Mac my Suit!

For research purposes, we need as much instrumentation on the MX-2 as we can pack in there, so once we had the suit all working, we began the process of installing a Mac Mini into the suit. This was a tough job as we need to send power to the suit from the surface, connect it to our network (wireless signals can't go through water, so we needed to add an ethernet cable to our umbilical), make sure everything is waterproof (those pass-throughs are difficult), and most importantly, safe for the human test subject. Safety is always our number one priority. We designed a completely isolated electronics box to house all our electronics, including the Mac Mini, an A/D card, a mini pre-amp for our comms system, a USB-hub, all our pressure sensors, LCG temperature sensors and more. We continue to add things daily to the electronics box to give the MX-2 greater capabilities.

Power for the Mac Mini comes from a power supply on deck, travels along our 100 foot long umbilical, (which also includes the ethernet cable, the air-in and air-out hoses, and the cooling water hose for the LCG) and then is divided to all our sensors and the computer.

Signals from the sensors are sent to the NI A/D card, which connects via USB to the Mac. We have onboard software which talks to the A/D card, samples each of the channels, and sends the information via ethernet onto our network. We can then run Control Station software on any of our deck computers to monitor the suit and the suit subject. The system is very flexible making it simple to add more sensors and display the information in simple, easy to read ways.

MX-2 tours the world!

The MX-2 is now making its way around the world as part of an international ad campaign by Lenovo! The suit has been spotted in airports all over the world, including Paris, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Mexico City, Toronto, New York, London and Frankfurt, which is where this photo was snapped. Here's the video version of the MX-2 in the Lenovo ad. Also check out our pictures of the making of the Lenovo ad.

MX-2 Overview

The MX-2 is an ongoing research project, constantly evolving and improving. Many research papers have been published about the MX-2, including at the International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) and at AIAA conferences. These papers highlight the use of the MX-2 as a tool to investigate advanced space suit technologies, to research human-robotic interaction, and to make EVA more efficient. Many of these papers can be found here.

Currently, a team of 4 Graduate students and 4 Undergraduates are working on both the suit and various research projects that involve the suit. Last year, three of the undergraduate students on the team created this excellent MX-2 space suit video which gives a great overview of the suit and won the UMD video competition!

Welcome!

Welcome to the MX-2 Blog, here you will find all the latest information about this unique research project developed at the Space Systems Laboratory. We have been working extremely hard on this suit for the past few years and we hope you find it as exciting as we do!

This picture shows a concept we have been developing, a suit-mounted robotic arm which could provide aid to the astronaut by holding tools, passing objects and lending a helping hand. Who doesn't want a third arm?

This is just one application of the suit we are working on, so check back often to see all the different research projects which employ the MX-2.