Description The miniaturization of electronic circuits revolutionized computers and consumer electronics and led to the dawn of the information age. Similarly, the miniaturization of mechanical systems is expected to launch revolutions in areas such as medicine, space exploration, and surveillance. Small mobile machines could one day perform noninvasive microsurgery, miniaturized rovers could greatly reduce the cost of planetary missions, and tiny surveillance vehicles could carry equipment und ...

Mars Exporation Rover, 2004, press kit at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/merlandings.pdf. Meinel, H.H., “ Commercial applications of millimeter waves: history, present status, and future trends,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, v 43, n 7 pt 2, July 1995, p 1639-1653. Miller, R., E.; Nazarov, E., G.; Eiceman, G., A. and King, T., A., “A MEMS radio-frequency ion mobility spectrometer for chemical vapor detection,” Sensors and Actuators, A 91, 2001, pp. 301-312. N ...

A Jet-Powered PDA for Astronauts Jun. 10, 2004 By Noah Shachtman Wired News It's shaped like a basketball. It was inspired by Spock's tricorder. And, if NASA researchers have their way, it could be helping out astronauts aboard the International Space Station in as little as three years. The Personal Satellite Assistant is a robot prototype designed to buzz around the space station, performing a variety of jobs for astronauts and mission controllers: monitoring life-support systems, keep ...

John Zarnecki favours an aerial mission but he also rather likes the idea of combining it with a mini-rover. The airship would first survey the most interesting sites and then unleash a wheeled vehicle to get in amongst those pebbles. "I definitely want to go back," he said. "I'd love to see the lakes that must be there some times - lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. I'd love to see a lake with some gentle waves lapping on the shore. "These physical processes are so familiar on Earth but we've never seen them in a different parameter space - one-seventh gravity with liquid methane instead of water. It would be mind-blowing." The $3.2bn Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint venture between the US space agency (Nasa), the European Space Agency (Esa) and the Italian Space Agency (Asi).

A Testbed for Mars Precision Landing Experiments by Emulating Spacecraft Dynamics on a Model Helicopter By Srikanth Saripalli and Gaurav S. Sukhatme, Robotics Embedded Systems Laboratory, Department of Computer Science University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pages 2097-2102, EPFL, Switzerland, Oct 2002 Please visit the web site to view the article in its entirety. Abstract We propose the use ...

AERCam Sprint AERCam (Autonomous Extra-vehicular Robotic Camera) is a prototype of a small, hand deployed and captured, remote controled inspection tool that could be used for remote inspections of the exterior of the International Space Station and of the Space Shuttle. The AERCam Sprint free-flyer is a 35.5 cm diameter, 17 kg sphere that contains two television cameras, an avionics system and 12 small nitrogen gas-powered thrusters. The sphere, which looks like an oversized soccer ball, was ...

AM: One proposal for landing on Mars involves highly redundant units which spring from a kind of mother pod, then go about some sort of sharing of data as they fan out over the landscape. Is this a model that has been tried for other problems here on Earth before? For instance, in exploring other extreme environments? KF: I am not aware of any such studies focusing particularly on extreme environments, but the use of a 'sensor web' of many relatively simple sensors to collect data in a complex ...

Kuipers, B. and Byun, Y. 1991. A robot exploration and mapping strategy based on semantic hierarchy of spatial representations. Journal of Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 8:47–63. Leonard, J.J. and Durrant-Whyte, H.F. 1991. Simultaneous map building and localization for an autonomous mobile robot. In IEEE 1991 International Workshop on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Osaka, Japan, vol. 3, pp. 1442–1447. Lumelsky, V., Mukhopadhyay, S., and Sun, K. 1989. Sensor-based terrain acquisition: The “s ...

ANTS Architecture and AI Concepts The Autonomous NanoTechnology Swarm (ANTS) Architecture is well suited to near term applications for use as Addressable Reconfigurable Technology (ART). Of particular relevance here is the application of the architecture for monitoring of remote or hazardous areas in the terrestrial environment. Basic structural components are highly modular, addressable arrays of robust nodes, from which highly reconfigurable struts, acting as supports or tethers, or even fo ...

ASTEP The Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) is teaming up with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) to work on a proposal under NASA’s Astrobiology Science and Technology Experiment Program (ASTEP), to develop technologies enabling autonomous planetary sample collection by merging NASA-supported robotics technologies with advanced autonomous undersea vehicles. The Technology Development for Autonomous Sampling and Return Missions project will demonstrate the integrated system by performi ...

