31
Oct 2019
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an image of a supersonic jet as part of the nasa 2019 advanced manufacturing technologies

2019 Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Revealed By NASA

NASA has been busy developing advanced manufacturing technologies at its research and development labs for decades. Recently, they

2019 Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Revealed By NASA

Technology , , Sean Balogh

NASA has been busy developing advanced manufacturing technologies at its research and development labs for decades. Recently, they announced 2019 advanced manufacturing technologies that have real viability in the public sector.

2019 Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Revealed By NASA

While their advanced manufacturing technologies are initially developed for use in aerospace applications, many are applicable to an array of commercial manufacturing industries. Here are 6 exciting 2019 advanced manufacturing technologies form NASA that manufacturers may be able to apply to their operations in the near future.

Interim, In Situ Additive Manufacturing Inspection

Additive manufacturing, more colloquially known as 3D printing, has developed quickly in recent years. an array of materials and mechanisms to improve the output and efficiency of additive manufacturing technologies have emerged, with few solutions to how defects can be detected and mitigated. NASA addressed this void by developing its own additive manufacturing inspection system. utilizing infrared cameras and sensing equipment, engineers can monitor the build process in real-time, addressing defects before materials are wasted and make corrections on-the-fly.

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Benefits:
  • A reduction in false-positive readings
  • Flexibility when incorporating into existing systems
  • Reduced time, energy, and material wasted in nonconforming parts leading to significant cost-savings
  • Leverages infrared and visual cameras for thermal and spatial accuracy
Industry Applications:
  • Aerospace – complex injectors, internal coolant passage components, heat exchangers
  • Automotive –  exhaust system components
  • Medical –  orthopaedic implants

Modular Fixturing for Assembly and Welding Applications

As commercial rocket and aerospace vessel manufacturing ramps up a renewed interest in space flight and exploration, NASA’s need for faster lead and design times necessitated a modular approach to assembly and welding. These new fixtures developed at Marshall make managing metal components during assembly much easier on teams. Fixtures are adjustable, facilitating use on rocket sections of varying heights and diameters. The result is rapid rocket assembly with applications in other aerospace, maritime, and other vessel manufacturing industries.

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Benefits:
  • Modular fixtures can be reused and repurposed for multiple projects of various sizes.
  • Tooling design and configuration time is reduced by half.
  • Project costs are reduced by as much as an order of magnitude.
  • Modular fixtures can enable the economical adoption of friction stir welding.
  • Modular fixtures enable large-scale rapid prototype development in a wide range of industries.
Industry Applications:
  • Maritime – Shipbuilding and assembly
  • Aerospace – Airframe assembly, commercial space launch vehicle assembly
  • Mining, Energy, Transportation/Logistics – Pressure vessel assembly

Use of Beam Deflection to Control Electron-Beam Wire Deposition

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center have long been developing the 3D printing process known as EBF3, short for an electron-beam (e-beam) free-form fabrication technology. The process utilizes several mechanisms to manufacture metallic structures used in parts tooling. The process involves an electron beam gun, a dual wire feed, and computer controls that shrink the fabrication process from days or weeks, to hours. The innovation has drawn significant attention because until recently, working with printed metals was an exceedingly difficult task. This technology solves the problem of even material distribution during the printing process, satisfying NASA’s need for rapid prototyping of parts in space. The innovation has far-reaching utility in commercial industries, such as industrial welding scenarios and the fabrication of structures and components of virtually any scale.

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Benefits:
  • Stable, optimized, and uniform wire heating during the deposition process
  • Continuous and predictable deposition pattern
  • Simplifies deposition of complex geometries
  • Optimizes management of macro-level microstructural characteristics of deposited metal
  • improves the efficiency of power and feedstock used
  • Improves automated operation
Industry Applications:
  • Automotive, Aerospace, and other industrial and commercial manufacturing: Welding of metal structures
  • Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, Field-service, MRO: Free-form fabrication of complex metal components in remote locations
  • Near-net shape manufacturing and rapid prototyping
  • From Automotive and Aerospace to Sporting Goods and Medical Devices: Metal fabrication

Variable-Power Handheld Laser Torch

Just what it sounds like, this handheld laser torch helps to repair hard-to-reach engine nozzles on NASA’s space shuttles. Designed for welding and brazing metals, this variable power torch brings many unique advantages to the repair bench. for example, its power can be adjusted in real-time, at-will. Additionally, it’s unique and ergonomic design provides for enhanced precision, portability, maneuverability, and safety for the user. The tool has many potential applications in manufacturing processes for consumer items like eyeglasses frames to jewelry to more complicated structures, like medical hardware.

