Jpl flexture4/30/2023 ![]() ![]() Due to the lack of rolling elements, there is no bearing rumble to affect the uniformity or straightness of motion. The manufacturer describes the flexure-guided piezo positioning stages to provide vibrationless motion with virtually unlimited resolution and fast response. "It is an incredible environment for someone looking for exciting robotics opportunities.PI (Physik Instrumente), a manufacturer of nanopositioning and motion-control equipment for nanobiotechnology, metrology and photonics applications, introduces the PIHera Z flexure-guided piezo nanopositioning stage, with travel ranges of 50 µm to 250 µm (400 µm open-loop). And he says that he will now strongly consider pursuing a future career at JPL. Through designing and constructing an autonomous underwater vehicle over the past year, I have acquired a great deal of design and machining techniques as well as the skills necessary to collaborate with others on a large group project."įouad says he loved working in Parness's lab and enjoyed having the freedom to pursue the design paths that he found most interesting and promising. And, he says, "The experience I have gained leading the mechanical subgroup of the Caltech Robotics Team was invaluable for my work this summer. A mechanical design and fabrication class (ME 14) taught him important design skills. A statics and material mechanics course (ME 35-now ME 12) had provided him with the background he needed to understand how the microspine toes of a particular geometry would deform under different loading conditions. Edward's project was a good example."įouad says he went into the SURF project with a lot of relevant experience. ![]() I always try to work with the students before the summer so that the SURF projects provide some autonomy but give the students a chance to work toward something that could make a long-term contribution to the main project. "The SURF program provides a great balance it ensures an educational experience for the student but also provides a lot of value to the projects and mentors. "Edward did a great job this summer," says Parness. In the past, elastic polymers and metal extension springs have been used for this purpose, but elastic polymers cannot stand up to the extreme temperatures of space, and the springs greatly increase the complexity of the gripper's design and complicate the manufacturing and assembly processes. One of the key elements in such a design is a compliant flexure, a material that can bend and flex, allowing each hook to move independently of its neighbors, to grab onto the crags of an uneven surface. In particular, his goal was to design a metal microspine that could conform to a rocky surface and stretch as needed toward the center of the gripper. Because the carriages and microspines all move independently, the gripper is able to conform well to the rock's nooks and crannies.įor his SURF project, Fouad helped with the construction of the latest gripper prototype and worked on improving the design of the microspines for the next generation. When the gripper makes contact with a rocky surface, the carriages extend downward onto the rock and then pull inward toward the gripper's center. Each of those carriages is in turn made up of a number of "microspines" with steel hooks at their tips. The latest version of the gripper is made entirely of metal and consists of two concentric rings of carriages-the toe-like appendages that stick out from the gripper. Researchers at JPL have been working on this technology for almost five years. Microspine gripper technology is being evaluated for use on these robotic arms. One of two concepts that NASA is currently considering for that mission involves using robotic arms to grab a boulder for return from a much larger asteroid. That makes it a good candidate to be included in the robotic capture phase of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, which aims to capture an asteroid and haul it into lunar orbit where robotic and manned missions could study it more easily. Looking something like a robotic circular foot with many toes extending radially outward, such a gripper has the ability to grab onto a rocky surface and cling to it even when hanging upside down. Fouad spent 10 weeks this summer as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program working in the lab of Aaron Parness, a group leader at JPL, where researchers are designing, prototyping, and refining technology for a device called a microspine gripper. ![]()
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