Astronaut reference flying robot A free-flying robot has great potential for servicing future large space facilities due to its wide service region and flexible maneuverability. A study on astronaut reference flying robots (ARFR) that accomplishes various jobs in the manner of an astronaut with a propulsion unit has been conducted. In order to study motion control of such activities as flight maneuver, target capturing, space-walking, walking on truss by arms, an experimental model which operat ...

Technology and Mission Relevance Technology: Sensor-based, self-reconfiguring robotic control and modular mobility synthesis providing access to high-value, high-risk science locations. Advances key areas of on-board autonomy and planetary mobility. Enterprise Applications: Space Science: Enables access to high-risk locations such as escarpments, fissures, breakout channels, cliffs etc. that have high-value to science missions (cf. recent JPL Team X studies). HEDS: Enables task-adaptive ro ...

Autonomous Spacecraft Free-Flying Robots Autonomous Spacecraft Free-Flying Robots are being developed to provide flexible, close-range mobile sensing inside and outside of in-space vehicles, stations, and potential space facilities, such as fuel depots and power generation stations. This mobile remote sensing capability provides astronauts, ground personnel, and onboard spacecraft systems a data-rich virtual presence wherever it is needed for performing a variety of tasks including inspect ...

In all these areas, robots can augment astronauts' capabilities, and the human-robot team can do what neither people nor machines could do by themselves, according to scientists. "Last year, our main objective was to test the mobile agent system while people and a robotic assistant explored the desert," Clancey said, discussing the 2004 spring desert tests. "During Apollo missions to the moon, astronauts continuously talked with mission control in Houston. But during our test, each person carr ...

Big Wheels Inflatable Rover The general purpose of designing a large, lightweight, inflatable rover is to allow the rover to travel over rocks instead of around them, as present planetary rovers are required to do. This can greatly increase a rover’s versatility, speed, and range. It has been estimated that in the 5% rockiest regions of Mars, approximately 1% of the surface is covered by rocks of 0.5 m or higher. Early tests with scale models of inflatable rovers showed that this type of vehic ...

Boeing ScanEagle UAV Completes Sea Trials Aboard U.S. Navy Ship Jul 12, 2005 DefenseTalk St Louis: ScanEagle, a long-endurance fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Boeing and The Insitu Group, has successfully completed sea trials aboard the USS Cleveland as part of the U.S. Navy-sponsored 2005 Joint Task Force Exercise. The two week exercise off the San Diego coast tested and evaluated the battle group's reaction to multiple wartime scenarios, and is the final cer ...

Both Robots Experience Minor Glitches 30 March 2004 SPACE.com Sol 85 was a tense day for Spirit's mission managers. After the team sent the day's commands to Spirit, they waited for the standard "beep" that confirms the sequence reached Spirit and was activated. This beep, and an expected one 10 minutes later, were not acquired, and engineers proceeded to trouble-shoot what might have gone wrong. No errors could be found, and finally a successful afternoon Odyssey communications pass provi ...

Bow Leg Hopper Head: H. Benjamin Brown Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Associated lab/group: Mobile Robot Programming Lab Project Description The bow leg hopper is a novel locomotor design with a highly resilient leg that resembles an archer's bow. During flight, a "thrust" actuator adds elastic energy to the leg, which is automatically released during stance to control hopping height. Lat ...

About Brachiation-Bot Brachiation bot was a radically different, high-risk, open-loop design. It consists of two grippers mounted together on a pivot at each “wrist”. Brachiation bot (or “Brachy bot”) is intended to traverse the mesh using a monkey-like swinging gait (brachiation). As this design was secondary to MRE V2, the Webcrawler, the Brachiation bot was built as a quick-and-dirty prototype, actually constructed and tested in less than a week. Due to a limit in the range of motion, a different gait is initially used to move the next gripper forward in an inchworm-like crawl.

Budget ax falls on lunar probe 11/23/2004 By John Kelly, Florida Today USA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL — Politics, Texas-style, led to NASA and its shuttle program getting their best treatment in decades from Congressional budget writers. Behind the scenes arm-twisting by two Texans in high places — President Bush and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay — won NASA almost all of the money the space agency asked for in 2005 and morale-boosting job security for thousands of shuttle workers in Texas and ...

Alison Harris, a senior majoring in physics, agrees that the actual fabrication of the robot has given them the most trouble, but she feels the extra challenge has provided her with a truly rewarding experience. "Trying to find the parts and pieces and getting the robot to function the way we want it to has been very challenging…But seeing it go from an idea to actually functioning has been very rewarding. When I think about everything we've done so far, it's amazing to see how much progress we ...

