US 12,377,556 B2
Pickup and laydown station systems for grow tower production
Michael Peter Flynn, Palo Alto, CA (US); Merritt Jonathan Jenkins, Cambridge, MA (US); Gage Goodspeed Coffin, Los Altos Hills, CA (US); Alexandre Le Roux, Redwood City, CA (US); Charles Dylan Karr, San Francisco, CA (US); and Nadav Sahar Hendel, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
Appl. No. 17/607,882
Filed by MJNN LLC, South San Francisco, CA (US)
PCT Filed May 4, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/031271
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 30, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/227191, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 12, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/845,177, filed on May 8, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0227007 A1, Jul. 21, 2022
Int. Cl. B25J 15/00 (2006.01); A01G 9/14 (2006.01); A01G 31/04 (2006.01)
CPC B25J 15/0033 (2013.01) [A01G 9/143 (2013.01); A01G 31/045 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for releasably grasping a grow tower, comprising
a beam; and
first and second gripper assemblies attached to respective opposite ends of the beam, wherein each of the first and second gripper assemblies comprises
a first arm having a substantially L-shaped configuration and a first grip element at a distal end thereof;
a second static arm having a substantially L-shaped configuration and a second grip element at a distal end thereof; and
an actuator mechanism for moving the first arm between an open position and a closed position, wherein in the closed position, the first and second grip elements are configured to engage respective opposing grooves of a grow tower.