Chris Froud is a patent attorney in the Electronics, Computing & Physics group at Withers & Rogers.
Chris has a wealth of experience in autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs), particularly for industrial applications, and has knowledge of a variety of navigation methods including line-following, laser target navigation, natural feature and vision guidance. Chris has also worked on a range of dynamic positioning and vessel control systems for the offshore marine market, which are used to accurately control the position of vessels during platform supply, crew transfer, and offshore construction. As part of this work, Chris has developed expertise in a range of radar and lidar position reference sensors. He also has expertise in navigation systems, both general satellite navigation as well as navigation systems for driverless cars.
Chris has helped to protect robots for use in harsh and restricted environments, such as the nuclear industry. He also has a wealth of experience in industrial control systems and instrumentation, where he has worked with a range of equipment in both industrial and scientific settings while working as a patent attorney and also during his time as a PhD student and research scientist working at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
Overall, Chris has a broad range of interdisciplinary skills covering physics and chemistry, which enables him to advise clients who work on the boundary of these disciplines, such as scientific instrument or medical device manufacturers. Much of Chris’ work relates to mobile devices, including displays, antennas, user interfaces, non-volatile memory, batteries and battery charging, and camera technology. In addition, Chris has a wide-range of experience in optics, optical systems and lasers.
He also advises clients on the patentability of computer software and business methods, and is successful at manoeuvring clients around the challenges such inventions face in the UK and Europe.
Chris works with a wide range of clients, from large corporate clients with substantial patent portfolios to small and medium sized businesses where he works directly with the business leaders to identify, protect and exploit their inventions. He also advises a number of start-up businesses, where the patent strategy Chris has devised has been key to obtaining funding and licensing opportunities to propel these businesses forwards.
Year Joined Firm: 2012
Education/Alumni: University of Southampton
Last updated 5 January 2022
