Soft Mate Lifting Device

Cranes for lifting and lowering heavy objects are an important and sometimes essential tool in modern industries such as construction, transportation, and manufacturing. NASA uses overhead and mobile cranes for assembly of load lines employed in full-scale testing of its Space Launch System (SLS), a super-heavy-lift launch vehicle for deep space human space exploration. Structural testing of the SLS requires precision placement of heavy objects with soft contact during mating connections, which proved to be problematic with the relatively coarse control available with motor-driven overhead cranes and the existing rigging devices.