Android, Space Suit, Testing, Parts

These are some parts of an articulated dummy that was built at the Illinois Institute of Technology, for NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center. Its purpose was to support the development of spacesuits. It used hydraulic actuators to replicate many of the joint motions of the human body with realistic forces. Sensors placed throughout the dummy measured forces that a prototype suit might exert on a human being when wearing the suit in a space environment. That enabled suit designers to measure how much force a human would need to move an arm or leg, or tern his or her head, when wearing a suit in space. By using this dummy instead of a human being during the design and testing of a space suit, tests could proceed that might otherwise be painful, tedious, or even dangerous for a human being to participate in.

These pieces are part of the original accession, but were not installed or included when the dummy was placed on exhibit in 2004.