Delta Robot Patents to Expire

Posted 24 Nov 2006 at 20:54 UTC by Rog-a-matic

Delta Robots (Picture) look like upside-down 3-legged spiders and are known for their agility, speed and elegance. Although used in many applications such as assembly, lab automation and in the medical field for surgery, Delta robots are scarce due to a family of patented designs owned by just a few companies. That's all about to change as the patents soon expire making way for others to offer Delta-style machines.

Didn't know they were patented., posted 26 Nov 2006 at 15:34 UTC by jeffkoenig » (Master)

I have some magazine clippings from a mill manufacturer who came up with a patented system that was quite similar to this (around 1998 or so, I think). I'll post a link if I find them - I can't recall the name.

I wonder - how long will it will take someone to create a new product based on this expired patent? It's a fabulous design.