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Spinoff story
Fiber-Optic “Nerves” Enable Sensitive Surgery Tools
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Intelligent Fiber Optic Systems (IFOS) Corporation’s first funding came from NASA SBIR contracts to develop optical fibers with strain and temperature sensors etched at intervals into their cores, a technology with many possible applications. SBIR funding from Johnson Space Center let the Santa Clara, California-based company adapt the technology to enable tactile sensing in a robot’s fingers. IFOS has used that capability to create sensitive surgical tools, which it has sold to university research labs and is putting into clinical testing.