Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of claims
The following claims have been rejected or allowed for the following reasons:
Claim(s) 1-20 is rejected under 35 USC § 103
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement/statements (IDS) were filed on 03/3/23 and 7/14/23. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1 - 3, 5, 7 - 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan (NPL) ([Field Application] M1013 - Electric Car Charging Robot), in further view of Alonso (DE 102014017855 A1), in further view of AisRobots (NPL | Robot Skill Adaptation via Soft Actor-Critic Gaussian Mixture Models | 2022).
Regarding claim 1 Doosan teaches A charging system for an electric vehicle, the system comprising: a robotic arm; (Doosan figure 1, taken at [0:07], below clearly shows a robotic arm that is configured to charge electric vehicles.);
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Figure 1 [0:07]
a base secured to the robotic arm; (Doosan figure 2, taken at [1:45], below clearly shows a mechanical base secured to the robotic arm);
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Figure 2 [1:45]
a vision sensor disposed on the base (Doosan figure 3, taken at [1:08], below shows the vision sensor attached to the base);
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Figure 3 [1:08]
a gripper extending below the base, the gripper including two opposing fingers configured to be retracted toward each other; (Doosan figure 4, taken at [1:45], shows the use of a pair of mechanical grippers that can move towards each other);
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Figure 4 [1:45]
and an electric charger configured to be secured between the two opposing fingers, (Doosan, Figure 5, taken at [0:42], shows a custom electrical charger configured to be secured by the mechanical grippers);
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Figure 5 [0:42]
wherein the robotic arm is configured to move the electric charger to a charging port of the electric vehicle (Doosan figure 6, taken at [1:09], shows the insertion of the electric vehicle charge into the electric vehicle);
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Figure 6 [1:09]
Doosan does not teach ; a hook extending from the base; opened by the hook based on data from the vision sensor and the hook including a proximal end extending from the base and a distal end, the hook having an arcuate profile from the proximal end toward the distal end;
Alonso in analogous art, teaches a hook extending from the base (Alonso abstract reads “The invention relates to a handling device for opening a flap (1) of a component to be coated, in particular for opening a door (1) or a hood of a motor vehicle body component in a paint shop, with a handling robot (2) having a robot arm (5) and one on the Robot arm (5) mounted gripper (6) for engaging in an engagement (7) on the openable flap (1)”);
opened by the hook based on data from the vision sensor. (Alonso page 2 paragraph 2 reads “The invention relates to a handling device for opening a ap of a component to be coated, in particular for opening a door or a hood of a motor vehicle body component in a paint shop. Furthermore, the invention comprises a corresponding handling method.”);
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan with that of Alonso to provide an improved method of opening a door. (Alonso page 2 paragraph 5 reads “The problem with such handling robots is the exact positioning of the pin of the handling robot in the engagement. Namely, the known geometry data of the vehicle body to be painted, in conjunction with the position of the vehicle body on the conveyor, only allow coarse positioning of the stylus of the manipulator robot relative to engagement with the door to be opened (door or hood).”);
Doosan/Alonso does not teach the hook including a proximal end extending from the base and a distal end, the hook having an arcuate profile from the proximal end toward the distal end;
AisRobots in analogous art, teaches the hook including a proximal end extending from the base and a distal end, the hook having an arcuate profile from the proximal end toward the distal end; (AisRobots at [3:36] clears shows a hook that has a curved and open profile that is used to open a door.);
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AisRobots [3:36]
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Doosan/Alonso with that of AisRobots to include a curved hook that is used to open doors. This would allow for the robotic system to better match the skills that a human has and better learn from their environment. (AisRobots [3:05] clearly shows a human demonstration of open the door before the robot learns from this example.);
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AisRobots [3:05]
Regarding claim 2 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, wherein the gripper further comprises an actuator configured to retract the two opposing fingers toward each other. (Doosan Figure 7, taken at [0:42], shows the usage of a two-part grippers in which an actuator moves the fingers towards each other);
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Figure 7 [0:42]
Regarding claim 3 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, wherein the electric charger includes a release configured to disengage the electric charger from the charging port, and the system further comprises an actuator configured to actuate the release. (Doosan figure 8, taken at [1:47] shows a linear actuator that is actuated such that it allows for the electric vehicle charger to be removed from the chagrining port);