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Benefits:
  • Enhanced accuracy using variable lenses to adjust depending on circumstantial welding needs.
  • Increased portability and maneuverability when to brazing in small or hard-to-reach places.
  • Improved user safety with the addition of sensors and emergency switches.
  • Decreased heat affected zone by applied heat to a very localized working area, preventing damage to the welding surface.
Industry Applications:
  • Opportunities include various welding applications where real-time laser variation may be needed due to the spatial/accuracy constraints of traditional welding methods:
  • Aerospace engine repair
  • Medical hardware manufacturing
  • Plastic mold and die restoration
  • Jewelry manufacturing and repair
  • Eyeglass frame welding

High-Speed Smart Camera Detects Supersonic Inlet Shocks

Researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed high-speed image processing technology to monitor airflow of an aircraft engine’s intake. It’s an important tool in developing technologies that make aircraft faster and more efficient. This highly-customizable camera is designed to quickly identify precise location data. Machine vision and sensing technologies are used in just about every vertical of assembly line manufacturing. This versatile edge technology has the ability to further drive efficiencies in these industries while providing greater visibility into part placement and position monitoring.

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Benefits:
  • Quickly captures and processes linear images at a rate of over 900 fps
  • Highly customizable in response to digital signal transitions from low to high (positive edges) or high to low (negative edges) and permits threshold sensitivity variations
  • Compact dimensions result in a reduced size and system complexity when compared to conventional edge detection systems
  • Reliable design that is both simple and affordable, requiring very few parts
  • Efficient power usage when compared to a typical smart camera
Industry Applications:
  • Aerospace – Supersonic jets
  • General Manufacturing (assembly lines, part placement, and position monitoring) – Machine vision for quality control and OEE
  • Lane line tracking for autonomous motor vehicle control
  • Bar code scanners
  • Digital photography

Thermal Stir Welding

Researchers at NASA’s Marshall research center are developing an improved joining technology called thermal stir welding. It improves on fusion welding and friction stir welding technologies to provide superior joining methods for dissimilar materials as well as improve welding rates for existing industrial applications. Thermal Stir Welding is a technology that can easily be adapted to almost any industry that uses other forms of welding. This includes automotive parts, shipbuilding, fuel tanks, and railway manufacturing.

Apply to license this technology

Benefits:
  • Unique advantages of this technology over fusion welding or friction stir welding include the following:
  • Totally independent heating and stirring functions
  • More degrees of freedom for greater process control and optimization
  • Easy assembly-line use
  • Improved surface finish results
  • High travel rates
  • Separate heating function for easier welding of alloys with higher melting temperatures, such as steel and inconel alloys
Industry Applications:
  • Aerospace
  • Automotive
  • Shipbuilding
  • Storage tank or cylinder manufacturing
  • Construction
  • Railway cars

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions, Inc. is a software company. As a NetSuite Solution Provider, Suite Success Partner, and Epicor Gold Partner we offer professional services in business consulting, project management, and software implementation. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems or addressing the emerging challenges in corporate and operational growth, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. As experts in identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we deliver business systems to fit the build.

07
Feb 2018
0

Space Robots, Machine Vision, And Object Interaction

Space Robots With the successful launch and reentry of Tesla’s Falcon Heavy rocket, now is an excellent opportunity

Space Robots, Machine Vision, And Object Interaction

Robotics , , , , Sean Balogh

Space Robots

With the successful launch and reentry of Tesla’s Falcon Heavy rocket, now is an excellent opportunity to talk about space robots, machine vision, and their roles in expanding space research and exploration.

 

a still of the starman mannequin and tesla roadster with earth in the background from the SpaceX.com live feed..

A Stunning View Of Earth Captured Following The Falcon Heavy Launch. Photograph: SpaceX.com Live Feed.

 

Space robots. Emulated after us in terms of morphology and size, they are superior to industrial robots when it comes to versatility and capability. While right now they may not look as advanced or operate as nimbly as their representations in sci-fi features from the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises, that gap is quickly shrinking. Taking on repairs and other tasks deemed too dangerous for astronauts, these specialized robots are the obvious candidates for many of the precarious activities taking place beyond the relative comfort of Earth.

Space Robots: R2 Goes To The International Space Station

The first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut 2, R2 for short, was developed by the Dextrous Robotics Laboratory at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. R2 emerged earlier this decade as the latest subject of robotics research in space. Originally consisting of an upper only torso and arms, R2 has now been equipped with two climbing manipulators, read as legs, capable of providing mobility in zero-g environments to complement dexterous arms and digits that handle intricate tasks. R2’s evolution is a marvel for researchers and enthusiasts to behold, but what’s more impressive than the achievements made over its predecessor, R1, are the advanced sensing capabilities that allow R2 to truly perform in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.

