NEWS - Innova Holdings, Inc. Ships NASA Contract for High Performance Ground-Based Robot Controller
Posted by AGORACOM on September 07, 2006 at 11:12AM
While Studying Options to Extend the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA Determined That a Robotic Repair Mission to Service the Hubble Space Telescope Was Not Feasible. However the High-Performance Control From the Robotic Workspace Technologies, Inc. (RWT(TM)), Subsidiary of Innova Holdings, Is Being Reapplied to Another Mission and May Still Play a Key Role in Future NASA Programs
FORT MYERS, FL, Sep 07, 2006 -- Innova Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB: IVHG), a robotics technology firm providing software and hardware systems to the service, personal, and industrial robot markets, today announced that the Universal Robot Controller 3(TM) (URC3(TM)) control system for robotic mechanisms has been received by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). GSFC however, reports that the URC3 will be reapplied to a rendezvous and navigation system that is currently being developed.
``We believe that this is a testimony to the flexibility of the high-performance URC3,`` said Walter Weisel, Chairman and CEO of Innova Holdings. ``We believe that its capabilities for precision, speed, and coordinated control of multiple axes and multiple inputs and outputs from ancillary devices like sensors make it a most versatile communication and control system. We believe that the result of the NASA-Innova Holdings joint project for command and control in space applications may offer new possibilities for control of robotics on earth.``
Engineers at GSFC are working to resolve challenges with docking vehicles in space. ``When a spacecraft approaches another spacecraft in orbit, there are issues regarding synchronizing speed as well as orientation to safely dock the two vehicles,`` explained Dr. Ed Cheung, who works for Jackson and Tull at NASA GSFC. ``We are now going to use the URC3 to engineer a rendezvous and navigation system that will involve a mock-up of a flying spacecraft approaching and docking with a target vehicle.``
The mock-up will include a robot equipped with a camera and sensors being developed by NASA that will act as a closed-loop positioner.
The URC has been awarded three pioneer patents issued by the USPTO pertaining to the interface of a general use computer and the mobility of robots, regardless of specific applications.