Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “arms control”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Remote Robot Control With High Force-Feedback Gain

Improved scheme for force-reflecting hand control of remote robotic manipulator provides unprecedently high force-reflection gain, even when dissimilar master and slave arms used. Three feedback loops contained in remote robot control system exerting position-error-based force feedback and compliance control. Outputs of force and torque sensors on robot not used directly for force reflection, but for compliance control, while errors in position used to generate reflected forces.

Kim, Won S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Experimental object-level strategic control with cooperating manipulators

This article presents the high-level control module and user interface of the Dynamic and Strategic Control of Cooperating Manipulators (DASCCOM) project at Stanford University's Aerospace Robotics Laboratory. In addition to cooperative dynamic control, DASCCOM incorporates real-time vision-ased feedback, a novel strategic programming technique, and an iconic 'object-only' graphical user interface. By focusing on the vertical integration problem, we are examining not only these subsystems, but also their interfaces and interactions. The control system implements a multilevel hierarchical structure interconnected via a real-time network. At the highest level, a mouse-driven graphical user interface allows an operator to direct the activities of the system conceptually. Strategic command is provided by an event-driven finite state machine. This methodology provides a powerful yet flexible technique for managing concurrent system interactions. The dynamic controller implements object impedance control - an extension of Neville Hogan's impedance control concept to cooperative multiple-arm manipulation of a single object. This article concentrates on user interfacing techniques and strategic programming capabilities. These modules allow the user to directly specify conceptual object relationships. Experimental results are presented, showing the system locating and identifying a moving object, 'catching' it, and performing a simple cooperative assembly. Each of these operations is executed autonomously, with only object-level task-specification direction from a remote operator.

Schneider, Stanley A.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Apollo Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Hardware Overview

This viewgraph presentation reviews basic guidance, navigation and control (GNC) concepts, examines the Command and Service Module (CSM) and Lunar Module (LM) GNC organization and discusses the primary GNC and the CSM Stabilization and Control System (SCS), as well as other CSM-specific hardware. The LM Abort Guidance System (AGS), Control Electronics System (CES) and other LM-specific hardware are also addressed. Three subsystems exist on each vehicle: the computer subsystem (CSS), the inertial subsystem (ISS) and the optical subsystem (OSS). The CSS and ISS are almost identical between CSM and LM and each is designed to operate independently. CSM SCS hardware are highlighted, including translation control, rotation controls, gyro assemblies, a gyro display coupler and flight director attitude indicators. The LM AGS hardware are also highlighted and include the abort electronics assembly and the abort sensor assembly; while the LM CES hardware includes the attitude controller assembly, thrust/translation controller assemblies and the ascent engine arming assemble. Other common hardware including the Orbital Rate Display - Earth and Lunar (ORDEAL) and the Crewman Optical Alignment Sight (COAS), a docking aid, are also highlighted.

Interbartolo, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2008

Visual Feedback for Rover-based Coring

Technology for coring from a low-mass rover has been developed to enable core sample acquisition where a planetary rover experiences moderate slip during the coring operation. A new stereo vision technique, Absolute Motion Visual Odometry, is used to measure rover slip during coring and the slip is accommodated through corresponding arm pose updating. Coring rate is controlled by feedback of themeasured force of the coring tool against the environment. Test results in the JPL Marsyard show for the first time that coring from a low-mass rover with slip is feasible.

sampling↗
NASA NTRS1992

Robot Serviced Space Facility

A robot serviced space facility includes multiple modules which are identical in physical structure, but selectively differing in function. and purpose. Each module includes multiple like attachment points which are identically placed on each module so as to permit interconnection with immediately adjacent modules. Connection is made through like outwardly extending flange assemblies having identical male and female configurations for interconnecting to and locking to a complementary side of another flange. Multiple rows of interconnected modules permit force, fluid, data and power transfer to be accomplished by redundant circuit paths. Redundant modules of critical subsystems are included. Redundancy of modules and of interconnections results in a space complex with any module being removable upon demand, either for module replacement or facility reconfiguration. without eliminating any vital functions of the complex. Module replacement and facility assembly or reconfiguration are accomplished by a computer controlled articulated walker type robotic manipulator arm assembly having two identical end-effectors in the form of male configurations which are identical to those on module flanges and which interconnect to female configurations on other flanges. The robotic arm assembly moves along a connected set or modules by successively disconnecting, moving and reconnecting alternate ends of itself to a succession of flanges in a walking type maneuver. To transport a module, the robot keeps the transported module attached to one of its end-effectors and uses another flange male configuration of the attached module as a substitute end-effector during walking.

