DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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.
Claims 1-7, 13, 16, 21, 27, 33-35 and 38 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Linn. Linn discloses in the Figures and specification a humanoid robot device 10 comprising a base 50 (see paragraph [0026]), a robotic torso 11 coupled to the base (paragraph [0025]), at least one robotic arm 22, 24 (paragraph [0018]), at least one robotic shoulder coupling the arms and torso (paragraph [0015]), a robotic neck 14 coupled to the torso (paragraph [0015]), and a plurality of actuators configured to move at least a portion of at least one of the torso, arms, shoulders and neck (paragraph [0014]). Linn also discloses in paragraph [0014] that “the robot 10 may be configured to be of a human scale, allowing the robot 10 to share the same workspaces 30 that are typically designed for human workers”, thus suggesting that the components of the humanoid robot deviate less than 25% from respective proportions of a human.
With respect to claims 2, 3, 5 and 6, the above referenced teaching in paragraph [0014] pertaining to the robot being of a “human scale” suggests that each of the recited individual components are between 75% and 15% of the respective proportions of the corresponding human components. With respect to claim 4, Linn discloses at paragraph [0019] that each arm comprises a robotic elbow 32 and robotic wrist 38. While the specific terms “bicep” and “forearm” are not used in the specification of Linn, these features are suggested in Figure 1, which shows upper and lower arm segments connected by the elbow components. With respect to claim 7, Linn discloses at paragraph [0109] the provision of actuators which are configured to actuate the shoulder elements in abduction and adduction movements. With respect to claims 13, 16, 21, 27, 33, 34 and 38, Linn further discloses actuators configured to move each of the specific components of the robot in the manner recited. With respect to claim 35, Linn also discloses an actuator configured to move the neck element in the manner recited. The provision of an upper neck and a lower neck configured for relative rolling movement is considered to be an obvious variation on Linn, which teaches such an actuator at the position where the neck connects to the torso, and amounts to an obvious rearrangement of elements having no new or nonobvious results under MPEP 2144.04 (VI)(C).
Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Linn in view of Kamon. Linn discloses or suggests the claim limitations with the exception of the provision of an upper torso and lower torso with a pitch actuator as recited. This feature is known in the art, as taught for example by Kamon at paragraph [0028], and would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as an obvious substitution of one known element for another to achieve predictable results and for the purpose of facilitating relative angular movement of the torso as recited.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-12, 14-15, 17-20, 22-26, 28-29, 31-32, 36-37 and 39-45 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KURT FERNSTROM whose telephone number is (571)272-4422. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6.
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/KURT FERNSTROM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3715
April 9, 2026
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