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Figure 8 [1:47]
Regarding claim 5 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, wherein the hook defines a void between a proximal end and a distal end. (AisRobots at [3:36] clears shows a hook that has an open profile that encompasses a void.);
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AisRobots [3:36]
Regarding claim 7 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, wherein the gripper includes a protrusion and the electric charger includes a slot configured to receive the protrusion, the protrusion configured to locate the gripper relative to the electric charger when the protrusion is received by the slot. (Doosan Figure 9, taken at [0:43] shows a specialty made grippers that has protrusions that would fit into slots on the electric charger that are configured to receive the protrusions);
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Figure 9 [0:43]
Regarding claim 8 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, further comprising a fastener securing the base to the robotic arm. (Doosan Figure 10, taken at [0:40], shows the mechanical fasteners that attaches the base to the robotic arm.);
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Figure 10 [0:40]
Regarding claim 9 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1, wherein the hook is configured to open a charging port door of the electric vehicle. (Alonso page 2 paragraph 2 reads “The invention relates to a handling device for opening a ap of a component to be coated, in particular for opening a door or a hood of a motor vehicle body component in a paint shop. Furthermore, the invention comprises a corresponding handling method“. Alonso teaches the opening of any door or hood and a vehicle whereas Doosan teaches that that door could be the charging door for an electric vehicle. Therefore the combination of Doosan and Alonso clearly teaches the opening of charging door of an electric vehicle.);
Claim(s) 10, 11 and 13-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan (NPL) ([Field Application] M1013 - Electric Car Charging Robot), in further view of Alonso (DE 102014017855 A1), in further view of MobilityPlaza (NPL | The Finnish station using a robot to fuel up cars | 2022).
Regarding claim 10 Doosan teaches A method for charging an electric vehicle, the method comprising: actuating a gripper of a tool attached to a robotic arm to secure an electric charger; (Fig 11 taken at [0:49] shows the usage of the robotic arm to pick up, move and manipulate an electric vehicle charger);
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Figure 11 [0:49]
and moving the electric charger with the robotic arm into the charging port. (Doosan Figure 12 taken at [1:09] shows the robotic arm moving the electric vehicle charger into the vehicle charging port);
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Figure 12 [1:09]
Doosan does not teach pressing a distal end of the tool against an outer surface of a charging port cover to open the charging port cover; inserting a hook of the tool between a charging port door and a charging port of the electric vehicle;
Alonso in analogous art, teaches inserting a hook of the tool between a charging port door and a charging port of the electric vehicle; (Alonso page 3 paragraph 3 reads “These handling robots usually engage with a pin into engagement with the door or bonnet to be opened and then open or close the door (door or hood). In the case of a door of a motor vehicle body, the engagement for the pin of the handling robot is usually formed by the window gap in which the side window is displaceable in the fully assembled state”);
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan with that of Alonso to provide an improved method of opening a door. (Alonso page 2 paragraph 5 reads “The problem with such handling robots is the exact positioning of the pin of the handling robot in the engagement. Namely, the known geometry data of the vehicle body to be painted, in conjunction with the position of the vehicle body on the conveyor, only allow coarse positioning of the stylus of the manipulator robot relative to engagement with the door to be opened (door or hood).”);
Doosan/Alonso does not teach pressing a distal end of the tool against an outer surface of a charging port cover to open the charging port cover;
MobilityPlaza in analogous art, teaches pressing a distal end of the tool against an outer surface of a charging port cover to open the charging port cover; (MobilityPlaza [2:54] clearly shows the robotic arm pressing its tool against the outer surface of the fueling cover to pop it open before suctioning to fully open the cover.);
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MobilityPlaza [2:54]
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the teachings of Doosan/Alonso with that of Mobility Plaza to include a method for opening the door of a charging or fueling cover. This would allow for the robotic system to better integrate into the world which has been build for human manipulation. (MobilityPlaza [2:00] comes from an interview with the inventor of the technology discussing the use cases of the robot.);
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MobilityPlaza [2:00]
Regarding claim 11 Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza teaches The method of Claim 10, further comprising collecting image data with a vision sensor (Alonso page 4 paragraph 2 reads “The ne positioning of the gripper relative to the engagement on the ap to be opened, on the other hand, taking into account the sensor data.”);
