Michael Comberiate, who manages the Special Projects Initiatives at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and his team of graduate and undergraduate engineering students build robotic vehicles that are used to test flight avionics, instruments, communications protocols, and approaches for planetary exploration. One project involves developing new communication protocols suitable for the delays encountered in space travel. This research involves the transmission of commands and images between the flight center on Earth and exploratory vehicles roaming various planets. The team works with a robot named Nanook that is outfitted with an imaging system that uses a step motor to help it collect data for 3D images. If Comberiate’s research proves successful, the communication protocols will be used in projects like the Mars Rover explorations, but they could also help solve communication problems here on Earth.
http://www.designworldonline.com/articles/5094/267/Step-Motor-Helps...