jaw members movable toward and away from one another to grasp a workpiece;
- at least one force sensor coupled to a jaw member and configured to generate a contact-force signal representative of a grip force applied by the jaw members to the workpiece;
- an actuator operatively coupled to the jaw members and configured to drive the jaw members in response to a drive command;
- a memory storing a plurality of grip-force profiles, each grip-force profile being associated with a respective workpiece class and specifying a target grip-force value for that class; and
- a controller in communication with the force sensor, the memory, and the actuator, the controller configured to (i) identify a workpiece class of the workpiece, (ii) select, from the memory, the target grip-force value of the grip-force profile associated with the identified workpiece class, (iii) compare the contact-force signal to the selected target grip-force value, and (iv) issue the drive command so as to maintain the grip force within a tolerance band of the selected target grip-force value.

**Claim 2.** The robotic end effector of claim 1, wherein the at least one force sensor comprises a capacitive tactile array disposed on a contact surface of the jaw member.

**Claim 3.** The robotic end effector of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to issue the drive command at an update rate of at least 100 Hz.

**Claim 4.** The robotic end effector of claim 1, wherein the controller updates at least one of the grip-force profiles using a machine-learning model trained on contact-force signals recorded during prior grasping operations.

**Claim 5.** The robotic end effector of claim 1, wherein the tolerance band is adjustable by an operator through a configuration interface.

## Specification — excerpt (col. 4, ll. 12–38)

> In some embodiments the controller identifies the workpiece class from an upstream vision system; in other embodiments the operator selects the class from a stored list. The grip-force profiles need not be exhaustive — where a sensed workpiece does not match a stored profile, the controller may apply a default target grip-force value and flag the event for later profiling. The term "force sensor" is used broadly and encompasses any transducer that produces a signal varying with applied contact force, including, without limitation, strain-gauge, piezoresistive, and capacitive sensing elements. The term "workpiece class" refers to a grouping of workpieces sharing handling characteristics (for example, "rigid," "deformable," or a material- or part-specific designation) and does not require any particular taxonomy.

## Prosecution note (excerpt)

> During prosecution, the applicant distinguished the prior art by arguing that the claimed controller selects a target grip-force value *from a stored profile associated with a workpiece class*, rather than computing a single fixed setpoint. The examiner allowed the claims after this amendment.