Purves, Lloyd R.↗
NASA NTRS2018

A GNSS Receiver for Small-Sats Enabling Precision POD, Radio Occultations and Reflections

A low cost, low power, and low mass GNSS receiver (called Cion) has been developed and is currently flying on the CICERO cubesats. The receiver was designed in less than a year by JPL for Tyvak and GeoOptics for use in the GeoOptics CICERO constellation and leverages 25 years of JPL GNSS reciever design experience. Cion uses a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer along with existing space qualified RF down-converters, software, and firmware to produce atmospheric Radio Occultation (RO) data. By combining a FPGA with dual core ARM processor and an embedded system controller, the Xilinx Zynq processor is an enabling technology that provides a customizable digital signal processing platform integrated into the computer (System on a chip) and enables off-the-shelf hardware to become the main engine behind this software defined radio. Using Linux for the on-board computer allows for fast development times and liberal use of existing open source software libraries. The parts of the receiver that require realtime implementation are performed in the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), which can also be reprogrammed in flight. While the Zynq is not rad hard, the silicon on insulator (SOI) technology is rad tolerant ‘by accident’, allowing for its use in many space-based applications. Early results show that the Cion is working as designed, has demonstrated the first known GLONASS occultations, and obtains high quality atmospheric profiles with excellent lower troposphere penetration (near Earth’s surface).

Young, Larry↗
DOE OSTI2021

System and method for testing missile components

A testing system for testing a missile component having a sense axis includes a centrifuge, a support arm, an orientation assembly, and a controller. The centrifuge rotates the orientation assembly about a vertical axis in a substantially horizontal plane. The orientation assembly includes a first motor, a first gimbal, and a gimballed support. The first motor has a first rotatable shaft defining a first gimbal axis. The first gimbal is coupled with the first rotatable shaft to rotate about the first gimbal axis while the centrifuge rotates the orientation assembly about the vertical axis such that missile component is simultaneously rotated about both the vertical axis and the first gimbal axis to simulate a missile launch of the missile component. The gimballed support is coupled with the first gimbal for supporting the missile component such that the sense axis of the missile component is not parallel to the substantially horizontal plane. The orientation assembly may also include a second gimbal that is rotated about a second gimbals axis by a second motor.

Prewitt, Steven Forrest↗
DOE OSTI2023

System and method for testing missile components

A testing system for testing a missile component having a sense axis includes a centrifuge, a support arm, an orientation assembly, and a controller. The centrifuge rotates the orientation assembly about a vertical axis in a substantially horizontal plane. The orientation assembly includes a first motor, a first gimbal, and a gimballed support. The first motor has a first rotatable shaft defining a first gimbal axis. The first gimbal is coupled with the first rotatable shaft to rotate about the first gimbal axis while the centrifuge rotates the orientation assembly about the vertical axis such that missile component is simultaneously rotated about both the vertical axis and the first gimbal axis to simulate a missile launch of the missile component. The gimballed support is coupled with the first gimbal for supporting the missile component such that the sense axis of the missile component is not parallel to the substantially horizontal plane. The orientation assembly may also include a second gimbal that is rotated about a second gimbals axis by a second motor.

Prewitt, Steven Forrest↗
NASA NTRS2004

Two-Armed, Mobile, Sensate Research Robot

The Anthropomorphic Robotic Testbed (ART) is an experimental prototype of a partly anthropomorphic, humanoid-size, mobile robot. The basic ART design concept provides for a combination of two-armed coordination, tactility, stereoscopic vision, mobility with navigation and avoidance of obstacles, and natural-language communication, so that the ART could emulate humans in many activities. The ART could be developed into a variety of highly capable robotic assistants for general or specific applications. There is especially great potential for the development of ART-based robots as substitutes for live-in health-care aides for home-bound persons who are aged, infirm, or physically handicapped; these robots could greatly reduce the cost of home health care and extend the term of independent living. The ART is a fully autonomous and untethered system. It includes a mobile base on which is mounted an extensible torso topped by a head, shoulders, and two arms. All subsystems of the ART are powered by a rechargeable, removable battery pack. The mobile base is a differentially- driven, nonholonomic vehicle capable of a speed >1 m/s and can handle a payload >100 kg. The base can be controlled manually, in forward/backward and/or simultaneous rotational motion, by use of a joystick. Alternatively, the motion of the base can be controlled autonomously by an onboard navigational computer. By retraction or extension of the torso, the head height of the ART can be adjusted from 5 ft (1.5 m) to 6 1/2 ft (2 m), so that the arms can reach either the floor or high shelves, or some ceilings. The arms are symmetrical. Each arm (including the wrist) has a total of six rotary axes like those of the human shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. The arms are actuated by electric motors in combination with brakes and gas-spring assists on the shoulder and elbow joints. The arms are operated under closed-loop digital control. A receptacle for an end effector is mounted on the tip of the wrist and contains a force-and-torque sensor that provides feedback for force (compliance) control of the arm. The end effector could be a tool or a robot hand, depending on the application.

Engelberger, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A 17 degree of freedom anthropomorphic manipulator

A 17 axis anthropomorphic manipulator, providing coordinated control of two seven degree of freedom arms mounted on a three degree of freedom torso-waist assembly, is presented. This massively redundant telerobot, designated the Robotics Research K/B-2017 Dexterous Manipulator, employs a modular mechanism design with joint-mounted actuators based on brushless motors and harmonic drive gear reducers. Direct joint torque control at the servo level causes these high-output joint drives to behave like direct-drive actuators, facilitating the implementation of an effective impedance control scheme. The redundant, but conservative motion control system models the manipulator as a spring-loaded linkage with viscous damping and rotary inertia at each joint. This approach allows for real time, sensor-driven control of manipulator pose using a hierarchy of competing rules, or objective functions, to avoid unplanned collisions with objects in the workplace, to produce energy-efficient, graceful motion, to increase leverage, to control effective impedance at the tool or to favor overloaded joints.

Vold, Havard I.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Dynamic control modification techniques in teleoperation of a flexible manipulator

The objective of this research is to reduce the end-point vibration of a large, teleoperated manipulator while preserving the usefulness of the system motion. A master arm is designed to measure desired joint angles as the user specifies a desired tip motion. The desired joint angles from the master arm are the inputs to an adaptive PD control algorithm that positions the end-point of the manipulator. As the user moves the tip of the master, the robot will vibrate at its natural frequencies which makes it difficult to position the end-point. To eliminate the tip vibration during teleoperated motions, an input shaping method is presented. The input shaping method transforms each sample of the desired input into a new set of impulses that do not excite the system resonances. The method is explained using the equation of motion for a simple, second-order system. The impulse response of such a system is derived and the constraint equations for vibrationless motion are presented. To evaluate the robustness of the method, a different residual vibration equation from Singer's is derived that more accurately represents the input shaping technique. The input shaping method is shown to actually increase the residual vibration in certain situations when the system parameters are not accurately specified. Finally, the implementation of the input shaping method to a system with varying parameters is shown to induce a vibration into the system. To eliminate this vibration, a modified command shaping technique is developed. The ability of the modified command shaping method to reduce vibration at the system resonances is tested by varying input perturbations to trajectories in a range of possible user inputs. By comparing the frequency responses of the transverse acceleration at the end-point of the manipulator, the modified method is compared to the original PD routine. The control scheme that produces the smaller magnitude of resonant vibration at the first natural frequency is considered the more effective control method.

Magee, David Patrick↗
NASA NTRS2019

Thermal Design of Astrobee Perching Arm

This paper presents the thermal design of actuators in the perching arm of Astrobee robot that will operate inside the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 2019. Since the crew's safety is of the utmost importance on the ISS, all materials used in the Astrobee robot should meet the touch temperature requirements according to the ISS safety standards to protect crew from skin burns by controlling the exposure temperature. The Astrobee perching arm consists of 2-DOF (Degrees-of-Freedom)- arm servo motors and 1-DOF gripper DC motor, which are capable of overheating in the stalled condition. Thermal properties of two types of actuators are verified by monitoring the touch temperature in worst-case operations with no thermal protection. Then, the proper thermal protection designs have been conducted and installed to guarantee the safety in all conditions.

Park, In-Won↗
NASA NTRS1987

Multiple sensor smart robot hand with force control

A smart robot hand developed at JPL for the Protoflight Manipulator Arm (PFMA) is described. The development of this smart hand was based on an integrated design and subsystem architecture by considering mechanism, electronics, sensing, control, display, and operator interface in an integrated design approach. The mechanical details of this smart hand and the overall subsystem are described elsewhere. The sensing and electronics components of the JPL/PFMA smart hand are summarized and it is described in some detail in control capabilities.

Killion, Richard R.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Issues in advanced automation for manipulator control

This paper provides a brief description and analysis of the main issues in advanced autonomous control of manipulators as seen from a system point of view. The nature of manipulation is analyzed at some depth. A general multilevel structure is outlined for manipulator control organization which includes the human operator at the top level of the control structure. Different approaches to the development of advanced automation of mechanical arms are summarized. Recent work in the JPL teleoperator project is described, including control system, force/torque sensor, and control software development. Some results from control experiments are summarized.

Bejczy, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Bioelectric Control of a 757 Class High Fidelity Aircraft Simulation

This paper presents results of a recent experiment in fine grain Electromyographic (EMG) signal recognition, We demonstrate bioelectric flight control of 757 class simulation aircraft landing at San Francisco International Airport. The physical instrumentality of a pilot control stick is not used. A pilot closes a fist in empty air and performs control movements which are captured by a dry electrode array on the arm, analyzed and routed through a flight director permitting full pilot outer loop control of the simulation. A Vision Dome immersive display is used to create a VR world for the aircraft body mechanics and flight changes to pilot movements. Inner loop surfaces and differential aircraft thrust is controlled using a hybrid neural network architecture that combines a damage adaptive controller (Jorgensen 1998, Totah 1998) with a propulsion only based control system (Bull & Kaneshige 1997). Thus the 757 aircraft is not only being flown bioelectrically at the pilot level but also demonstrates damage adaptive neural network control permitting adaptation to severe changes in the physical flight characteristics of the aircraft at the inner loop level. To compensate for accident scenarios, the aircraft uses remaining control surface authority and differential thrust from the engines. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time real time bioelectric fine-grained control, differential thrust based control, and neural network damage adaptive control have been integrated into a single flight demonstration. The paper describes the EMG pattern recognition system and the bioelectric pattern recognition methodology.

Jorgensen, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1991

Control of a small working robot on a large flexible manipulator for suppressing vibrations

The short term objective of this research is the completion of experimental configuration of the Small Articulated Robot (SAM) and the derivations of the actuator dynamics of the Robotic Arm, Large and Flexible (RALF). In order to control vibrations SAM should have larger bandwidth than that of the vibrations. The bandwidth of SAM consist of 3 parts; structural rigidity, processing speed of controller, and motor speed. The structural rigidity was increased to a reasonably high value by attaching aluminum angles at weak points and replacing thin side plates by thicker ones. The high processing speed of the controller was achieved by using parallel processors (three 68000 process, three interface board, and one main processor (IBM-XT)). Maximum joint speed and acceleration of SAM is known as about 4 rad/s and 15 rad/sq s. Hence SAM can move only .04 rad at 3 Hz which is the natural frequency of RALF. This will be checked by experiment.

Lee, Soo Han↗
NASA NTRS1992

Solder dross removal apparatus

An automatic dross removal apparatus (10) is disclosed for removing dross from the surface of a solder bath (22) in an automated electric component handling system. A rotatable wiper blade (14) is positioned adjacent the solder bath (22) which skims the dross off of the surface prior to the dipping of a robot conveyed component into the bath. An electronic control circuit (34) causes a motor (32) to rotate the wiper arm (14) one full rotational cycle each time a pulse is received from a robot controller (44) as a component approaches the solder bath (22).

Webb, Winston S.↗
DOE OSTI2026

North Slope of Alaska XSAPR b1 Data Processing Report: May 2025-April 2026

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility operates an X-band Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (XSAPR) at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory in Utqiaġvik. This radar provides year-round dual-polarization measurements of snow and ice in an arctic environment. Over the past few years, there has been greater focus on the NSA XSAPR, and recent efforts by ARM staff have resulted in quality-controlled, b-level data (Rocque et al. 2026b). This report outlines the processing of the second set of b-level data released for this radar from May 2025 through April 2026 following similar methods from Rocque et al. (2026b).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