US 11,986,413 B2
Flexgrip
Katherine Goss Witherspoon, San Francisco, CA (US); and Alexander Steele Kernbaum, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Appl. No. 15/552,979
Filed by SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (US)
PCT Filed Feb. 25, 2016, PCT No. PCT/US2016/019565
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 23, 2017,
PCT Pub. No. WO2016/138264, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 1, 2016.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/120,794, filed on Feb. 25, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2018/0049903 A1, Feb. 22, 2018
Int. Cl. A61F 5/01 (2006.01); A61F 5/30 (2006.01); A61F 5/37 (2006.01); A61H 1/02 (2006.01); A61H 3/00 (2006.01); B25J 9/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 5/01 (2013.01) [A61F 5/30 (2013.01); A61F 5/37 (2013.01); A61H 1/02 (2013.01); A61H 1/0237 (2013.01); A61H 1/0262 (2013.01); A61H 1/0274 (2013.01); B25J 9/0006 (2013.01); A61H 2003/007 (2013.01); A61H 2201/1645 (2013.01); A61H 2201/1652 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A flexible body harness, wherein the flexible body harness is mountable to a segment of a body such that the flexible body harness is configured to at least partially enclose the segment of the body, and wherein the flexible body harness comprises:
a flexible underlayer;
a tether, wherein the tether is configured to extend along a length of the segment of the body when the flexible body harness is mounted to the segment of the body; and
first and second straps, wherein the first and second straps are coupled to the tether and to the flexible underlayer such that, when the flexible body harness is mounted to the segment of the body such that the flexible body harness is configured to at least partially enclose the segment of the body, the first and second straps are disposed along respective first and second trajectories at least partially around the segment of the body, wherein a portion of the first trajectory corresponds to a section of a catenary curve, wherein the first and second trajectories configured to be around the segment of the body are on respective sides of the flexible body harness relative to the tether, wherein respective angles of the first trajectory and second trajectory relative to the tether are less than 90 degrees and increase with distance along the first strap and second strap, respectively, from the tether across at least a respective portion of each of the first strap and the second strap such that, when a force is applied to the flexible body harness via the tether, a shear is configured to be applied to skin of the segment of the body, via the first and second straps and the underlayer, that is substantially even across the respective portions of each of the first and second straps.