and moving the robotic arm to press the distal end of the tool against the charging port cover based on the image data. (Alonso page 4 paragraph 2 reads “The ne positioning of the gripper relative to the engagement on the ap to be opened, on the other hand, taking into account the sensor data.” And page 4 paragraph 21 reads “If this is the case, then in a step S3, a sensor-controlled approach of the gripper follows 6 to the door 1 where the distance from the sensor 8th measured signals are considered in a position control.”);
Regarding claim 13 Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza teaches The method of Claim 10, further comprising actuating an actuator disposed on the tool to press a release on the electric charger to release the electric charger from the charging port. (Doosan Fig 13 taken at [1:47] shows the usage of the linear actuator to activate the release on the electric charger before the electric charger is removed from the electric vehicle);
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Figure 13 [1:47]
Regarding claim 14 Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza teaches The method of Claim 10, further comprising actuating a pneumatic actuator to move opposing fingers of the gripper toward each other to secure the electric charger. (Doosan figure 14 taken at [0:44] shows the pneumatic fingers of the Doosan robot closing around the electric vehicle charger.);
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Figure 14 [0:44]
Regarding claim 15 Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza teaches The method of Claim 10, further comprising closing the charging port cover with the hook. (Alonso page 4 paragraph 26 reads “In a step S8, the door 1 then closed again.” And page 2 paragraph 3 reads “These handling robots usually engage with a pin into engagement with the door or bonnet to be opened and then open or close the door (door or hood). In the case of a door of a motor vehicle body, the engagement for the pin of the handling robot is usually formed by the window gap in which the side window is displaceable in the fully assembled state.”);
Claim(s) 16 and 18 – 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan (NPL) ([Field Application] M1013 - Electric Car Charging Robot), in further view of Alonso (DE 102014017855 A1).
Regarding claim 16 Doosan teaches A tool for a robotic arm configured to move an electric charger to an electric vehicle, the tool comprising: a base configured to be secured to the robotic arm; (Doosan figure 15, taken at [1:45], below clearly shows a mechanical base secured to the robotic arm);
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Figure 15 [1:45]
a vision sensor disposed on the base; (Doosan figure 16, taken at [1:08], below shows the vision sensor attached to the base);
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Figure 16 [1:08]
and a gripper extending below the base, the gripper including a track, two opposing fingers configured to move along the track, and an actuator configured to retract the two opposing fingers along the track. (Doosan figure 17, taken at [1:45], shows the use of a pair of mechanical grippers that can move towards each other);
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Figure 17 [1:45]
Doosan does not teach a hook including a proximal end fixed to the base, a distal end having an arcuate shape, and a void defined between the proximal end and the distal end;
Alonso in analogous art, teaches a hook including a proximal end fixed to the base, a distal end having an arcuate shape, and a void defined between the proximal end and the distal end; (Alonso figure 1 depicts the tool used for opening a door with a void between the ends of the tool.);
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Alonso figure 1
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan with that of Alonso to provide an improved method of opening a door. (Alonso page 2 paragraph 5 reads “The problem with such handling robots is the exact positioning of the pin of the handling robot in the engagement. Namely, the known geometry data of the vehicle body to be painted, in conjunction with the position of the vehicle body on the conveyor, only allow coarse positioning of the stylus of the manipulator robot relative to engagement with the door to be opened (door or hood).”);
Regarding claim 18 Doosan/Alonso teaches The tool of Claim 16, wherein the gripper further comprises a protrusion configured to be received by a slot of the electric charger. (Doosan Figure 18, taken at [0:43] shows a specialty made grippers that has protrusions that would fit into slots on the electric charger that are configured to receive the protrusions);
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Figure 18 [0:43]
Regarding claim 19 Doosan/Alonso teaches The tool of Claim 16, further comprising a solenoid actuator including a rod, the solenoid actuator configured to push the rod onto a release of the electric charger. (Doosan figure 19, taken at [1:47] shows a linear actuator that is actuated such that it allows for the electric vehicle charger to be removed from the chagrining port);
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Figure 19 [1:47]
Regarding claim 20 Doosan/Alonso teaches The tool of Claim 16, wherein the hook comprises a resilient polymer material. (Alonso page 4 paragraph 4 reads “For example, the gripper may be made of plastic. This is advantageous because the contact between the gripper and the door to be opened then does not lead to scratch marks on the door to be opened.”);
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots, in further view of Zhi-Ping (CN 209191708).