Canada plays critical role in shuttle mission July 12, 2005 CTV.ca They're both made in Canada -- one that works like a giant dental mirror and the other a sophisticated laser camera-- and Discovery wouldn't be blasting off without them. The inspection boom and the specialized camera will be deployed in flight to help the crew examine every centimetre of the shuttle during the first NASA shuttle mission since Columbia blew up in 2003, killing all seven aboard. MDA Ltd. in Brampton, Ont., t ...

Canadarm2 The Canadarm2, or Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) is a new generation Canadarm, the first component of the Mobile Servicing System (MSS) was launched on STS-100 early in the station's assembly sequence. Canadian Astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield performed two EVA's or space walks to assemble Canadarm2 on-orbit. The station arm has the new capability to move around the station's exterior like an inchworm. Each end of the arm is equipped with a specialized mechanism called ...

Canadian device gives shuttle safety a boost July 11, 2005 By MATHEW INGRAM The Globe and Mail In addition to the original Canadarm, the next space shuttle to launch will also carry a specialized version of the arm -- one that might have helped to save the crew of the shuttle Columbia who were killed when it exploded just a few minutes away from its landing on Feb. 1, 2003. At the very least, Canadian Space Agency director Marc Garneau said, the new arm might have helped alert NASA to the ...

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Technology Drivers & NASA Mission Benefits This work will enable future access to high-value science at high-risk locations, such as planetary/lunar escarpments, fissures, breakout channels and cliffs. More generally, the underlying development of on-board autonomous "behavior-based" controls and state estimation technology will lead to a next generation of highly adaptive, survivable mobile systems for all-terrain exploration and multi-task planetary applications. A fundamentally new class ...

Components for Proposed Space Robot Headed for Lab Tests 11 October 2004 By BEN IANNOTTA Space News Correspondent SPACE.com SUMMERLAND KEY, Fla. — The United States is preparing to conduct its first laboratory tests of the sensors, grappling devices and software that a proposed roving military space robot would need in order to attach itself to other satellites to move them, repair them or dispose of them, said officials familiar with the effort. The proposed Spacecraft for the Universal M ...

DARPA Mobile Autonomous Robot Software (MARS) DARPA MOBILE AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SOFTWARE (MARS) Metrics and Performance NIST is developing metrics, measures, data, and analysis methods to quantitatively evaluate component technologies and integration strategies in order to accelerate the development of intelligent behaviors in unmanned vehicle systems. Our main thrust areas are the following: 1. Task Analysis for Driving Task decomposition and path planning methods and algorithms ...

DART Imagine you are sitting at a console remotely controlling a robot with a hand controller. Your job as a robot operator is to insert or extract an electronic box from a rack. The console has multiple CRT screens, each with a different camera view. Additional views may be multiplexed onto these screens by pressing the appropriate buttons. Sometimes the available camera views are inadequate and the cameras must be repositioned by another set of hand controllers. You move slowly and cautiously ...

18. Dotson R. D., 1995, ‘‘Spacecraft Deployable Structure Testing,’’ Space Systems Design and Development Testing ~AGARD-CP-561!. AGARD. 1995, pp. 6/1–12. Neuilly Sur Seine, France. 19. Gantes, C., Connor, J., and Logcher, R. D., 1989, ‘‘Structural Analysis and Design of Deployable Structures,’’ Comput. Struct., 32~3/4!, pp. 661–669. 20. Meguro, A., Mitsugi, J., and Ando, K., 1993, ‘‘A Modular Cable-mesh Deployable Structure for Large Scale Satellite Communication Antennas,’’ Trans. Inst. ...

Grunsfeld was not on the speaker's list handed out to conference attendees. The astronaut said O'Keefe had wanted to come, "to look all of you in the eyes" and explain the earlier decision not to return to Hubble. But the NASA chief was unavailable, having been called to speak before a Bush commission designed to set a course for meeting the new human spaceflight goals. Astronomers have been concerned that O'Keefe's decision was not just about safety but was made to help shift the agency's cour ...

Did NASA space robot dodge disaster? By: James Oberg November 9, 2004 MSNBC News HOUSTON - NASA’s plans to test the technology for an automated rendezvous in space may have been doomed from the start, the SpaceRef Web site reported Tuesday. The payload, called DART, might have become crippled before it even reached outer space. A NASA announcement (http://www1.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/nov/HQ_m04179_dart_delay.html) on Monday merely stated that "a review of projected loads data, or the G-f ...

Distributed Robot Architectures (DIRA) Heads: Sanjiv Singh and Reid Simmons Contact: Reid Simmons (reids@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI Project Description The primary objective of this project is to develop fundamental capabilities that enable multiple, distributed, heterogeneous robots to coordinate tasks that cannot be accomplished by the robots individually. The ba ...

