Stories
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Briefs: Motion Control
A proposed robotic apparatus for underground exploration would propel itself downward in a percussive manner reminiscent of a jackhammer, pile driver, or hammer-and-chisel combination. Called...
Briefs: Motion Control
Non-Ablative Aeroshells
Two reports propose the development of non-ablative aeroshells for braking of spacecraft entering the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, and other planets. The primary advantages of non-ablative aeroshells, relative to ablative aeroshells, results from reduced mass and increased aerodynamic stability of the aeroshell occasioned by...
Briefs: Motion Control
Measurement and control systems based on microwave radiometers would be used to prevent unstarts in the next generation of high-speed (up to mach 2.4) civil-transport airplanes, according to a...
Briefs: Motion Control
A double-parallelogram ("porch swing") carriage mechanism has been devised to provide for free linear motion of one or more retroreflector(s) in a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer....
Briefs: Motion Control
Self-tuning impact dampers have been proposed as improved means for suppressing vibrations in the rotor blades of turbomachines (turbines and compressors). Dampers are needed because...
Briefs: Motion Control
Spin bearings have been invented as alternatives to such conventional rolling-element bearings as ball, spherical, needle, and roller bearings. Like a conventional bearing assembly, a spin-bearing assembly includes opposing...
Briefs: Motion Control
An improved radiator has been designed to provide inexpensive and highly reliable thermal control for an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) [basically, a space suit equipped with a portable life-support system...
Briefs: Motion Control
Proposed packages called "remote engineering units" (REUs) would contain all the electronic circuitry needed to implement a subset of the design of the motor-control system of a robot....
Briefs: Motion Control
A method of estimating the state of contact between (1) the wheels of a robotic vehicle equipped with a rocker-bogey suspension and (2) the ground has been devised. The contact-state...
Briefs: Motion Control
A method of computing the speed at which to command an autonomous robotic vehicle to travel over rough terrain has been devised. The method amounts to a robotic implementation of the...
Briefs: Motion Control
Advanced, Lightweight, Low-Power-Consumption Actuator Brake
An advanced, lightweight, low-power consumption brake has been developed to satisfy NASA's special requirements for use on actuators during spaceflight. This brake can increase the stopping, holding, and parking ability of a spacecraft while reducing its electrical power consumption. Two...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An improved secondary wing system of the canard type has been invented to improve performance and increase efficiency of airplanes capable of flight at supersonic and high subsonic speeds. Canards, including small...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A data system generates information on the position and orientation of a pointing instrument (e.g., a telescope or a laser) that could be mounted on a moving platform (e.g., an aircraft) and...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
In a proposed technique for fabrication of microelectromechanical devices, thin films of fullerenes would be used as temporary packaging to protect and position delicate components....
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A first-order mathematical model has been developed in a theoretical study of the dynamics of a load suspended by a cable from a crane that moves along a straight track. The model is...
Briefs: Motion Control
Experiments have shown that electrohydrodynamic pumping can be utilized to increase the heat-transport capacity of a heat pipe. More specifically, electrohydrodynamic pumping can be...
Briefs: Motion Control
Surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) piezoelectric motors capable of operating in multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs) simultaneously have been proposed. A particularly useful motor of this type...
Briefs: Motion Control
The ability to position an object at various locations corresponding to a portion of a spherical surface has long been accomplished using nested goniometers, in which, as observed...
Briefs: Motion Control
Manually Operated Weld-Filler-Wire Feeder
A simple, manually operated mechanical device will ensure a smooth and predictable motion when feeding filler wire into a molten weld pool in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). This device simplifies and/or reduces the requirements for a dexterous hand to hold and manipulate filler wire. This device will...
Briefs: Motion Control
Myoelectric Teleoperation for Robotics and Prosthetics
Johnson Space Center is sponsoring continuing research on the use of myoelectric signals to control dexterous robotic and prosthetic hands. This research is expected to advance the state of the art beyond that of today's most common, commercially available, myoelectrically controlled...
Briefs: Motion Control
Formulation and Algorithm for Multi-Flexible-Body Dynamics
An improved formulation of the dynamics of multiple flexible bodies coupled via joints, and an algorithm that implements the formulation, have been developed at Johnson Space Center (JSC). A robot arm with multiple, somewhat flexible links is a prime example of a dynamic system to which...
Briefs: Motion Control
A proposed solenoid-actuated valve would open for a short time to pass a very small quantity of fluid. The valve could be used to meter a specified total quantity of the fluid through repeated...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure presents a simplified and partly schematic view of a two-stage rolling-piston compressor that is undergoing development for use as the prime mover in a vapor-compression heat...
Briefs: Motion Control
A personal-computer-based system has been developed as a prototype of electronic signal-processing and computing systems for diagnosis of turbines, motors, and other rotary machines...
Briefs: Motion Control
A proposed method of calibration of micromachined vibratory gyroscopes would make it unnecessary to test the gyroscopes at known rates of rotation. At present, calibration entails inertial tests...
Briefs: Motion Control
Modified Hartley oscillator circuits are being developed for use in driving large piezoelectric benders in periodic motion, as in some piezoelectrically driven pumps. These circuits decrease...
Briefs: Motion Control
Electronic circuitry has been devised to compensate for variations in the resonance quality factor (Q) of a planar vibratory microgyroscope like that described in the first of the...
Briefs: Motion Control
This is the first of four articles that address various issues concerning the generation and utilization of electronic signals in the operation of micromachined planar vibratory...
Briefs: Motion Control
Single crystals of Tb-Dy alloys exhibit magnetostrictive strains approaching 1 percent and can generate forces sufficiently large to make them useful as actuators in cryogenic...
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