Regarding claim 4 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 1.
Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots does not teach wherein the vision sensor is configured with an object detection algorithm trained to identify the charging port of the electric vehicle based on images collected by the vision sensor.
Zhi-Ping in analogous art, teaches wherein the vision sensor is configured with an object detection algorithm trained to identify the charging port of the electric vehicle based on images collected by the vision sensor. (Zhi-Ping [0027] reads “When the charging connector when the vision sensor 48 detects the charging port 42 of the electric vehicle, a vision sensor 48 feeds back the signal to the control cabinet, the control cabinet controls”).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots with that of Zhi-Ping to provide a system that improves the charging of electric vehicles. (Zhi-Ping [Background] reads “generally uses the charging pile to charge the electric automobile in daily life, the electric automobile needs to charge, the driver only needs to be opened near the charging pile of electric automobile, car body face the charging head is provided with a charging joint close to the charging pile. However, since charging connector of electric vehicle may be on the sides, front or back of the electric automobile, electric automobile when parking charging, in order to make the charging head is set in vehicle body with a charging joint close to the charging pile of electric automobile parking of the transverse or longitudinal parking, parking space of the charging station of electric automobile irregular resulting in reduced, which reduces the economic benefit of charging station, electric vehicle charging station and it is not convenient.”);
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza, in further view of Zhi-Ping (CN 209191708).
Regarding claim 12 Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza teaches The method of Claim 11 and moving the robotic arm to insert the hook based on the identified charging port door. (Alonso page 4 paragraph 2 reads “The ne positioning of the gripper relative to the engagement on the ap to be opened, on the other hand, taking into account the sensor data.” And page 4 paragraph 21 reads “If this is the case, then in a step S3, a sensor-controlled approach of the gripper follows 6 to the door 1 where the distance from the sensor 8th measured signals are considered in a position control.”);
Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza does not teach further comprising identifying the charging port door based on the image data.
Zhi-Ping in analogous art, teaches further comprising identifying the charging port door based on the image data (Zhi-Ping [0027] reads “When the charging connector when the vision sensor 48 detects the charging port 42 of the electric vehicle, a vision sensor 48 feeds back the signal to the control cabinet, the control cabinet controls”).
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan/Alonso/MobilityPlaza with that of Zhi-Ping to provide a system that improves the charging of electric vehicles. (Zhi-Ping [Background] reads “generally uses the charging pile to charge the electric automobile in daily life, the electric automobile needs to charge, the driver only needs to be opened near the charging pile of electric automobile, car body face the charging head is provided with a charging joint close to the charging pile. However, since charging connector of electric vehicle may be on the sides, front or back of the electric automobile, electric automobile when parking charging, in order to make the charging head is set in vehicle body with a charging joint close to the charging pile of electric automobile parking of the transverse or longitudinal parking, parking space of the charging station of electric automobile irregular resulting in reduced, which reduces the economic benefit of charging station, electric vehicle charging station and it is not convenient.”);
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots, in further view of Kawamura (WO 2023105880 A1).
Regarding claim 6 Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots teaches The charging system of Claim 5
Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots does not teach wherein the distal end is configured to deform toward the proximal end into the void.
