Stories
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Question of the Week: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Can a Harpoon Help with Space Clean-Up?
Once released from the International Space Station, the "RemoveDEBRIS" spacecraft will facilitate four demonstrations. One of the ideas: A harpoon. During the scheduled RemoveDEBRIS demo, the spear will be aimed at a target plate made of representative satellite materials.
Blog: Propulsion
A “RemoveDEBRIS” satellite set to launch today will demonstrate new ideas for clearing out space junk near the International Space Station.
Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Mounted Ball Bearings
SKF (Lansdale, PA) launched mounted ball bearing units with industry-standard inch series cast iron housings in several designs, inch or metric insert bearings, and several shaft-locking methods. The mounted...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Because of their high precision and speed, Delta robots are deployed in many industrial processes, including pick-and-place assemblies, machining, and welding. Delta...
Application Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A600-pound spider-like robot, called Spidernaut, was part of a prototype robot team built in 2005 to assemble a solar array on the Moon. The goal was not only to have robots do the manual...
Articles: Motion Control
As the need for nano precision has become increasingly important in many fields of research and manufacturing — such as microelectronics fabrication,...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Industrial robots play an essential role in manufacturing, from assembly, to pick-and-place, to packaging. One of the major risks of robotics — and what OEMs seek to mitigate — is...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Rotary encoders play important roles in motion control and industrial automation systems, providing control systems with information about the motion of motor shafts,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Autonomous Robotic Self-Righting
Robots are increasingly being used for various applications including search and rescue operations and combat situations. Unfortunately, during the performance of maneuvers, a robot may fall or tip over, preventing it from moving normally. Controlling the robot to successfully right itself can be a difficult and...
Briefs: Aerospace
Axial Magnetic Flux Airflow Integrated Compressor-Generator-Motor Turbojet Design
Innovators at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center have developed a compressor-generator-motor turbojet design concept that integrates the generator with the aerodynamic blade structures of the compression section of turbomachinery. This reduces weight and volume...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The Orangutank™ is a remote-controlled, tethered robotic platform for traveling from one pipe to another using a network of vertical pipes for support. It combines specialized robotic grippers to provide...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Anew grasp system with robotic hands works without previously knowing the characteristics of objects, learning by trial and error. The robot features two hands based on human hands in terms of...
NASA Spinoff: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Initially designed for use on the Moon, the Electro-Hydraulic Fracturing system — developed at Auburn University with NASA funding — relies upon short, high-pulse power created by...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Every complex human tool has contained multiple materials wedged, tied, screwed, glued, or soldered together. But the next generation of tools, from autonomous squishy robots to flexible...
Briefs: Motion Control
The robotic gripper was developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as part of a robotic satellite servicing mission. The gripping device can be used to autonomously or remotely grasp and...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A small robot with the ability to hoist large loads could have countless applications, not only as a small, inexpensive, disposable, mobile sensor in the realms of search and rescue,...
Products: Robotics, Automation & Control
Product of the Month
Opto 22, Temecula, CA, introduced the groov EPIC® system that incorporates into one unit everything needed to connect and control field and operational devices and data through on-premises IT...
Blog: Propulsion
Scientists have an idea to deflect Earth-bound asteroids: a 9-meter-tall, 8.8-ton spacecraft dubbed the HAMMER.
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Today's humanoid robots are being asked to have more brains than brawn.
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Role for Boston Dynamics’ Back-Flipping Robots: Is Space the Place?
NASA robotics engineers react to Boston Dynamics' back-flipping robots.
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The term Space Imaging covers a wide variety of mission types and technologies.
Application Briefs: Software
Hyperspectral imaging is an exciting and promising new technology. When combined with modern machine learning software and actuators such as robots, air-jets, or flippers, hyperspectral imaging...
Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Product of the Month
Keysight Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA, introduced the PathWave software platform that integrates design, test, measurement, and analysis to enable product development from concept to...
Briefs: Materials
Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have the unique ability to recover large deformations in response to thermal, mechanical, and/or magnetic stimuli. This behavior occurs by virtue of a crystallo-graphically...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A JHU team has developed a prototype robot that steals some moves from a Central American cockroach species known as blaberus discoidalis.
INSIDER: Materials
An electrically-driven demolition probe originally funded by NASA enables a more precise, quieter fracturing method that its creators hope will give construction workers on...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
As contemporary electronics embrace light weight, increasing efficiency, and high speed, each link of the manufacturing process also conforms to this philosophy, including printed circuit...
Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Ring Motor
ThinGap (Camarillo, CA) introduced the PM model TGO77 large-bore compact ring motor for precision and highspeed applications. The brushless, frameless motor has an outside diameter of 77 mm (3.03"), 59 mm (2.32") inside...
Top Stories
Blog: Energy
A Proof‑of‑Concept Quantum Battery
Blog: Design
Reciprocal Energy: A New Model for Grid-Friendly Data Centers
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
NASA's Space Computing Breakthrough Powers Future Missions
Quiz: Manned Systems
How Much Do You Know About Aircraft Safety?
INSIDER: Electronics & Computers
This New Quantum Sensor Measures 3D Direction of RF Electromagnetic Fields
Blog: Design
Brain-Inspired Memristors Could Slash AI Energy Use by 70 Percent
Webcasts
Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
From Spec to Scale: High-Precision Grinding Strategies for Tight-Tolerance...
Editorial Webinars: Defense
High-Speed Connectivity for Next Generation Aerospace & Defense Systems
Webinars: Electronics & Computers
Electronics Digital Twins: From Concept to Scalable Platform
Webinars: Software
Architecting the Future: Why Systems Engineering is the Backbone of SDVs
Webinars: Automotive
Engineering Fluid Conveyance Systems for Alternative Fuel On-Highway Vehicles
Editorial Webinars: Materials
Next-Generation Materials for Medical Devices: From Smart Polymers to...
