It was not surprising that Calmont Wire & Cable was contacted when the difficult task of designing the wire and cable for the Space Shuttle Orbiter Robotic Arm was required. Calmont’s engineering challenge involved designing a series of cables that would allow freedom of movement across critical joints. Equally important was providing cables attaching to precision strain gauges monitoring the load. Calmont’s experience with building high reliability robotic cables, coupled with years of aerospace and military experience, facilitated the design of a series of cables that are still in use today. By designing a cable utilizing an extremely high strand conductor, along with the careful consideration to cable geometry, Calmont was able to effectively reduce the torque across the critical joints of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Robotic Arm.
