Abstract: An electrostatic tacking membrane assembly includes a membrane made of an elastic material, a plurality of electrostatic pads disposed on the membrane, one or more tacking elements disposed on the membrane, and a plurality of electrical leads disposed within or on the membrane and connected with the electrostatic pads and the one or more tacking elements. The electrostatic tacking membrane assembly may be positioned with the tacking elements disposed near or in contact with an overlapped or abutted area of two or more layers of material, and the tacking elements may be electrified and heated so as to bond together the two or more layers proximate the overlapped or abutted area.

Abstract: A method and system for managing adhesion between a sheet of material and an electrostatic pad. The method includes applying a voltage across the electrostatic pad to establish a baseline voltage level thereacross and to generate an electrostatic potential across the electrostatic pad, bringing the electrostatic pad near or into contact with the sheet so that the sheet electrostatically adheres to the electrostatic pad, and monitoring a capacitance between the sheet and the electrostatic pad. If a drop in the capacitance occurs that is below a predetermined capacitance limit, then the voltage is increased to an elevated voltage level so as to increase the electrostatic adhesion between the electrostatic pad and the sheet. The system includes a voltage module, a monitoring module and a control module.

Abstract: The present disclosure includes methods of treating a disease or condition that produces skin inflammation and/or itch. More specifically the present disclosure relates to treating skin inflammation and itch caused by diseases or disorders of the skin such as psoriasis by administering a peptide fragment of the MARCKS protein. Peptide fragments and variants thereof as disclosed in the present disclosure are useful in such methods.

Abstract: Shape retaining membranes, methods of use, and end effectors using a shape retaining membrane are presented. A shape retaining membrane comprises a porous substrate impregnated with an electrorheological fluid; a pair of high voltage electrodes positioned on either side of the porous substrate; and a skin wrapped around the porous substrate and the high voltage electrodes.

Abstract: Methods of reducing calculation time for inverse kinematics for a robotic arm are presented. An analytical solver is used based on design values for a robot type to generate an analytical solution of joint parameters to achieve a desired location of a tool center point of the robot type, wherein the robotic arm has the robot type. The analytical solution of joint parameters is provided as a seed value to a numerical solver for the robotic arm of the robot type. A numerical solution is determined using the numerical solver and the seed value, the numerical solution comprising joint parameters for the robotic arm to achieve the desired location of a tool center point of the robotic arm.

Abstract: A method and system locate boundaries such as an edge of a composite ply using a laser projector and an imaging system that are angularly offset from each other to create parallax allowing a profile of the edge to be detected and measured.

Abstract: An electrostatic tacking membrane assembly includes a membrane made of an elastic material, a plurality of electrostatic pads disposed on the membrane, one or more tacking elements disposed on the membrane, and a plurality of electrical leads disposed within or on the membrane and connected with the electrostatic pads and the one or more tacking elements. The electrostatic tacking membrane assembly may be positioned with the tacking elements disposed near or in contact with an overlapped or abutted area of two or more layers of material, and the tacking elements may be electrified and heated so as to bond together the two or more layers proximate the overlapped or abutted area.

Abstract: A method and system for managing adhesion between a sheet of material and an electrostatic pad. The method includes applying a voltage across the electrostatic pad to establish a baseline voltage level thereacross and to generate an electrostatic potential across the electrostatic pad, bringing the electrostatic pad near or into contact with the sheet so that the sheet electrostatically adheres to the electrostatic pad, and monitoring a capacitance between the sheet and the electrostatic pad. If a drop in the capacitance occurs that is below a predetermined capacitance limit, then the voltage is increased to an elevated voltage level so as to increase the electrostatic adhesion between the electrostatic pad and the sheet. The system includes a voltage module, a monitoring module and a control module.

Abstract: A vehicle includes a search system including at least one antenna, a wireless transceiver control module, and a processor. The processor receives a vehicle access request. The processor then sends a search instruction to the wireless transceiver control module to search for an authorized wireless device within a predefined distance of the vehicle. The processor receives a response, to the request, from the wireless transceiver control module indicating search results and a state indicator indicating a state of the search system. When the state indicator indicates a state predefined as corresponding to a final result state for fulfilling the request, the processor utilizes the search results to determine if the access request should be granted and when the state indicator indicates a state predefined as corresponding to an in-progress state, which will result in an improved response at a future time, the processor re-instructs the search and repeats response reception.