Pain is the body's early warning system. AstraQua is creating such a system for robots.

Los Angeles, October 21, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- AstraQua Inc is a physical AI company. The company stated that NASA has granted it a second-phase contract worth $1,274,990 to advance the application of its AstraSense technology in electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, including advanced air traffic applications.

The company stated that physical AI must place safety at the core. Robots may know where to go and what to do, but do they know whether their health status is sufficient to complete the task?

According to AstraQua, AstraSense is driven by its "proxy physical AI" – Adaptive Quorum Foundation Model. It can provide predictive health monitoring and self-perception capabilities for autonomous systems, and has already been implemented on robotic hardware. The company claims that in the first phase of the project, AstraQua demonstrated real-time diagnostic and predictive health capabilities to NASA.

The company stated that as autonomous aircraft fly over populated areas more frequently, their ability to understand and respond to their own health status becomes crucial for safe operation.

The company stated that the second-phase project will build upon the aforementioned demonstrations to advance aircraft integration and reasoning based on health status, and will carry out verification and validation for safety-critical applications. The goal is to help machines use their own health information to decide whether to continue performing tasks, make adjustments, or stop.

"Robots should know when to slow down, rather than waiting until they are broken to realize it."AstraQua Founder and CEO Loay Elbasyouni stated.This is what we mean by enabling robots to perceive pain: using their own health status to make better and safer decisions in real-time environments.

For AstraSense, the company states that "self-perception" means understanding the state of one's own machine system. When multiple machines work together, sharing health information helps to provide a basis for decision-making for the entire group.

The company stated that AstraSense provides this health perception capability within the more extensive software “brain” of AstraQua, which is designed to connect perception, onboard reasoning, and collaboration between different types of robots. The company compares it to a robot “asking for sick leave”: when a robot’s condition limits its working ability, the team should recognize this change and assign the appropriate unfinished tasks to another capable robot.

The company gave an example stating that in industrial inspection scenarios, drones can conduct surveys of the site, while ground robots inspect equipment. If one of the ground robots needs to stop working, another robot with suitable capabilities can take over its remaining tasks, allowing the drone to continue with its work. The goal is to help the mixed robot team adapt to changes and complete common tasks together.

AstraQua emphasizes low-power onboard intelligence, reduces reliance on continuous cloud connectivity, and takes into account the health status and operational limitations of each machine when making decisions. The aircraft project funded by NASA is part of this broader effort to advance AstraSense and to help autonomous systems work together collaboratively.

The company introduction states that Elbasyouni has been involved in creating the history of Mars aviation. He was responsible for supporting the electrical and power electronics work of NASA's InSight Mars helicopter; InSight is the first vehicle to achieve powered controlled flight on another planet. Subsequently, he also worked on rocket engine avionics at Blue Origin. The company mentions that he was selected for The Los Angeles Times' Studios list of 2026 Aerospace and Defense Business Visionaries. At AstraQua, he is applying these experiences to physical AI, helping autonomous machines understand their own status and make safer decisions.

The company stated that Elbasyouni is available for interviews, with topics including robot self-perception, the hardware demonstration of AstraSense, collaboration between autonomous teams, and expansion into the field of advanced air traffic.

About AstraQua

AstraQua develops proxy-type physical AI to assist autonomous machines in perceiving, reasoning, adapting, and collaborating in aerial, terrestrial, maritime, and space environments. The company states that its technology is designed to help intelligent machines work together under both continuously connected and intermittently connected conditions. The company operates businesses in California and Kentucky.

Media and interview contact: