Newton, Massachusetts, USA-based Barrett Technology was incorporated by William T. Townsend in 1990.[1] Barrett manufactures robotic arms and hands installed in 20 countries on 6 continents. Barrett is credited in The Guinness Book of World Records, Millennium Edition, as maker of the world’s “most advanced robotic arm.”[2] Its 7-axis robotic arm, named the WAM arm for Whole Arm Manipulation[3] is based on Puck electronics[4] and mechanical[5][6][7] drive technologies and designed to interact directly with people.[3][8] One application of an early version of the technology has been the arm manufactured and sold by MAKO Surgical Corp. which enables haptically-guided minimally-invasive knee surgery.[9]
The Puck powered BarrettHand BH8-series product is based on technology licensed from the University of Pennsylvania[10][11] and developed by Gill Pratt, Yoky Matsuoka, and William Townsend[12] into its present form.
^Kynaston, Nic (2000). 'Guinness World Records, Millennium Edition'. London, UK: Guinness Media Inc. pp. 170–171. ISBN1-892051-00-1.
^ abUS 5207114, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA) William T. Townsend (Somerville, MA) & William T. Townsend, "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1993-05-04, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
^ abUS 7511443, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA) Adam Crowell, (Beverly, MA) Gill Pratt, (Lexington, MA), Traveler Hauptman, (Watertown, MA); Adam Crowell & Gill Pratt et al., "Ultra-compact, high-performance motor controller and method of using same", issued 2009-03-31, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)
^ abcUS 4903536, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA), William T. Townsend, (Somerville, MA), David M. DiPietro, (Webster, NY), Brian S. Eberman, (Rochester, MN); William T. Townsend & David M. DiPietro et al., "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1990-02-27, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
^ abcUS 5046375, J. Kenneth Salisbury Jr., (Cambridge, MA) William T. Townsend, (Somerville, MA) David M. DiPietro, (Webster, NY) Brian S. Eberman, (Rochester, MN); William T. Townsend & David M. DiPietro et al., "Compact cable transmission with cable differential", issued 1991-09-10, assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
^ abUS 5388480, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA), "Pretensioning mechanism for tension element drive systems", issued 1995-02-14, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)
^ abUS 4957320, Nathan T. Ulrich, (Philadelphia, PA), "Methods and apparatus for mechanically intelligent grasping", issued 1990-09-18, assigned to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
^ abUS 5501498, Nathan T. Ulrich, (Philadelphia, PA), "Methods and apparatus for mechanically intelligent grasping", issued 1996-03-26, assigned to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
^ abUS 7168748, William T. Townsend, (Weston, MA) Traveler Hauptman, (Cambridge, MA) Adam Crowell, (Beverly, MA) Brian Zenowich, (Boston, MA) John Lawson, (Petersboro, MA) Vitaliy Krutik, (Lynn, MA) Burt Doo, (Cambridge, MA); Traveler Hauptman & Adam Crowell et al., "Intelligent, self-contained robotic hand", issued 1996-03-26, assigned to Barrett Technology, Inc. (Cambridge, MA)
