Competition Announcement
The 2007 Astronaut Glove
Competition
will
be held
Wednesday May 2 and Thursday
May 3, 2007 at the
New England Air Museum
Bradley International Airport
Windsor Locks, Connecticut, USA
http://www.neam.org/
Complete information
will be posted shortly, and sent out to all competitors.
Contest Entry Deadline
has been
extended to
Friday April 20, 2007
Phase VI
EVA GLOVE
FINGER
TORQUE MEASUREMENT
Finger torque has historically been measured using a
mechanical force gage and a linear scale to measure the
moment arm. The figure below shows one method for measuring
finger torque on an unmanned pressurized glove. This method
has a significant level of subjectivity and care must be
taken to attain the desired range of motion without
overshooting the angle. The method should be performed
multiple times until the operator can show consistent
results. Example torque data from a Phase VI glove without
the TMG install and pressurized to 4.3 psid is:
Index - .6 inlbs
Middle - .7 inlbs
Ring - .6 inlbs
Little - .6 inlbs
Thumb - .8 inlbs
Welcome to The
Astronaut Glove Challenge 2007
The 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge and the separate
Mechanical Counter Pressure Glove Demonstration award will
go to the teams that can design and manufacture the best
performing glove within competition parameters. The $250,000
total purse will be awarded at a competition scheduled for
April 2007, when competing teams test their glove designs
against each other. A Kick-off Conference was held at
the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut on
April 24, 2006. The Astronaut Glove Challenge and the
separate Mechanical Counter Pressure (MCP) Glove
Demonstration are being held by Volanz Aerospace Inc., a
non-profit educational corporation based in Maryland.
The
Astronaut Glove Challenge and the separate Mechanical
Counter Pressure (MCP) Glove Demonstration, to be conducted
in 2007, is intended to promote the development of a highly
dexterous and flexible glove resulting in a monetary award
to the winning teams. MCP Gloves do not typically contain a
bladder and bladder restraint. Because of the way this type
of glove functions, some of the tests used to evaluate
bladder and bladder restraint gloves are not applicable to
MCP gloves. In order to make this event as inclusive as
possible, a separate parallel demonstration specifically for
MCP gloves will be held. The rules specific to this separate
challenge/demonstration are described in the 2006 Astronaut
Glove Challenge Rules and the separate Team Agreement. MCP
Glove designers may participate in either the Astronaut
Glove Challenge or Mechanical Counter Pressure Glove
Demonstration. They may not participate in both. Bladder
and Bladder-Restraint Gloves may only participate in the
Astronaut Glove Challenge. Hybrid Gloves that meet the
requirements of both Challenges, may participate in either
the Challenge or Demonstration, but not both.
The winner
of the Astronaut Glove Challenge and the separate Mechanical
Counter Pressure Glove Demonstration will be selected by a
panel of judges, convened by Volanz Aerospace Inc., and
based on objective criteria and rules made available to each
team. Volanz Aerospace Inc. has arranged for the following
purse to be funded by a collection of one or more private or
government organizations: US $200,000.00 (two hundred
thousand U.S. dollars) for the Astronaut Glove Challenge
winner and $50,000 (fifty thousand U.S. dollars) for the
Mechanical Counter Pressure Glove Demonstration winner.
To view the NASA Press Release,
click here.
