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New patent search quiz
The weed destructor
The machine depicted below was developed at the University of
Illinois.
"It is just like a human," said Lei Tian, an associate professor of
agricultural and biological engineering at Illinois. "If it sees a weed, it can
actually tell how far away it is."
An on-board computer offers access to information that provides the
morphological features of plants, to help the robot determine what is and isn't
a weed. Once a weed is identified, a robotic arm attached to the front of the
machine engages a device the researcher calls "a custom-designed end effector."
There are two layers to the device, according to Tian, who is also the director
of the Illinois Laboratory for Agricultural Remote Sensing. One layer cuts the
weed, while the second layer applies herbicide to the cut weed.
"This type of application is extremely effective," said Tian,
"because it applies herbicide directly to the plant, instead of broadcasting
uniform rates across a field."
Try finding similar devices that detect weeds and apply herbicides
in a targeted manner to reduce the environmental hazards due to heavy uniform
herbicide broadcasting across a field. To do this, use the worldwide patent
search service esp@cenet®.
More on the device described
above.
Hong Young Jeon, a PhD student who works with U of I agricultural
engineer Dr. Lei Tian, with the weed-eating solar-powered robot. (Image
courtesy of University of Illinois, College of ACES)
Solution to the last quiz: find the patent for the
Autowalker
“Sit on the autowalker car, put your feet on the foot pads
and hold the steering wheel with two hands. Turn the steering wheel left and
right repeatedly and off you go AND no batteries are needed. YES, it's an
amazing new toy.”
This advertisement is for the mini car depicted above, a popular toy
sold under the trade mark Autowalker.
Using es@cenet®, try to find patents covering this product and to
get information on the company that manufactures this toy.
This is a case where some targeted searches using both Internet and
patent sources can be quicker than the classic concept approach. The classic
approach can yield many patents relating to similar products with no guarantee
of retrieving the patent(s) covering this specific product.
A search for autowalker on the internet gives you some information
on the origin of the product.
A search in Google for
Autowalker
yields the following list of Web pages.
The first result is the site of the company that markets
the toy car.
This site provides you with additional relevant information like the
prizes won by the inventor of this toy.
By clicking on the prize link you find a blurred image mentioning
the inventor of this toy, his complete name contains the first name Gu.
Using this name as a search criteria in the esp@cenet® worldwide
database as an inventor combined with toy as a keyword in the title-abstract
field yields the following list of patents.
Front wheel drive child riding toy vehicle,
US6676148
Driving shaft device of toy twist car,
US6634662
The inventor mentioned in both patents is GU HONG-JIUN a name that
seems to match the blurred name on the prize certificate available on the
Autowalker site.
Looking for all patents held by this inventor we obtain
this list.
In which following additional patents seem to cover the autowalker
toy:
Twist vehicle with rear operation system,
US2002074180
Operation arrangement for a twist vehicle,
US2001050470
Rider propelled vehicle,
US2001040352
As you can see, this Autowalker toy is covered by several patents,
and its inventor has already protected the electrical version. Needless to say,
there may also be other patents covering this product. Retrieving all of them
is a task to be left to professional patent searchers in view of the legal and
documentary complexity of such a search.
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