{"id":475779,"date":"2023-05-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?post_type=migration&p=475779"},"modified":"2023-08-22T15:23:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T19:23:13","slug":"nasa-developed-spherical-robots-to-the-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/technology\/tech-transfer-spinoffs\/nasa-developed-spherical-robots-to-the-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA-Developed Spherical Robots to the Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"985\" height=\"985\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?w=985\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Two first responders walking and carrying a sensor robot.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg 985w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=768,768 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=50,50 50w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=200,200 200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=400,400 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=600,600 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/01_subway_attack.jpg?resize=900,900 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 985px) 100vw, 985px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Squishy Robotics\u2019 tensegrity sensor robots help first responders determine their approach to a disaster scene. Pictured here during a subway attack scenario exercise at the 2021 Unmanned Tactical Application Conference, the robots can detect gas leaks and other hazards. <strong>Credits: FLYMOTION LLC<\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04_drone_with_squishy_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04_drone_with_squishy_3.jpg?w=320\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Drone carrying squishy robot in the air above trees.\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04_drone_with_squishy_3.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04_drone_with_squishy_3.jpg?resize=300,246 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">A drone transports one of Squishy Robotics\u2019 tensegrity robots as part of an exercise with Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue in Florida. <strong>Credits: Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue<\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/02_statrobot_yellow.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/02_statrobot_yellow.png?w=320\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"Yellow Statrobot\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/02_statrobot_yellow.png 320w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/02_statrobot_yellow.png?resize=283,300 283w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">Weighing less than three pounds, the stationary robot can be integrated with most commercial drones. <strong>Credits: Squishy Robotics Inc.<\/strong><\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Dr. Alice Agogino was researching spherical, skeletal robots that might one day be dropped onto Mars or the Moon to collect information and conduct science, when she realized her NASA-funded technology could have terrestrial benefits too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reading a report on the dangers and death toll of disaster response, Agogino thought her robots, fitted with the right sensors, could gather data at the scenes of fires, crashes, and other disasters to help first responders assess dangers like toxic gas leaks and plan their approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We thought, wow, if we can do this on the Moon, we could do it on Earth and save some lives,\u201d said Agogino, director of the Berkeley Emergent Space Tensegrities Lab at the University of California at Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She went on to cofound Berkeley, California-based Squishy Robotics Inc. The company makes impact-resistant, customizable robots for public safety, military, and industrial uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agogino\u2019s robots look like ball-shaped skeletons of rods and elastic cables. She describes the structure as \u201ca tension network\u201d \u2013 if a robot is dropped, the impact is distributed across the network, dissipating the force, according to the principle of tensegrity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term tensegrity \u2013 short for tensile integrity \u2013 was coined in the 1960s by architect R. Buckminster Fuller, who popularized geodesic domes, which are also tensegrity structures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For NASA, the ability to withstand the impact of a long drop is especially interesting, as is the ability of these structures to collapse into a small package during travel.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The agency awarded Agogino and her UC Berkeley lab <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/strg\/early-stage-innovations-esi\" rel=\"noopener\">Early Stage Innovations<\/a> (ESI) funding in 2014 to research tensegrity robot mobility using gas thrusters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The $500,000, multi-year, proof-of-concept ESI grants aim to accelerate the development of innovative space technologies that have significant potential. The funding is offered through the Space Technology Research Grants program, which supports academic researchers working on space-related science and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Agogino and her team were designing probes that could drop from a planetary orbit or larger spacecraft, survive the drop carrying delicate sensors, and then roll and jump over rough terrain to perform missions and science on other worlds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThink about the Mars Curiosity and Perseverance rovers,\u201d said Terry Fong, chief roboticist in the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center in California\u2019s Silicon Valley. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fong, who was NASA\u2019s technical representative for Agogino\u2019s grant, explained that the rovers had to be gently lowered to Mars\u2019 surface with the elaborate <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/science-news\/science-at-nasa\/2012\/30jul_skycrane\" rel=\"noopener\">Sky Crane system<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith tensegrity robots, the robot itself is the landing device,\u201d Fong said. \u201cIt could survive a fall from very high up and keep going.