The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected

Selected topics in robotics for space exploration

Papers and abstracts included represent both formal presentations and experimental demonstrations at the Workshop on Selected Topics in Robotics for Space Exploration which took place at NASA Langley Research Center, 17-18 March 1993. The workshop was cosponsored by the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee of the NASA Langley Research Center and the Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE) at RPI, Troy, NY. Participation was from industry, government, and other universities with close ties to either Langley Research Center or to CIRSSE. The presentations were very broad in scope with attention given to space assembly, space exploration, flexible structure control, and telerobotics

Small business innovation research. Abstracts of completed 1987 phase 1 projects

Non-proprietary summaries of Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects supported by NASA in the 1987 program year are given. Work in the areas of aeronautical propulsion, aerodynamics, acoustics, aircraft systems, materials and structures, teleoperators and robotics, computer sciences, information systems, spacecraft systems, spacecraft power supplies, spacecraft propulsion, bioastronautics, satellite communication, and space processing are covered

An Adaptive Tool-Based Telerobot Control System

Modern telerobotics concepts seek to improve the work efficiency and quality of remote operations. The unstructured nature of typical remote operational environments makes autonomous operation of telerobotic systems difficult to achieve. Thus, human operators must always remain in the control loop for safety reasons. Remote operations involve tooling interactions with task environment. These interactions can be strong enough to promote unstable operation sometimes leading to system failures. Interestingly, manipulator/tooling dynamic interactions have not been studied in detail. This dissertation introduces a human-machine cooperative telerobotic (HMCTR) system architecture that has the ability to incorporate tooling interaction control and other computer assistance functions into the overall control system. A universal tooling interaction force prediction model has been created and implemented using grey system theory. Finally, a grey prediction force/position parallel fuzzy controller has been developed that compensates for the tooling interaction forces. Detailed experiments using a full-scale telerobotics testbed indicate: (i) the feasibility of the developed methodologies, and (ii) dramatic improvements in the stability of manipulator – based on band saw cutting operations. These results are foundational toward the further enhancement and development of telerobot

Condition Monitoring of a Belt-Based Transmission System for Comau Racer3 Robots

This project has been developed in collaboration with Comau Robotics S.p.a and the main goal is the development in China of an Health Monitoring Pro-cess using vibration analysis. This project is connected to the activity of Cost Reduction carried out by the PD Cost Engineering Department in China. The Project is divided in two part: 1. Data Acquisition 2. Data Analysis An Automatic Acquisition of the moni.log file is carried out and is discussed in Chapter 1. As for the Data Analysis is concerned a data driven approach is considered and developed in frequency domain through the FFT transform and in time domain using the Wavelet transform. In Chapter 2 a list of the techiques used nowadays for the Signal Analysis and the Vibration Monitoring is shown in time domain, frequency domain and time-frequency domain. In Chapter 3 the state of art of the Condition Monitoring of all the possible ma-chinery part is carried out from the evaluation of the spectrum of the current and speed. In Chapter 4 are evaluated disturbances that are not related to a fault but be-long to a normal behaviour of the system acting on the measured forces. Motor Torque Ripple and Output Noise Resolution are disturbance dependent on ve-locity and are mentioned in comparison to the one related to the configuration of the Robot. In Chapter 5 a particular study case is assigned: the noise problem due to belt-based power transmission system of the axis three of a Racer 3 Robot in Endu-rance test. The chapter presents the test plan done including all the simula-tions. In Chapter 6 all the results are shown demostrating how the vibration analysis carried out from an external sensor can be confirmed looking at the spectral content of the speed and the current. In the last Chapter the final conclusions and a possible development of this thesis are presented considering both a a Model of Signal and a Model Based approach

Large space structures and systems in the space station era: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 05)

Bibliographies and abstracts are listed for 1363 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between January 1, 1991 and July 31, 1992. Topics covered include technology development and mission design according to system, interactive analysis and design, structural and thermal analysis and design, structural concepts and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion and solar power satellite systems

NASA Tech Briefs, June 1990

Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

Index to 1986 NASA Tech Briefs, volume 11, numbers 1-4

Short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of NASA are presented. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This index for 1986 Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes: subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief Number. The following areas are covered: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences