Bio-Inspired Advanced Exercise Concepts

Posted by NASA via Innocentive:

There are many exercise devices that exist today. Many use servomotors pneumatics, flywheels and elastic bands which are all available today off the shelf. NASA would like to find new concepts that are inspired by biology. This type of biomimicry has shown to be efficient and durable in many cases. Solvers are asked to come up with bio-inspired exercise mechanism that will be the basis for resistive and aerobic exercises for astronauts.

NASA’s clerk response:

“The solution includes 'air purification' which is not a requirement and adds complexity and mass. The proposal is a collection of existing technologies put together. Feasibility not fully shown. Thank you."

Website: NASA

If dialogue was established, not monologue, answer would be:

  • Internal components are generating heat by converting cosmonaut energy to electricity, so they must be cooled by surrounding air, which must be filtered because we are in spacecraft with cosmonauts. So second air filtering would be an bonus to existing systems.
    I was notified about tournament few days before closing deadline, more time was needed to present rest of the details.