Human Factors and Ergonomics

Stories

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Briefs: Motion Control
This technology can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This low-profile ankle exoskeleton integrates into a shoe and fits under clothing.
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Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based components, such as sensors and actuators, began penetrating the wearable products market about a decade ago, when the first accelerometers replaced...
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Briefs: Software
After a stroke, patients typically have trouble walking, and few are able to regain the gait they had before suffering a stroke. Researchers funded by the National Institute of...
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Briefs: Aerospace
Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center have developed a novel footpedal-operated system and device to control movement of an object in three-dimensional (3D) space. The system enables...
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Articles: Aerospace
“Over the years, I’ve asked people, ‘If you had a robot, what would you want it to do for you?’” said Rob Ambrose, principal investigator for NASA’s Game Changing Development Program and chief of the...
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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Chances are you’re familiar with HDTV. Most of us have one of these in our living rooms. In fact, according to a recent study, more than 80% of US residents probably have...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
To enable the human mobility necessary to effectively explore near-Earth asteroids and deep space effectively, a new extravehicular activity (EVA) jetpack is under development. The new...
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Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Michael Zach, Anirudha Sumant, and Jonathan Moritz EChem Nanowires Stevens Point, WI NanoFab Lab … In a Box!™ is a shoebox-sized kit that allows high school students to...
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Articles: Electronics & Computers
Worldwide an estimated 185 million people use a wheelchair daily. A company based in Auckland, New Zealand, has developed an innovative robotic technology that helps people with mobility...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This work is a method to drill into a rock surface regardless of the gravitational field or orientation. The required weight-on-bit (WOB) is supplied by a self-contained anchoring mechanism. The system...
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Application Briefs: Imaging
On August 6, 2012, the Mars Curiosity rover successfully landed on the floor of Gale Crater on Mars. The Curiosity rover is about the size of a small SUV — 10 feet (3 meters) long, not including the arm, 9...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The NASA Human Space Flight program is interested in projects where humans, beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO), can make an important and unique contribution that cannot be reasonably...
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Articles: Aerospace
On April 14, 2004, NASA announced an opportunity for researchers to propose science investigations for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Eight months later, the agency announced selection of eight...
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Briefs: Medical
Improving Balance Function Using Low Levels of Electrical Stimulation of the Balance Organs
Crewmembers returning from long duration space flight face significant challenges due to the microgravity induced inappropriate adaptations in balance/sensorimotor function. The Neuroscience Laboratory at JSC is developing a method based on stochastic...
Briefs: Medical
External Cooling Coupled to Reduced Extremity Pressure Device
Although suited astronauts are currently cooled with a Liquid Cooled Ventilation Garment (LCVG), which can remove up to 85 percent of body heat, their effectiveness is limited because cooling must penetrate layers of skin, muscle, fat, bone, and tissue to reach the bloodstream, where its...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
SLP-330 Laser Scanning Probe Laser Design Minneapolis, MN 952-884-9648 www.laserdesign.com The loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia because of damage to its...
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Briefs: Medical
Stationary Apparatus Would Apply Forces of Walking to Feet
A proposed apparatus would apply controlled cyclic forces to both feet for the purpose of preventing the loss of bone density in a human subject whose bones are not subjected daily to the mechanical loads of normal activity in normal Earth gravitation. The apparatus was conceived for use by...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A small robot that travels by hopping has been built and tested. This is a prototype of hopping robots that would carry video cameras and possibly other sensory devices and that are under consideration for use...
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A mechanism has been developed to serve as an end effector for one of the legs of the Legged Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) — a walking robot designed for demon- strating robotic...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Full Immersion Telepresence Testbed (FITT) is an experimental anthropomorphic-robot remote-control system that is so named because it gives a human control operator some of the sensations of...
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Briefs: Motion Control
The figure depicts a tendon-driven, three-fingered robot hand (or foot, depending on one's perspective) designed to be installed on the end of the left front leg of the six-legged robot...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Improved Electrical-Impedance Body-Fluids Monitor
The Johnson Space Center (JSC) body-fluids monitor advances the state of the art of measuring hydration levels in humans during spaceflight. Neither bulky nor heavy, this noninvasive instrument is built around a commercial inductance-capacitance-resistance meter, which is used to obtain...

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