O is for Optical Analysis System: Inventions by Women

Ellen Ochoa (1958-)

Image Credit: NASA

Ever wonder about robotically manufactured products or how a robot is guided during an operation?

While working on her doctorate in electrical engineering, exploring lasers and holograms, Ellen Ochoa co-invented an Optical Analysis System that could detect imperfections in repeating patterns.It allowed seeing an image close up within an image. The invention could be used in processes where consistency in patterns and detecting the slightest deviation were critical.
 
Patented in 1987, this system is used today in quality control operations, for inspection of equipment, and manufacture of intricate parts, via a robot controlled manufacturing process and robot controlled guidance system. The potential civilian, military and medical use has been endless. For example, in space on Mars, finding the right spot with a video camera for the spacecraft to safely land . . . or in surgery (as below). Two more related Optical Analysis Systems were also patented. 

Robotic surgery

Ellen Ochoa is mostly revered as the first Hispanic female astronaut to enter space; when she flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1993. Selected by NASA in 1990, she became the first Hispanic female astronaut in history in 1991. Since then she has flown on four space missions and clocked more than 978 hours in space. Today she is Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Ellen with her crew for the mission STS-110 (NASA)

Early on, Ellen was a star student in California, where she grew up. Graduating at the top of her class in high school, she went on to earn a degree in physics. She had been discouraged from the field of engineering, when told it was not for women, but Ellen had come from a family not unaccustomed to adversity or discrimination. Her grandparents had emigrated from Mexico and often dealt with discrimination against Hispanics, as did her parents. The only way to deal with it was through persistence and education, something highly regarded in her family. Ellen went on to obtain an advanced degree in electrical engineering from Stanford. She is also a classical flutist and private pilot.


Ellen has received numerous awards over the years. NASA awards: Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal and four Space Flight Medals. Other awards include the Hispanic Engineer Albert Baez Award for Outstanding technical Contribution to Humanity and Time magazine's Scientist of the Year.




Sources:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ochoa.html; http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blochoa.htm
http://smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/impacto/graphic/ellen/biography.html
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Conference-seeks-to-solve-problems-plaguing-5943676.php
http://mag.amazing-kids.org/non-fiction/interviews/amazing-mentor/amazing-mentor-interview-with-dr-ellen-ochoa/
http://invent.answers.com/famous-inventors/what-invention-makes-ellen-ochoa-a-famous-inventor
http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=Ellen_Ochoa_2010