Honeybee Robotics

Honeybee Robotics was founded in January 1983{{Cite web |title=Honeybee Robotics - Wiki |url=https://golden.com/wiki/Honeybee_Robotics-EMRBDN |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Golden |language=en}} by Steve Gorevan and Chris Chapman as a systems integrator using off-the-shelf robots. The company's first offices were above a piano shop on the Lower East Side of New York City. Their early work included robotic arms, robot end-effectors, and smart task-oriented electromechanical systems for companies including IBM, Allied Signal, The Salk Institute, Merck, 3M, and Con Edison.

Honeybee Robotics received its first NASA contract in 1986 and continues to receive contracts to design and develop space systems.{{Cite web |title=History – Honeybee Robotics |url=https://www.honeybeerobotics.com/about-us/history/ |access-date=2023-04-09 |language=en-US}}

Honeybee Robotics was acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries in 2017. In 2018, Avior Control Technologies was acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries, which then merged Avior with Honeybee in 2019. Avior had been founded in 2010 by Scott Starin to design and manufacture motion-control components including custom motors, gearboxes, dampers, transducers, and actuators for the space, aerospace, and down-hole industries. In January 2022, Honeybee Robotics was sold to Blue Origin.{{Cite web|date=2022-01-25|title=Honeybee Robotics to Join Blue Origin|url=https://www.honeybeerobotics.com/news-events/honeybee-robotics-to-join-blue-origin/|access-date=2022-01-26}}

In February 2023, the company shipped the Phobos Mining System to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and has also partnered with NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to study the Martian moons, Phobos and Deimos.{{Cite journal |last1=Dyne |first1=Dylan Van |last2=Zacny |first2=Kris |last3=Thomas |first3=Lisa |last4=Paulsen |first4=Gale |last5=Lam |first5=Sherman |last6=Williams |first6=Hunter J. |last7=Sabahi |first7=Dara |last8=Chu |first8=Philip |last9=Spring |first9=Justin |last10=Satou |first10=Yasutaka |last11=Kato |first11=Hiroki |last12=Sawada |first12=Hirotaka |last13=Usui |first13=Tomohiro |last14=Fujimoto |first14=Masaki |last15=Imada |first15=Takane |date=2021-04-07 |title=Pneumatic Sampler (P-Sampler) for the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210013273 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Honeybee Robotics Ships Phobos Mining System to JAXA |website=Honeybee Robotics |url=https://www.honeybeerobotics.com/news-events/honeybee-robotics-ships-phobos-mining-system-to-jaxa/ |access-date=2023-08-06}}

On May 19, 2023, Honeybee Robotics' parent company, Blue Origin, won a $3.4 Billion contract to build a Moon lander and additional spacecraft for NASA's Artemis program. The team, led by Blue Origin, is a partnership between Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.{{Cite web |title=SLD National Team |url=https://www.blueorigin.com/blue-moon/sld-national-team |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Blue Origin |language=en-US}}

Image:Rock-abrasion-tool.jpg Mars Rover|233x233px]]Honeybee Robotics has particular expertise in developing and operating small mechanical tools used on Mars missions. Some of the company's robotic devices that have been used on Mars include:

• The Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT) instruments used on both Mars Exploration Rovers{{cite web|url=http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/825/touch-and-go-days|title=Touch and Go Days - Astrobiology Magazine|date=7 February 2004|website=astrobio.net|access-date=2 June 2016}}
• The Icy Soil Acquisition Device (ISAD), sometimes called the "Phoenix Scoop",{{cite web|url=http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/isad.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602091925/http://honeybeerobotics.com/isad.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 June 2008|title=Sample Processing, Manipulation & Containment|website=honeybeerobotics.com |access-date=2 June 2016}} a soil scoop and a precision ice-sampling tool successfully demonstrated on the 2008 Mars Phoenix Lander mission
• The Sample Manipulation System and Dust Removal Tool used on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which landed in August 2012[https://web.archive.org/web/20090320130508/http://msl-scicorner.jpl.nasa.gov/Instruments/SAM/ NASA.gov] {{PD-notice}}

The company is now helping design instruments for NASA's VIPER rover.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-03 |title=Watch NASA Build Its First Robotic Moon Rover - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/viper/watch-nasa-build-its-first-robotic-moon-rover/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |language=en-US}}

Honeybee Robotics develops systems for future planet missions that will explore the Solar System including Mars,K. Zacny, G. Paulsen, K. Davis, E. Mumm, and S. Gorevan, [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/captem/msr2008/presentations/Zacny.pdf Honeybee Robotics Planetary Sample Acquisition, Transfer and Processing Technologies], presented at Mars Sample Return 2008, Lunar and Planetary Science Institute Venus, the Moon, two Jovian moons, an asteroid,Derek Sears, Carl Allen, Dan Britt, Don Brownlee, Melissa Franzen, Leon Gefert, Stephen Gorovan, Carle Pieters, Jeffrey Preble, Dan Scheeres and Ed Scott, "The Hera mission: multiple near-earth asteroid sample return" Advances in Space Research, Volume 34 Issue 11, 2004, pp. 2270-2275 {{doi|10.1016/j.asr.2003.05.059}} and a cometS. Gorevan, I. Yachbes, P. Bartlett, K.Zacny, G. L. Paulsen, T. Kennedy, B. Basso, and J. Wilson, "[http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/recon2006/pdf/3022.pdf Comet and Asteroid Sample Acquisition, Containerization, and Transfer for Sample Return]" presented at Spacecraft Reconnaissance of Asteroid and Comet Interiors (2006) among others. The company has partnered with Bigelow Aerospace to develop a preliminary design for a solar array deployment mechanism that was used on the solar arrays of Bigelow's Genesis inflatable space habitat. Terrestrial projects include developing mechanisms, installations, and systems for a broad array of clients including Con Edison, the U.S. Navy, Coca-Cola, Nike, and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.{{cite web|url=http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/mission.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060326185825/http://www.honeybeerobotics.com/mission.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 March 2006|title=Our mission|publisher=Honeybee Robotics|access-date=2 June 2016}}

In December, 2022, NASA awarded Honeybee Robotics a contract to provide several systems for the upcoming Mars Sample Return mission. These include the Capture, Containment, and Retrieval System (CCRS), Earth Entry System (EES), and Spin Eject Mechanism (SEM).{{Cite web |last=Adkins |first=Jamie |date=2022-11-22 |title=NASA Awards Contract for Mars Sample Return Systems |url=http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-contract-for-mars-sample-return-systems |access-date=2022-12-11 |website=NASA}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|http://www.honeybeerobotics.com}}
• [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/robomars/pdf/6095.pdf Mars robot PDF]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090814053237/http://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/video/honeybee.html NASA]

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Category:Aerospace companies of the United States

Category:Robotics companies of the United States

Category:Technology companies established in 1983

Category:manufacturing companies based in New York City

Category:Companies based in Brooklyn