Kawamura in analogous art, teaches wherein the distal end is configured to deform toward the proximal end into the void. (Kawamura page 3 paragraph 6 reads “In the case of the structure shown above, the first main surface S1 faces the transport object Gr. The first main surface S1 and the object to be transported Gr come into contact with each other. Since the first soft finger 112 is thin in the X-axis direction, it bends in the negative direction of the X-axis. Since the first flexible finger 112 has a shape elongated in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, it deforms in a direction perpendicular to the first main surface S1 and the second main surface S2 (the Y-axis direction shown in FIGS. 2 and 3).”);
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan/Alonso/AisRobots with that of Kawamura to provide the ability for a robot to manipulate objects without damaging them. (Kawamura page 2 paragraph 5 reads “An object of the present invention is to provide a robot hand capable of transporting a fragile object to be transported without damaging it and transporting the object to be transported at high speed.”);
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over as applied to Doosan/Alonso, in further view of Kawamura (WO 2023105880 A1).
Regarding claim 17 Doosan/Alonso teaches The tool of Claim 16.
Doosan/Alonso does not teach wherein the distal end of the hook is configured to deform toward the proximal end of the hook into the void.
Kawamura in analogous art, teaches wherein the distal end of the hook is configured to deform toward the proximal end of the hook into the void. (Kawamura page 3 paragraph 6 reads “In the case of the structure shown above, the first main surface S1 faces the transport object Gr. The first main surface S1 and the object to be transported Gr come into contact with each other. Since the first soft finger 112 is thin in the X-axis direction, it bends in the negative direction of the X-axis. Since the first flexible finger 112 has a shape elongated in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, it deforms in a direction perpendicular to the first main surface S1 and the second main surface S2 (the Y-axis direction shown in FIGS. 2 and 3).”);
Kawamura in analogous art, teaches wherein the distal end is configured to deform toward the proximal end into the void. (Kawamura page 3 paragraph 6 reads “In the case of the structure shown above, the first main surface S1 faces the transport object Gr. The first main surface S1 and the object to be transported Gr come into contact with each other. Since the first soft finger 112 is thin in the X-axis direction, it bends in the negative direction of the X-axis. Since the first flexible finger 112 has a shape elongated in the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction, it deforms in a direction perpendicular to the first main surface S1 and the second main surface S2 (the Y-axis direction shown in FIGS. 2 and 3).”);
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have combined the teachings of Doosan/Alonso with that of Kawamura to provide the ability for a robot to manipulate objects without damaging them. (Kawamura page 2 paragraph 5 reads “An object of the present invention is to provide a robot hand capable of transporting a fragile object to be transported without damaging it and transporting the object to be transported at high speed.”);
Response to arguments
Applicant argues <Regarding Independent Claim 1, the Office Action acknowledges that Doosan fails to disclose a hook but alleges that the Alonso discloses such feature. However, unlike amended Claim 1 above, the gripper 6 of Alonso does not have an arcuate profile extending from a proximal end toward a distal end.> [page 8 third paragraph]. The examiner respectfully disagrees. The amendments presented in claim 1 of a hook having an accurate profile have been fully taught by AisRobots. No other source is relied upon when teachings this limitation. Therefore, the combination teaches the claimed invention.
Applicant argues <Unlike amended Independent Claim 10, the gripper 6 of Alonso does not press against an outer surface of a charge port cover. Instead, as shown in FIG. 1 C of Alonso below, the gripper 6 is received in the gap 7 of the door 7 to pull the door 1 to the open position.> [page 8 5th paragraph]. The examiner respectfully disagrees. The source MobilityPlaza is relied upon to teach the amended limitation of the robotic gripper pressing on the outside of the charging door cover. Therefore, the combination teaches the claimed invention.
Other references not Cited
Throughout examination other references were found that could read onto the prior art. Though these references were not used in this examination they could be used in future examination and could read on the contents of the current disclosure. These references are, Sarokhan (US 20250058858 A1); Dicke (US 20250050771 A1); Lauer (US 20250018813 A1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN MARTIN O'MALLEY whose telephone number is (571)272-6228. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 9 am - 5 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ramon Mercado can be reached at (571) 270 - 5744. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOHN MARTIN O'MALLEY/Examiner, Art Unit 3658
/Ramon A. Mercado/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3658