They will give the individual soldier on-demand information about his surroundings, resulting in unprecedented situational awareness, greater effectiveness, and fewer casualties. The garment can pinpoint for battlefield medics the location of wounds and assist triage. The garment also supports voice communications and global positioning systems. The researchers concluded that the most important step toward minimizing wear is using a satisfactory microlubricant. The best of the available lubricants are self-assembled monolayers.
Humidity can help, too.
Devices last longer at low humidity but are less effective because of wobble and degraded performance. If the devices are sealed in hermetic packages, ambient relative humidity becomes moot, and satisfactory lubrication assumes primary importance. The second design recommendation, commonsensical but easy to overlook, is to design to minimize surface contacts and the associated normal forces. Candidate areas for redesign include the pin joint region of the drive gear, the hub of the drive gear, the shuttle guides that constrain motion, and the clamping actuator. An additional step toward diminishing the forces at work is to ramp up to full speed over multiple cycles, thereby reducing the magnitude of the impact or impulsive forces.