Honeybee Robotics improves TORC satellite attitude control system with NASA SBIR Phase IIe Award

New platform for spacecraft attitude control makes it easy to program high-agility small satellite maneuvers

Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation today announced that it has secured a SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Phase II Enhancement award for the development of an improved Tiny Operationally Responsive CMG (TORC). This development will provide a platform for guidance, navigation and control (GNC) engineers and researchers to seamlessly implement advanced steering laws in the TORC avionics with minimal redundant engineering.

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Honeybee Robotics receives FY2012 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Thomas H. May Legacy of Excellence Award

Award recognizes small business excellence in engineering for an outstanding member of the JPL community

Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation has received the FY2012 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Thomas H. May Legacy of Excellence Award for its outstanding performance. The annual award recognizes small businesses that have delivered outsized performance to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in support of NASA’s mission. JPL nominated Honeybee for its development of the Dust Removal Tool on board the Mars Science Laboratory.

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Honeybee Robotics and NASA offer students chance to operate space drill

As part of ongoing efforts to excite students for potential careers in science and technology, Honeybee Robotics and NASA are letting students at schools across the country remotely participate in a space drill testing program currently underway in Antarctica. The NASA and Honeybee teams are visiting public schools in California, Arizona and New York, offering live video chats with researchers on the ground in McMurdo, Antarctica, and letting students issue remote commands to Honeybee’s Icebreaker drill as it goes through trials in the Mars analog environment.

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Mars Science Laboratory Dust Removal Tool completes first operations on Mars

Sol 150 sees first use of Honeybee’s end effector, designed to aid geotechnical analysis of Martian rocks

Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation is pleased to announce the first successful operations of the Dust Removal Tool on board the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, carried out on sol 150 of the mission. This first use comes after the DRT and Honeybee’s other contribution to the mission, the Sample Manipulation System, were found to be alive and functioning nominally two weeks after the rover landed on Mars.

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Honeybee Robotics and Planetary Society partner to develop new PlanetVac sampling system

Reliable pneumatic design gathers dirt and regolith with minimal complexity

Honeybee Robotics is developing a new space dirt and regolith sampling system, PlanetVac, with the support of the Planetary Society. The system, designed for use on Mars, the Moon, or asteroids, has the potential to be a low-cost and reliable alternative to traditional sampling systems. Ultimately, the system is designed to enable rapid and reliable sample acquisition for in-situ analysis on a spacecraft or for a sample return mission. 

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Honeybee Robotics begins SBIR Phase II project for quick-fastener system

Fasteners designed to improve performance of AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispensing System for Naval aircraft

Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation today announced the company has begun working on a Phase II SBIR program for the US Navy to develop quick-fastener technology designed to improve the performance of aircraft countermeasure systems. The project will result in a new reversible fastening system design for the AN/ALE-47 Countermeasure Dispensing Systems (CMDS), which are currently installed on over 2,000 US Navy aircraft.

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Honeybee Robotics begins asteroid mining feasibility study

Robotic Asteroid Prospector proposal will analyze viability of harvesting resources from near-Earth objects

Honeybee Robotics today announced it has begun developing a feasibility study into the viability of mining materials from near-Earth objects (NEOs). The four-member Robotic Asteroid Prospector project team, led by Dr. Marc M. Cohen, will explore parameters important to harvesting resources from asteroids and other space objects, including the kinds of mission and spacecraft needed, applicable mining technology, and whether such an undertaking could be technologically and financially viable.

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Honeybee Robotics advances partnership with iRobot to develop operational door-opening robot

In Phase II of the partnership, Honeybee will incorporate sensory feedback into their compliant gripper to enable an iRobot PackBot to open doors under semi-autonomous control

Honeybee Robotics Corporation is entering the next phase of its partnership with iRobot to develop a door-opening end effector for advanced applications. Under the research partnership, Honeybee and iRobot will incorporate sensory feedback into the existing Door Opening Gripper end effector and automate key tasks including door identification, doorknob grasping and door opening.

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