Doubts raised about robots fixing Hubble Dec. 9, 2004, 3:23PM By MARK CARREAU Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle The nation's most prominent science advisers Wednesday urged NASA to send shuttle astronauts instead of robots on a repair mission to the aging Hubble telescope because humans have a substantially greater chance of fixing it. The congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences became the second independent panel in as many days to raise significant doubts about the robotic r ...

Endless Summer? August 09, 2004 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Martian Winter Moving In Both Mars Exploration Rovers are fighters, beating the count a handful of times on Earth and on Mars. Having flown in the face of "old age" and impending demise, Spirit and Opportunity might also be able to resist the reduction of direct sunlight and Mother Nature’s minions of martian winter clouds. With the help of software and imagination, the rovers will not be scrambling aimlessly for their last tan; ...

Entomopters, flying bugs on Mars You like butterflies and insects? You love robotic creatures? You dream about Mars exploration? Meet the "entomopters", a brand new kind of small flying robots. Created for the sole purpose of exploring planet Mars in the near future, entomopters are supposed to go where conventionnal rovers cannot go. Ressembling four wings butterflies, the entomopters will be able to crawl or fly over the surface of Mars, while gathering scientific information. The plan is ...

ERA Extra-Vehicular Activity Robotic Assistant The Extra-Vehicular Activity Robotic Assistant (ERA) is a wheeled robot used as a test bed for research into the requirements for successful collaboration between suited astronauts and autonomous robots. Through close partnership with the Advanced Spacesuit Lab at NASA-JSC, this robot participates in periodic field exercises with suited test subjects, where the human and robot work together to conduct space-relevant scenarios. The results of these ...

EVA Robotic Assistant NASA Johnson Space Center Dave Kortenkamp (Metrica/JSC) Abstract Intelligent mobile systems for human-robot teaming can aid surface exploration, space construction, and other extravehicular activities. The robots must be sufficiently agile, dexterous, and robust to be a help rather than a hindrance. This research task will develop autonomous or teleoperated robots with intelligent behaviors, including planning, parts assembly, and self-monitoring, diagnosis, and reco ...

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Exploring hidden campus technology Dec 13, 2004 By Tom Howell Jr. Staff writer DiamondbackOnline.com As cars file toward Comcast Center down Regents Drive each game day, a quick detour down Technology Drive would present NASA robotics, disease prevention systems and a Hubble Telescope model in a 367,000-gallon tank of crystal blue water. Many students, however, may not have the chance to visit Technology Drive, an actual street nestled in the northeast sector of the campus. Nonscience ...

AM: What kinds of sensors or scientific equipment do you imagine being able to put on these things? PB: Imaging is clearly something that we would like to do. As cameras become incredibly tiny and robust, there are already units in the size range that could be mounted on these things. Possibly some of the units could be fitted with magnification capability, so one could look at the textures of the materials that they are landing on. Integrating images taken by tiny cameras on lots of different ...

Research Projects - The Feature CMAC Overview: The Feature CMAC is a neural network architecture for visual pose estimation. The system learns the mapping from patterns of features in an image to the position and orientation coordinates of a target object in true space. Current Goals: Industrial assembly part pose estimation for robotic fixtureless assembly. Configuration estimation of the Canadarm2 space manipulator. Efficient representation of feature patterns with limited comp ...

Federation of Intelligent Robotic Explorers Project (FIRE) Heads: Reid Simmons, Stephen Smith, Anthony (Tony) Stentz, and Jeff Schneider Contact: Reid Simmons (reids@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated lab/group: Reliable Autonomous Systems Lab Project Description The FIRE Project, part of the NASA Intelligent Systems Program, aims at investigating and understanding fundamental issues in hetero ...

The FIDO rover is JPL's advanced technology rover that supports both current and future robotic missions on the surface of Mars. In particular, the FIDO rover conducts mission relevant field trials that simulate mission operations scenarios and validate rover technology in the areas of rover navigation and control, instrument placement, remote sensing, scientific data collection, intelligent behaviors, telemetry processing, data visualization, and mission operations tools. The FIDO team pursues ...

Floating robots set stage for cosmic choreography December 3, 2004 Planet Quest Under a velvet black dome studded with sparkling stars, a lone figure glides gracefully, tilting and whirling across a shining floor. Instead of music, however, there's the slight hiss of compressed air. Standing about waist high and weighing a chunky 318 kilograms (700 pounds), the rotund robot looks more like something from "Star Wars" than "Shall We Dance?" Yet, as it floats on a paper-thin cushion of air, it i ...

