It’s no secret that one critical factor in the 2009 competition success of LaserMotive came from extensive testing of the climber at the team’s facility on the specially designed vertical treadmill, which allows the team the opportunity to collect real time data on Otis’s performance, as well as seeing how the machine performs over a full kilometer test without having to leave the office.

Like a car taking practice laps on a racetrack, the treadmill allows the team a chance to test new ideas and combinations to find out what works the best before the actual race begins.

And with a bigger, better goal and prize on the line for Phase 2, it was time for a better treadmill.

Back in January, the entire team took a quick break from working on their individual systems to help topple the 18-foot treadmill, tipping it on to its side to begin work. It is the first time in a year that the giant piece of machinery came down, leaving something of an empty space in the back corner of the team’s shop.

The formerly vertical treadmill. Watch your head!

The plan is to retrofit the treadmill to include a motor-driven wheel that will allow the team to measure the output of the climbing vehicle’s motor, effectively turning the treadmill into a dynamometer.

In addition, the bicycle wheels that guide the cable around the treadmill are being replaced with double-walled wheels to cut down on vibrations created when the cable passes over the spots where the spokes connect to the rims. Such vibrations may not seem like something that could cause such a major difference, but the more accurate the data you can gather, the better your vehicle will be. One of the wheels is also being put on a moving axis to allow the team to control the tension on the cable, which despite being metal can stretch, changing the conditions on the treadmill. Because the cable is a fixed length, the addition of the fifth wheel requires the top of the treadmill to also be lowered some to accommodate the new, wider path of the cable.

It’s a lot of work, but the ability of the team to test and retest the climber in conditions that simulate the real world challenge and make the adjustments based on test results instead of theories is one of the things that helped LaserMotive claim the Level 1 prize in November.

Now the hope is the new and improved treadmill can help get Otis into tip-top shape when the team goes after the Level 2 prize later this year!

Tell most people that you are going to Washington, D.C., in February and they’re liable to look at you like you’ve got two heads, but that’s exactly where the majority of the LaserMotive team and their families are headed this week.

As winners of the NASA-sponsored 2009 Power Beaming Competition, LaserMotive is being honored this week at NASA Headquarters, along with other winners of the space agency’s Centennial Challenges, NASA’s prize-driven innovation program.

First Jordin and Tom will be speaking as part of a day-long technical symposium Feb. 25th, discussing LaserMotive’s 2009 competition win along with what we’ll be doing next, as part of a panel with the other Challenge winners.

Then, the next day, the whole team will be honored at a recognition ceremony with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, which is all just really cool.

But the guys aren’t just headed out go sight-seeing. While in D.C., team members will be meeting with technology staffers from the offices of our senators and congresspeople, explaining the business of power beaming and the vast potential it holds for each of their districts.

You know, in case they are looking to get on board with an emerging industry in their own backyard. Hey it’s already created two jobs, right?

Both the tech symposium and the recognition ceremony are scheduled to be broadcast on NASA Television. For the link, schedule and streaming video visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. The symposium is scheduled for 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Feb. 25 and the one-hour recognition ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 26.

Tom, Dave and Jordin in the office at LaserMotive.

It used to be a nights and weekends pursuit only, but with one victory (and a nice big check from Uncle Sam) under their belts, it’s time for the LaserMotive team to get serious about the business of LaserMotive, LLC.

Formed in conjunction with the team, LaserMotive, LLC is the corporate arm of the group, designed with an eye toward the future of power beaming in all its forms, from continuing work on the Space Elevator Challenge to work on the real world applications of using lasers to beam power across great distances.

This January, team members Tom Nugent, Jr., and Dave Bashford became the first official full-time employees of the company, moving into the small office section of the Kent shop.

Tom and Dave can now devote all of their efforts to getting Otis prepped for Phase 2 of the challenge and the company prepped for the future.

Although the focus for Team LaserMotive is on the 2010 Level 2 prize in the Power Beaming Challenge (scheduled for May), LaserMotive, LLC, has its eye on the future applications of power beaming.

For example, LaserMotive is already working to develop ways of recharging unmanned aerial vehicles, such as the “drones” used by the military. The majority of drones that are lost are lost during takeoff and landing for refueling.

The work being done by LaserMotive should allow the military to literally beam energy to the unmanned vehicles while they are still in the air, saving time and cutting down on risk.

So with the new office setup, Dave can work to make sure Otis is ready for May while Tom is busy working on business developments for future commercial projects. It’s a win-win.

And now that the phones are hooked up, everything is falling into place…

Or: “How to lose 15 percent of your body weight in 24 hours.”

(This article goes into more detail than our earlier post on happened for the final day of the 2009 power beaming competition.)

After securing the prize for successfully completing Level 1 of the Power Beaming Challenge by climbing the 1 km at a pace of 3.8 meters per second (nearly twice the required 2 m/s), the LaserMotive team pulled out all the stops in an attempt to qualify for the Level 2 prize and take home the additional $1.1 million in prize money.

Level 2 requires the climbers to complete the challenge at a pace of 5 meters per second and the team knew the only way to do that would be for Otis to drop some weight.

Not even the metal on the photovoltaic cells survived the mad dash to drop weight.

At a svelte 5 kg, there wasn’t a whole lot of fat to trim, but with no time to develop the proper package of diet and exercise, the decision was made to start simply removing as much excess material as possible.

Turning a critical eye, the team began removing all non-essential equipment and even cutting into the frame and trimming everything, from the circuit boards to various data-collection devices added to help the team learn as much as possible about their tries.

But with the money on the line, the team decided it was more important to drop some weight and make a run at the prize than anything else. No system went untouched. Everything was fair game.

Holes were drilled in guide wheels to reduce weight.

Sensors for the motor, a thermocouple to measure temperature, connectors that would allow the team to replace subsystems that were no longer necessary, heat sinks, wires and protectors – the protective frame was both the biggest weight and the most frightening to remove – were all removed or modified.

Once everything that could be taken off was, the team went even further, cutting into the frame and removing small strips of support metal and even drilling holes through the online skate wheels used to guide Otis up the ribbon.

Even the circuit board fell victim to the saw as the team cut into the unused parts of the board, leaving the once smooth-sided circuit board looking like a puzzle piece.

A before and after look at the circuit board. Every gram counts.

By the time Otis was ready for his run at the Level 2 prize, he had dropped a total of 0.7 kg, coming in at his new fighting weight of 4.3 kg.

That may not sound like a lot, but it comes to 16 percent of Otis’s body mass. That would be like a 165-pound man dropping 26.4 pounds overnight.

In the end, the lighter, faster Otis improved his speed as he headed up the ribbon, but a combination of too much laser power early in the race (which blew a power converter) and accidentally dragging the launch platform along doomed the effort to exceed 5 m/s averaged over a climb.

The challenge now for the team is to find a way to get that last 20% of perrformance understood and under control before they head back to Dryden for the Level 2 prize.

How will Otis drop the rest of the weight and pick up his speed? Tough to know, but you can bet Otis will be working out hard on the treadmill to get back into fighting shape.

Cue the Rocky theme! Getting strong now!