Elijah Bales - Army Strong Stories

TATRC AIAD Day 25 - DBC At Its Finest

Elijah Bales — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:55:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Good afternoon, I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the week. Today was a day at the office collecting all of my thoughts and preparing everything for my departure tomorrow. During the day, I was able to work on my internship outbrief and collect information and write portions of some research topics that may be available in the immediate future for small businesses to submit proposals on. I believe this is one small way to make a difference; I have the opportunity to take...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 24 - Robot Soldier: A Highly Debated Question

Elijah Bales — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:52:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Wednesday was another travel day. Not to the beach this time, but instead to Westminster, MD and General Dynamics Robotic Systems (GDRS) in particular. During our visit we were briefed on the current capabilities of the military’s autonomous navigation systems and were able to view some of the design, manufacturing, and testing facilities for various autonomous vehicles. We also discussed the future of autonomous vehicles and where GDRS sees the technology going....read more

TATRC AIAD Day 22 & 23

Elijah Bales — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:47:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
I would like to start off by saying that I am sorry for getting behind and being late on the last few posts. But everything should be back on schedule now. We spent Monday and Tuesday this week travelling to view the presentation and final testing of a new military specific prosthetic. Unfortunately our travels took us to Ocean City, MD and the beach! It was a tough few days of work, but we managed to make it through. This trip was just another example of a great...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 26 - Last Day

Elijah Bales — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:54:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
As I am leaving for home this afternoon, this will be my final post on this blog while I am at TATRC. Today I gave my final outbrief covering the summation of my internship, what I have learned, and how I will use it for future research and project development. Now it is time to go home and relax some before school starts back in a few weeks. I would just like to say thank you to all who have been involved with this internship and all that you have allowed me to do;...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 18 & 19

Elijah Bales — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:30:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
The past two days have been great, I have been able to have a lot of fun as well as get quite a bit of work done. Yesterday we visited the engineering labs at the University of Maryland and were able to see some of the work being done on actuators with magneto-rheological fluids, pneumatically actuated motors, and piezoelectric materials. I have done a little bit of reading on some of these and had a class on them, but it was awesome to see some of their applications. It...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 16 & 17

Elijah Bales — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 00:59:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Good Afternoon, I hope everyone enjoyed the long 4th of July weekend and were able to stay somewhat cool. I have been having some computer issues lately, but thanks to the IT guys at TATRC I am back up and running. Yesterday was a day to remember in a summer to remember. We were given the opportunity to visit the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Focusing specifically on the DARPA Arm technology and the future for prosthesis control, I was...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 11

Elijah Bales — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:46:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Good Evening, Yesterday was a fairly slow day compared to today and Tuesday. We had an interview in the morning with the Frederick News Post discussing my internship with TATRC and this years West Point Bionic Foot program. Following the interview I was able to do some work on research and design. After work, I joined the TATRC softball team for a double header in the Ft. Detrick softball league. On Tuesday I visited the Orthotics and Prosthetics Lab at WRAMC and was able...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 9

Elijah Bales — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 22:10:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Hello, As we shift from prosthetics in the past to the current standard of care for amputees, today we visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center and spent the day in the Orthotics and Prosthetics Lab. This provided me with the chance to learn the process that an amputee will undergo; from making and sizing the first check socket, to making the carbon fiber socket, and to adjusting the prosthetic based on patient feedback and prosthetist analysis. On top of learning the process,...read more

TATRC AIAD Day 7

Elijah Bales — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:22:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Good Evening, Today was a good start to the week and a very productive Monday. All morning I was able to conduct research and increase my knowledge of the current prosthetic devices being produced; from dynamic sockets to active ankle-knee prosthetics. It was very beneficial to learn of the new ideas in the prosthetics world and think about where it might be going in the near future. This opportunity allowed me to generate some of my own ideas for research topics...read more

From the Beginning

Elijah Bales — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:17:00 GMT

By: Elijah Bales
Good Evening, My internship and research with the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) at Ft. Detrick, MD began this week. After meeting many of the employees and learning about the mission, organization, and capabilities of TATRC in general we began to focus on prosthetics. Working with Mr. Troy Turner, the advanced prosthetics portfolio manager, and his team of Ashley Fisher and Jason Ghannadian we started by focusing on the past and the...read more