Following the ants into space July 6, 2005 SUMITRA RAJAGOPALAN CBC News Viewpoint Even with no boss around, they toil. Faced with a daunting task, they join forces to form a team. As they plod along, they stay in contact with their colleagues by relaying any new information and leads. They are highly flexible, ready to rethink their strategy if the need arises. If one falls sick, others fill in to ensure that operations are not disrupted. When danger looms, the team is quickly alerted an ...

Free-Flying Space Robots Stanford University's Aerospace Robotics Laboratory has a state of the art research program in free-flying space robotics. ARL has experimentally developed enabling technologies such as object acquisition and manipulation, adaptive identification of unknown payloads, and docking of massive objects by one or more free-flying robots in a free-floating, zero-drag environment. Current research is focused on extending the capabilities of the free-flying space robots to execu ...

"We set out as part of a research program to create a flexible conducting material, but in the beginning we did not know that it would be as good as it is. We were pleasantly surprised," said Claus. "Metal Rubber has high electrical conductivity that is maintained at large strain and over many cycles of strain. In our lab, we have demonstrated strains as high as 300 percent while maintaining electrical conductivity, something other materials with similar conductivities and mechanical properties ...

Project: Graphical Simulation Contact: Corde Lane Description A graphical simulation was developed to allow an operator to visualize the telerobot and worksite in a three-dimensional environment. Several windows are provided to allow simultaneous viewing of multiple views. One stereo and three monoscopic views from over 50 predefined virtual cameras may be selected; views attached to each arm, to the vehicle body, and the worksite improves situational awareness by providing several frame ...

Grumman wins $137M deal December 21, 2004 BY JAMES BERNSTEIN STAFF WRITER Newsday.com NASA announced yesterday that it has handed out over $1 billion in contracts to research organizations, universities, and aerospace companies - including Northrop Grumman Corp. - to design gadgets to help U.S. return to the moon and travel to Mars. Northrop Grumman received $137 million - the most of any contractor - to help fulfill space exploration goals President George Bush announced last January. No ...

PB: Imaging is clearly something that we would like to do. As cameras become incredibly tiny and robust, there are already units in the size range that could be mounted on these things. Possibly some of the units could be fitted with magnification capability, so one could look at the textures of the materials that they are landing on. Integrating images taken by tiny cameras on lots of different little units is one of the areas for future development. That's beyond the scope of this project, but ...

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Integrating Human and Robotic Space Exploration The National Academies Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine OVERVIEW STATEMENT OF TASK The Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and the Space Studies Board will jointly organize a committee to advise NASA as it formulates its long-term strategy for an integrated human and robotic space exploration program in response to the Nation’s Vision for U.S. Space Exploration. The study will consider both the scientific and th ...

Space Robotics - Mobile Servicing System for the International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS), previously known as Alpha and Freedom, is the largest science and engineering project ever undertaken in the history of mankind. Headed up by NASA of the US, this project also counts the Russian Space Agency (RKA), European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Japanese Space Agency (NASDA) as major partners. In a previous collaboration with NASA on the Space Sh ...

More stringent performance requirements have prompted a continuous trend toward variable speed drive, intensifying the relationship between controller and motor. "Our Symetron(TM) technology changes how you design and control the motor, so both the motor and controller are improved," said David West, Raser Technologies' vice president of marketing. (Symetron collectively refers to patent-pending pieces of technology that are selectively applied based on the motor or controller type.) According t ...

K9 Platform, Architecture and Test Facility Overview The goal of the K9 project is to integrate and demonstrate new robotic technologies that will enable NASA to meet the science goals of future Mars missions. NASA Ames scientists accomplish this by developing a robust, mission-relevant rover platform, integrating component autonomy technologies, and testing these in field experiments in Mars-analog terrains and in the Ames outdoor test area, called the Marscape. The K9 rover is a ...

WELCOME TO LEMUR'S PAGE Task Manager: Brett Kennedy. JPL is developing a class of multi-limbed robots called LEMUR (Limbed Excursion Mobile Utility Robot). Equipped with multi-functional tools and multiple cameras, they are intended to inspect and maintain installations beyond mankind’s easy reach. LEMUR System Description LEMUR is a small, agile and capable six-legged walking robot that has been built at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to perform dexterous small-scale assembly, inspectio ...

Life in the Atacama Head: David Wettergreen Contact: David Wettergreen (dsw@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Location: NSH 1202 Phone: (412) 268 3856 Associated center: FRC Project Description Evidence suggests that the interior of the Chilean Atacama Desert, the most arid region on Earth, is lifeless. Yet, where the desert meets the Pacific Coastal Range desiccation-tolerant microorganisms are ...

