MIT researchers have devised an algorithm that enables a robot to quickly learn an individual’s preference for a certain task, and adapt accordingly to help complete the task. The group is using the algorithm in simulations to train robots and humans to work together.The researchers say...

An organization would like to increase the oxygen barrier in thermoplastic elastomers by an order of magnitude or more to preserve the shelf life of food/beverages. This organization is seeking an order-of-magnitude improvement in oxygen blocking, without a substantial increase in...

A recent transportation conference demonstrated a possible advancement in automotive safety: cars that communicate with each other and warn drivers of impending collisions. Later this summer, the government will begin a year-long test involving nearly 3,000 vehicles. The vehicles will be equipped to...

Researchers at Rice University have created a tiny coaxial cable that is about a thousand times smaller than a human hair, and has higher capacitance than previously reported microcapacitors. The nanocable could be used to build next-generation energy-storage systems. It could also find use in wiring...

Harnessing the energy of sunlight can be as simple as tuning the optical and electronic properties of metal oxides at the atomic level by making an artificial crystal or super-lattice “sandwich,” according to Binghamton University researcher Louis Piper. “Metal oxides are cheap, abundant, and...

With the age of the incandescent light bulb fading rapidly, the holy grail of the lighting industry is to develop a highly efficient form of solid-state lighting that produces high-quality white light. One of the few alternative technologies that produce pure white light is white-light quantum dots –...

Team CADET at Rice University have developed a slingshot-driven device that stops high-velocity projectiles without destroying them. Currently, the Air Force simulates deceleration by firing cannons into walls. The strategy is expensive and the sensor module and target are typically destroyed...

Wake Forest University physicists have developed a "Power Felt" fabric that doubles as a spare outlet. When used to line a shirt, for example, it converts subtle differences in temperature into electricity. The technology could be used to power up devices, including MP3 players and cell phone batteries. ...

Engineers from the University of California, Berkeley, sent a fleet of 100 smartphone-equipped floating robots down the Sacramento River to demonstrate the next generation of water monitoring technology, promising to transform the way government agencies monitor one of the state’s most...

As far as the design of the basic hand grenade goes, "The basic technology is almost 100 years old," said Richard Lauch, a Picatinny Arsenal engineer. Lauch, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, has been on a mission to modernize the hand grenade so that it is safer as well as easier to use and cheaper to...

Soldiers stationed in remote combat outposts face logistics and safety challenges to power their radios, laptops and GPS units. U.S. Army scientists are researching methods to harness the Sun and wind to ease the burdens associated with transporting fossil fuels to dangerous areas

Thanks to a group of University of Houston students, the hearing impaired may soon have an easier time communicating with those who do not understand sign language. During the past semester, students in UH’s engineering technology and industrial design programs teamed up to develop the concept and...

iGlobe is open-source software built on NASA World Wind virtual globe technology. iGlobe provides a growing set of tools for weather science, climate research, and agricultural analysis. Up until now, these types of sophisticated tools have been developed in isolation by national...

The CARVE Small Aircraft Data Distribution System acquires the aircraft location and attitude data that is required by the various programs running on a distributed network. This system distributes the data it acquires to the data acquisition programs for inclusion in their data files.

The Datacasting software, which consists of a server and a client, has been developed as part of the Earth Science (ES) Datacasting project. The goal of ES Datacasting is to provide scientists the ability to automatically and continuously download Earth science data that meets a precise, predefined need, and then to...

An onboard processing mission concept is under development for a possible Direct Broadcast capability for the HyspIRI mission, a Hyperspectral remote sensing mission under consideration for launch in the next decade. The concept would intelligently spectrally and spatially...

The Security Data Warehouse (SDW) is used to aggregate and correlate all JSC IT security data. This includes IT asset inventory such as operating systems and patch levels, users, user logins, remote access dial-in and VPN, and vulnerability tracking and reporting. The correlation of this data allows for an...

This technique enhances the detection capability of the autonomous RealNose system from MIT to detect odorants and their concentrations in noisy and transient environments. The low-cost, portable system with low power consumption will operate at high speed and is suited for...

Satellite-based laser technology has been developed for topographical measurements of the Earth and of other planets. Lasers for such missions must be highly efficient and stable over long periods in the temperature variations of orbit. In this innovation,...

This innovation is a high-voltage, lowpower BNC (Bayonet Neill–Concelman) feedthrough that enables the user to terminate an instrumentation cable properly while connected to a high voltage, without the use of a voltage divider. This feedthrough is low power, which will not load the source, and...

The proposed Aerosol/Cloud/Ecosystems (ACEs) mission development would advance cloud profiling radar from that used in CloudSat by adding a 35-GHz (Ka-band) channel to the 94-GHz (W-band) channel used in CloudSat. In order to illuminate a single antenna, and use CloudSat-like quasi-optical...

Efficient onboard data compression can reduce the data volume from hyperspectral imagers on NASA and DoD spacecraft in order to return as much imagery as possible through constrained downlink channels. Lossless compression is important for signature...

This version of the SpaceCube will be a full-fledged, onboard space processing system capable of 2500+ MIPS, and featuring a number of plug-andplay gigabit and standard interfaces, all in a condensed 3×3×3 form factor [

A radiation-hard transponder was developed utilizing submicron/ nanotechnology from IBM. The device consumes low power and has a low fabrication cost. This device utilizes a Plug-and-Play concept, and can be integrated into intra-satellite networks, supporting SpaceWire and Gigabit...