AstraQua wins $1.3M NASA contract to give robots a sense of 'pain'

What the NASA contract covers

According to AstraQua, the Los Angeles-based company received the Phase II award to push AstraSense further into aircraft use. AstraSense is powered by what the company calls its Agentic Physical AI, the Adaptive Quorum Foundation Model. The company says the system provides predictive health and operational self-awareness for autonomous systems and already runs on robotic hardware.

In Phase I, AstraQua says it demonstrated real-time diagnostics and predictive-health capabilities to NASA. Phase II builds on those demonstrations by advancing aircraft integration and health-informed reasoning, with verification and validation for safety-critical applications. The stated goal is to help machines use their own health information to decide whether to continue a task, adapt or stop.

The company frames the need around safety: as autonomous vehicles increasingly fly over populated areas, their ability to understand and respond to their own health becomes critical to safe operation.

Teaching robots to 'feel pain'

AstraQua describes the concept as a warning system for machines, comparable to pain in the body. Founder and CEO Loay Elbasyouni put it this way: "A robot should know when to slow down, not just when it has broken down." He added: "That's what we mean by teaching robots to feel pain: using their own health to make better, safer decisions in real time."

For AstraSense, self-awareness means understanding the condition of a machine's own systems. The company says AstraSense sits within a broader software brain designed to connect perception, onboard reasoning and collaboration across different types of robots.

Robots that 'call in sick'

AstraQua also applies the idea to teams of machines. When robots work together, sharing health information can help inform decisions across the group. The company uses the image of a robot "calling in sick": when its condition limits its ability to work, the team should recognize the change and assign suitable unfinished tasks to another capable machine.

The release gives an industrial inspection example. Drones survey a site while ground robots inspect equipment. If one ground robot needs to stop, another suitably equipped robot could take over its remaining tasks while the drones continue. The aim is to help mixed teams of robots adapt and complete a shared mission.

According to the company, its approach emphasizes low-power onboard intelligence, reduced dependence on continuous cloud connectivity, and decisions that account for each machine's health and operating limits.

The team and what it means

Elbasyouni led electrical and power-electronics work supporting NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, described in the release as the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. He later led rocket-engine avionics at Blue Origin and was named among LA Times Studios' 2026 Aerospace & Defense Business Visionaries. AstraQua has operations in California and Kentucky.

For the aviation and robotics market, the contract signals NASA funding for health-aware autonomy aimed at safety-critical flight. The source does not give deployment dates or performance figures, so how quickly AstraSense could reach aircraft remains open. The Phase II focus on verification and validation points to safety assurance as the next step.