Lunar Ice Discovery Initiative (Icebreaker) Head: William Red L. Whittaker Contact: William Red L. Whittaker (red@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description The Icebreaker Lunar Ice Discovery Initiative intends to conduct a robotic ground investigation of the southern polar region of the Moon. Searching for wa ...

Lunar, Mars plans move along Nov. 23, 2004 12:00 AM By: Robert S. Boyd, Knight Ridder Newspapers azcentral.com With a green light from Congress, NASA is moving swiftly to carry out President Bush's ambitious plan to return robots and humans to the moon and eventually to Mars. The United States is also seeking foreign partners for the hugely expensive project, hoping to save money and avoid wasteful duplication. Space officials from 17 countries, including China, Russia, Japan and much of ...

Man vs. Machine: Are Robots Getting the Upper Hand in Space Exploration? 20 August 2003 By Tariq Malik SPACE.com Robby the Robot could create anything -- from diamonds to dresses -- for humans living on another world. But he lived on Altair IV in the fictional film Forbidden Planet; not here on Earth where we send some robots to Mars while others serve as toys or vacuum cleaners in human households. Although today's real-life robots may lack Robby's sophistication, they are quite adept as h ...

Manned Space Flights Explore, but with safety July 11, 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer Man or can? What's the best way to explore space? That question will be asked anew Wednesday with the scheduled resumption of America's space shuttle program more than two years after the Columbia disaster. Robots are pretty good in space. They have helped us make many, many of our greatest discoveries. Think of Spirit and Opportunity, the two doughty robot rovers on Mars. They've been there since January ...

Mars Autonomy Heads: Reid Simmons, Sanjiv Singh, and Anthony (Tony) Stentz Contact: Sanjiv Singh (ssingh@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI Project Description To achieve the ambitious science goals of future Mars missions, the accompanying rovers must be highly capable and autonomous. They must be able to navigate, especially between sites, with minimal human interventio ...

Mars Polar Lander: Mars Polar Lander, launched in January 1999, was to be the first-ever landing in the polar regions of Mars, near the southern polar cap. However, communications were lost as the lander began its entry into the Martian atmosphere on December 3, 1999. The lander was equipped with cameras, a robotic arm and instruments to measure the composition of Martian soil. Two small microprobes - the Deep Space 2 technology mission - hitched a ride to Mars on the Lander, with the goal of ...

Mars rovers lift our hearts and minds January 4, 2005 By Charles Elachi Special to the Sentinel Newsday.com The first week of January 2004 was an amazing time for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. As tense engineers and scientists watched from the California lab, a robot rover streaked across the skies of Mars, bounced on airbags 28 times, and came to a stop in a crater on the red planet. Three weeks later, an identical twin rover landed on a plain on the other side of the planet. A year l ...

Martian chronicle December 13, 2004 Toledo Blade THE Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are still doing what they were designed to do almost a year after they touched down on the surface of our nearest planetary neighbor. The scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are delighted that both emissaries from Earth survived the harsh Martian winter with batteries and antennae intact. After initially failing to respond to signals from ground control, Spirit and Opportunity have since excee ...

Messages From Mars: New Findings Change Focus of Future Exploration 05 March 2004 By Leonard David Senior Space Writer SPACE.com The early eye-opening results from NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover mission are helping shape the scope, direction, and timing of future robotic missions to the red planet -- and how soon humans will be Mars bound. The tell-tale clues that Meridiani Planum was water soaked at one time have opened the floodgates of discussion in how best to study Mars in ever-greater ...

Mini AERCam The Autonomous Extravehicular Robotic Camera (AERCam) program is developing a small, free flying vehicle capable of performing inspection and viewing missions in support of International Space Station (ISS) operations. As a free flying camera platform, AERCam could provide additional external views unavailable from ISS or Space Shuttle cameras. It could even be flown to areas around ISS unreachable by suited crewmembers. The anticipated AERCam configuration for a future ISS implem ...

Mission-Level Path Planning for Rover Exploration By Paul TOMPKINS, Anthony STENTZ, William WHITTAKER; The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Proceedings of the 8th Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS-8), March, 2004. Please visit the web site to view the article in its entirety. Abstract We present TEMPEST, an autonomous, energy-cognizant planner for long-range rover navigation. Its purpose is to plan sequences of actions ...

ModBot (1990-) The Modular Robotic Architecture was developed by SSC San Diego as a generic platform control system offering developers a standard set of software and hardware tools that could be used to quickly design modular robotic prototypes with minimum start-up overhead (Smurlo & Laird, 1990). The concept facilitates customization of a testbed system by providing sensor, actuator, and processing modules that can be configured on demand as required by the particular needs of the applicati ...

