NASA SBIR 2014 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
ATI Industrial Automation, Inc.
1031 Goodworth Drive
Apex, NC 27539 - 3869
(919) 772-0115

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Dwayne Perry
dwayne.perry@ati-ia.com
1031 Goodworth Drive
Apex, NC 27539 - 3869
(919) 772-0115 Extension :125

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Dwayne Perry
dwayne.perry@ati-ia.com
1031 Goodworth Drive
Apex, NC 27539 - 3869
(919) 772-0115 Extension :125

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 3
End: 5

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Robotic Mobility, Manipulation and Sampling is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
The use of automated robotic tooling is required in a number of space missions. It is possible to have better tool control if the robotic arm could report loads experienced by the tooling. ATI Industrial Automation proposes to develop and prove technologies to be used in a low weight, low outgassing multi-axis force and torque transducer that can be used at cryogenic temperatures. The transducer will require strain gage excitation electrical power and output strain gage level voltage signals. These signals can be digitized and then mathematically transformed into values that represent the transducer's loads as forces in the X, Y, and Z axes and torques about the X, Y, and Z axes. The primary goal of this phase I proposal is to develop, produce, and characterize a proof of concept simplified transducer that can survive the harsh environments expected to be encountered on a Mars lander mission.

The technical objectives are:
1. A transducer element capable of surviving temperatures from -135?C to +125?C.
2. The transducer element in objective 1 with temperature compensation to minimize span and offset drift from -80?C to +70?C.
3. The transducer element in objective 2 constructed so that it will sense properly in an atmospheric vacuum of 1E-5 torr.
4. The transducer element in objective 3 made of low-outgassing materials that are compatible with an interplanetary sample-collecting mission.
5. The transducer element in objective 4 constructed so it can survive vibrations of a rocket launch.
6. The transducer element in objective 5 instrumented with redundant sets of strain gages.

Two transducers will be built and tested: one with foil strain gages and one with silicon strain gages.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Potential NASA applications include:
* Providing loading feedback to a robot arm controller about the arm's end effector, such as a robotic drill or corer. The feedback can allow the operation to be adjusted for best performance.
* Providing loading feedback from an end effector on a teleoperated robotic arm.
* Providing loading feedback for limbs in a Robonaut-type application.
* Providing loading information for tasks conducted in near vacuum.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
* Robotic arm loading feedback for ROVs on the moon, such as would be needed for commercial exploration of the moon.
* Sensing loads in a space tug when it connects to a satellite that is being moved to another orbit.
* Sensing loads caused by an experiment or operation being conducted in orbit.
* Providing loading feedback experiments and ROVs in the cold of the Earth's Polar regions