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tensegrity devices can be folded flat for travel \u2014 in fact, that\u2019s how Agogino ships robots to customers. Once they unfurl, the instruments and sensors are suspended in the center, protected from the impact of a fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo, you save on throwaway mass,\u201d Fong said. \u201cIt\u2019s expensive and difficult to launch mass into space, so you want more of it to be used beyond landing, on the surface with scientific instrumentation and other payloads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA also researched Earth science applications for tensegrity robots, which could monitor, for instance, a glacier that\u2019s about to break off into the ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of place you would not want to send a person, because it\u2019s very risky,\u201d Fong said. \u201cThe whole surface could collapse. With a structure that could survive a drop but still be mobile afterwards, you would have a super instrument positioning system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Earth or on other planets, tensegrity robots offer an easier way to place delicate instruments into difficult-to-reach areas. Indeed, that\u2019s the principle behind Squishy Robotics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agogino and her team interviewed 300 first responders in a process known as customer discovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For these customers, Squishy Robotics now puts miniaturized chemical gas sensors inside the tensegrity robot that can be dropped by aircraft to take readings in an area before firefighters go in. Currently, the company only offers stationary robots, but Agogino and her team are working on mobile models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> The data these robots collect can inform firefighters\u2019 decisions about whether to wear hazardous material gear, which can add up to an hour of prep time \u2014 a delay that\u2019s only worthwhile if it\u2019s necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Squishy Robotics has worked with some of the largest fire departments, including Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue in Florida, the Tulsa Fire Department in Oklahoma, and the San Jose Fire Department in California. The company has also established reseller agreements with several distributors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agogino\u2019s tensegrity robots could also help defuse bombs or monitor gas and electric lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wildfire prevention is another emerging area for Squishy Robotics. Tensegrity robots could monitor high-risk areas, help authorities respond to reports, and ensure that smaller fires have been fully extinguished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe early detection of wildfires is critical,\u201d Agogino says, \u201cbecause so many of the wildfires that have become raging firestorms could have been prevented if they had been caught early.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agogino is now emeritus, having retired in December from Berkeley, which allows her to spend more time on Squishy Robotics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA\u2019s Fong said he was happy to see Agogino was able to spin off the tensegrity robot technology. \u201cWe believe these robots could serve unique purposes for space,\u201d he said. \u201cShe obviously saw a way to also have a major impact on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NASA has a long history of <a href=\"https:\/\/spinoff.nasa.gov\/disclaimer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transferring technology to the private sector<\/a>. The agency\u2019s Spinoff publication profiles NASA technologies that have transformed into commercial products and services, demonstrating the broader benefits of America\u2019s investment in its space program. Spinoff is a publication of the Technology Transfer program in NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information on how NASA brings space technology down to Earth, visit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/spinoff.nasa.gov\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>www.spinoff.nasa.gov<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By Rebecca Carroll <\/em><\/strong><strong><em><strong>NASA\u2019s Spinoff Publication<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA-Developed Spherical Robots to the Rescue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":485481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2827,3817,3339],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[4200],"coauthors":[11007],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA-Developed Spherical Robots to the Rescue","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/technology\/tech-transfer-spinoffs\/nasa-developed-spherical-robots-to-the-rescue\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/technology\/tech-transfer-spinoffs\/nasa-developed-spherical-robots-to-the-rescue\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04-drone-with-squishy-3.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04-drone-with-squishy-3.jpg"},"articleSection":"Technology","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ann M. Harkey"}],"creator":["Ann M. 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Harkey\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"1 year","featured_image":{"id":485481,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/04-drone-with-squishy-3.jpg","title":"04-drone-with-squishy-3","alt":"Drone carrying squishy robot in the air above trees.","caption":"A drone transports one of Squishy Robotics\u2019 tensegrity robots as part of an exercise with Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue in Florida."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":495367,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475779\/revisions\/495367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475779"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=475779"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=475779"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=475779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}