MORPHbots The vision of the Modular On-Orbit Reconfigurable co-oPerative High-dexterity roBOT (MORPHbots) project is to develop a robotic "tool-kit" that can be self-reconfigured to optimally perform any required operation on-orbit. As the name implies, MORPHbots can transform themselves ("morph") into a variety of alternative configurations to match the needs of any given task. Due to their small size and low mass characteristics, simple manipulators could be mounted on space craft to fill out mass margin left over from the design and development process. There they could be used to deploy appendages, inspect failure sites, or perform repairs from either onboard spares or supplies delivered by a small logistics craft.

Motion Free Scanning Radar Head: Scott Boehmke Contact: Scott Boehmke (skb@cmu.edu) Mailing address: National Robotics Engineering Consortium Ten 40th Street Pittsburgh, PA 15201 Associated centers: FRC and NREC Project Description Autonomous mobile equipment rely on imaging sensors as their primary perception mechanism. These sensors generate terrain elevation maps of the region surrounding the robot. The robot uses these maps to avoid obstacles, to detect task specific targets, a ...

About MRE 2, the Webcrawler This second effort took the experience gained from Yosi and applied it to a new dimension: mesh-crawling. This robot is designed to be able to crawl along a simple rigid mesh structure- the idea being to use these robots for maintenance and repair on large man-made structures in zero-gravity orbit or elsewhere. A main design change compared to V1 is a dedicated custom control board for each leg, which gives us more freedom for exact leg control and placement. T ...

About -Project Overview The Micro-Robot Explorer task is managed by JPL's Mobility Systems Concept Development section and is sponsored by the JPL Advanced Concepts and Technology office. The goal of this task is to further robotics research in the areas of small, lightweight, and versatile advanced mobility robots. This new class of robots may be used in many different applications in the future, ranging from mobile networks of sensors to zero gravity maintenance and repair. -Technical ...

Multimode Proximity Operations Device Full 6DOF motion base Full state feedback through acoustic-based sensor system Probe-drogue docking system On-board cockpit for direct flight control Past achievements: comparison of onboard and remote control of free-flying vehicles; demonstration of Astronaut Support Vehicle concept; test application of adaptive neural network control system; full 6DOF closed-loop control; autonomous approach and docking The lead engineer for MPOD is Glen Henshaw The Multimode Proximity Operations Device (MPOD) is a neutral buoyancy robot that is used to investigate new ways of piloting spacecraft.

Nanorover Technology Miniature Rover for Small Body and Planetary Surface Exploration Task Overview The Nanorover Technology Task is a technology development effort to create very small (10-100s of grams) but scientifically capable robotic vehicles for planetary exploration, which can easily fit within the mass and/or volume constraints of future missions to asteroids, comets, and Mars. The task objective is twofold: to create a useful rover system using current-generation technology incl ...

NASA Developing Robots with Human Traits 05.24.05 John Bluck NASA Ames Research Center Will robots that help astronauts in space be as friendly and likeable as fictional "Star Wars" droid "R2-D2"? NASA researchers envision futuristic robots that 'act' like people to enable these mechanical helpers to work more efficiently with astronauts. "Our goal is not for robots to have the same 'thought process' as humans, but rather for them to act, respond and interact more 'naturally' in ways tha ...

NASA Develops Robust Artificial Intelligence for Planetary Rovers 08.10.04 John Bluck NASA Ames NASA is planning to add a strong dose of artificial intelligence (AI) to planetary rovers to make them much more self-reliant, capable of making basic decisions during a mission. Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, are developing very complex AI software that enables a higher level of robotic intelligence. In the past, very simple artificial in ...

NASA engineers refine Robonaut By Tariq Malik CNN.com August 23, 2004 Not content to simply stand in one place, NASA's mechanical astronaut has found not one, but two new robotic bodies that will allow it to move across land and space. Robonaut B, a robot built with human-like hands and television camera eyes, now has the option of rolling around Earth on a modified two-wheeled Segway scooter or grappling the International Space Station with what researchers call a "space leg." "We built ...

NASA gives researchers millions USC professors from the Information Sciences Services split $58 million. Thursday, December 2, 2004 By Stephanie Hawkins Daily Trojan Three USC professors, from the Information Sciences Institute, were recently awarded a $58 million grant from NASA that will be used toward the development and investigation of three separate projects. The projects, headed by Wei Min Shen, John Damoulakis and Robert Neches, were among 4,000 proposals NASA received. The projec ...

