Magnetic Gear and Sensor Technology to Enable Survival and Robotic Actuator Dexterous Operation through the Lunar Night

This proposal addresses a critical need for space actuators in NASA’s exploration missions and the commercial space sector, particularly for environments like the lunar surface. Our magnetically geared actuator is designed to meet high torque requirements while overcoming the limitations of traditional motor-gear systems, such as backlash, friction, wear, and shock vulnerability. These issues affect current robotic manipulators like SSRMS (Canadarm2) and JEM-RMS (Kibo), as well as actuators used in missions like Curiosity and Mars 2020, which are inadequate for lunar mission demands. The magnetic gear actuator offers a lightweight, low-power, and compact solution that can endure the extreme environments of lunar missions, including surviving the lunar night. Integrated into an MIT-cheetah style dexterous end effector, it could enable fine manipulation tasks, such as mating/demating connectors and handling tools, which are essential for Artemis lunar surface operations. Phase II funding will be used to integrate the magnetic gear with impedance controller from Phase I into a robotic end-effector for a near-term Generic Robotic Torquer tool, supporting the design, testing, and TRL 5 demonstration of this actuator developed with partners Rob Ambrose & Gray Thomas at TEES, and Josh Figuered at Novium Intuitive Machines provided a Letter of Capital Commitment for our compact and heat-efficient solution which eliminates the need for traditional clutches & temperature-sensitive torque transducers. With current customer MDA Space providing a Letter of Capital Commitment, we aim to win Lunar Outpost also. capabilities for lunar missions and other space applications. The target market includes the rotary electromechanical robotic arms and manipulators in the global space sensor and actuator market, particularly for rovers and landers. Thereafter, the allied nation “smart actuators” market and dexterous end effector for intrinsically safe cobot market shall be penetrated.