Space Robots: A picture of Robonaut 2 aboard the international space station.

Space Robots: Robonaut 2 Working Tirelessly Aboard The International Space Station.

Machine Vision, Sensing, And Perception

The abilities to touch and see are perhaps the most extraordinary components of these robots’ capability. Vision and sensing components relay complex sets of data such as the identity, position, and orientation of objects in an image. Powerful industrial machine vision and process guidance systems are allowing next-generation robots the ability to evaluate and react effectively in real-time.

Without the component of machine vision, robots are little more than extensions of their controllers and the setpoints governing automated tasks. In R2’s case, 3D vision is the component of machine vision that allows it to perform complex tasks in a semi-autonomous fashion. R2 is both capable of remote control by operators and semi-autonomous operation using advanced software that lets R2 “think” of the solution to a given task. Software updates regularly expand the depth and breadth of R2’s capability. R2’s vision is governed by five cameras in all. Two to provide stereo vision for the robot and its operators, and two auxiliary cameras for backup use. The component of stereo vision allows images from two vantage points to be compared, effectively allowing R2 – and us – to see in 3D. A fifth infrared camera is contained within the mouth area to aid in depth perception. All vision components are housed within the cranium, while R2’s “brain” is located within the robot’s torso. R2 can look up and down, left and right, to fully gauge its surroundings.

 

Space Robots: a picture of R2 with legs attached

Space Robots: R2 Equipped With Two Climbing Manipulators, Read As Legs, Capable Of Providing Mobility In Zero-G Environments.

 

A prime example of cooperative robotics at work, R2’s ability to interact with the astronauts on the ISS mimics the way another person might. Operating at a pace relative to humans, R2 has a soft, padded skin that is equipped with sensing systems that allow it to react when encountering a person. Force control is provided by torsion springs inside the robot and allow R2 to react to influence from the environment. So, when a person pushes away an arm, R2 gives to the motion and lets the person by. This sensing capability also provides R2 with continuous awareness of its orientation and the location of its limbs relative to the environment and surrounding people.

Object Interaction

As for Robonaut’s interaction with its environment, its hands work a bit differently than both humans’ and industrial robots’. The key difference resides in R2’s tendon-driven robotic fingers. Typically, robots will control their joints via tension controllers located on each tendon individually. Putting it another way, joint torque translates into tendon tension.  This poses a problem in the case of R2. The resulting disturbances between joint displacement and the tendon had to be addressed for R2 to be able to interact with unfamiliar objects in an array of positions. This is in stark contrast to R2’s industrial cousins, which operate in uniform spaces with familiar objects. The solutions to R2’s dilemma came when NASA and GM engineers devised a joint-based torque control method that decouples the tendon. All this talk about torque is of particular importance for R2, as well as many other humanoid-robots, due to the necessity for adaptable grip when interacting with a variety of objects large and small.

Space Robots: A picture of Robonaut 2 holding different tools

Space Robots: Robonaut 2 Is Capable Of Working With An Array Of Tools. Photographer: Robert Markowitz.

What’s Next For The ISS And Non-Human Crewmembers

The most recent iteration of Robonaut coming from Houston’s JSC is R5, or Valkyrie. Built to compete in the 2013 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials, the design of Valkyrie took place over a 15-month period and improved electronics, actuators, and sensing capabilities based on earlier generations of JSC humanoid robots. In particular, R5’s vision and sensing system improvements are a tremendous advancement over than those found in R2. Valkyrie’s redesigned head sits on a neck possessing three degrees of freedom and features a Carnegie Robotics Multisense SL, a tri-modal (laser, 3D stereo, and video), high-resolution, high-data-rate, and high-accuracy 3D range sensor, as the main perceptual sensor. Additional modifications include infrared-structured light point cloud generation beyond the laser and passive stereo methods already implemented, as well as front and rear “hazard cameras” positioned in the torso.

Space Robots: A picture of robonaut 5 with hands on hips.

Space Robots: The Latest Iteration Of Robonaut, Robonaut 5, Is Also Referred To As Valkyrie And features The Latest Tech In Robotics For Space Applications.

As research advances technology here on the ground, components and software can be sent to the ISS for utilization. Once proven to operate effectively on the ISS, NASA and other robotics laboratories hope that innovative robotics and associated technologies can be applied further in the depths of space. In the future, thermal resistance for robots will likely be a main focal point for researchers.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.