NASA Goes Lunar: Robot Craft, Human Outpost Plans 03 March 2004 By Leonard David Senior Space Writer SPACE.com NASA has begun to plot out its escape route from low Earth orbit, putting itself on a return journey back to the Moon, planting footprints on Mars, and heading off to other targets beyond. In his mid-January space pep rally, President George W. Bush charged the agency with signing up to a new astronautical agenda -- part of which called for extended human missions to the Moon as e ...

NASA IS/AR task: Spacecraft Robot Spacecraft Mobile Robot NASA Ames Research Center Gregory Dorais (ARC/IC) Yuri Gawdiak (ARC/IC) Abstract Many housekeeping chores in space could be attended to by a small mobile robot. The Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) is to be a softball-sized astronaut support device that can monitor environmental factors, document routine events, detect failures, and help with maintenance operations. The prototype system uses commercial components and software, p ...

NASA moves ahead with Bush's space plan Sat, Nov. 27, 2004 By Robert S. Boyd Washington Bureau The Sun News WASHINGTON - With a green light from Congress, NASA is moving swiftly to carry out President Bush's plan to return robots and humans to the moon and eventually to Mars. The United States also is seeking foreign partners for the project, hoping to save money and avoid wasteful duplication. Space officials from 17 countries, including China, Russia, Japan and much of Europe, participa ...

NASA Selects Contractors for Vision for Space Exploration Studies September 1, 2004 NASA News NASA today awarded the first contracts to conduct preliminary concept studies for human lunar exploration and the development of the crew exploration vehicle. Eleven companies were selected. NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Associate Administrator retired Navy Rear Adm. Craig E. Steidle, said, "These study contracts reflect NASA's new commitment to find the best outside expertise tha ...

Infrared Thermometer: Infrared sensors were developed by NASA for the measurement of the temperature of distant celestial objects. This technology led to the development of an optical sensor thermometer, which provides body temperature readings rapidly when its probe is placed inside the ear canal. This is particularly useful for children and the elderly, where a minimally invasive procedure is preferred. Surgical improvements: JPL has partnered with MicroDexterity Systems Inc. to develop a rob ...

NASA To Test Robot Satellite Seeker By Irene Mona Klotz Oct. 28, 2004 Discoverychannel.com A high-stakes test to determine if a robotic probe can automatically find a satellite and maneuver around it will take place next week off the California coast. After a ride to space aboard an air-launched Pegasus rocket, NASA's Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft will get to work. DART's mission is to see if a robot can handle a task NASA previously has trusted only to astr ...

NASA's robotic moon mission spins wheels - Election results will affect plans BY TODD HALVORSON October 30, 2004 Floridatoday.com CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA's plan to send robotic scouts to the moon in advance of astronauts is starting to take shape, but politics and the presidential election are stalling progress. Congress appears poised to ax most if not all start-up money for an initial lunar mapping mission in 2008 but won't finalize the agency's budget before the election Tuesday. Outs ...

NASA: Intelligent Systems Division at Ames REsearch Center Advanced Autonomy for Rovers Mission Statement The overall objective of this project is to advance the state of the art in ground operations and onboard autonomy for flight rovers. The expected benfits are to enable increased rover productivity and science return without risk to rover safety and to support multi-rover missions and human presence on Mars. The primary near-term goal is to infuse the concept of contingent command sequenc ...

NASA’s Robonaut finally gets its ‘legs’ August 23, 2004 By Tariq Malik, Space.com MSNBC.com Not content to simply stand in one place, NASA's mechanical astronaut has found not one, but two new bodies that will allow it to move across land and space. Robonaut B, a robot built with humanlike hands and television camera eyes, now has the option of rolling around Earth on a modified two-wheeled Segway scooter or grappling the international space station with what researchers call a "space le ...

Research Projects: Network of Rovers (part of ARES) Motivation Robustness of spacecraft in adverse and unknown situations Development of autonomous operation due to distance Advancement of network science Focus Development of Network Robotics The big question is "How can a collection of 'agents' be organized into a coherent whole?" Objectives Vision-based Localization Active Vision Systems Sensor Fusion Mapping and Exploration Path-planning Learning / Evolution Stochastic Networks Tele-operation Ad-hoc Communications Schemes Operating Systems Camera Calibration Battery Distribution Survival Tactics Active Suspension Simulink / Linux Control Development

Next-gen rover to practice searching for life By Alan Boyle MSNBC Updated: 3:02 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2004 Robotics experts are getting a next-generation rover ready to hunt for life in the driest place on Earth. The two-month-long dry run in Chile's Atacama Desert could help set the stage for a similar search someday on Mars. The four-wheeled, solar-powered rover, named Zoë, was created at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It's designed to cover up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) a day, at ...

This sleek model delivers basic inspection and survey information through its internal camera system. Communications from the ROV to the Control Console incorporates a laptop with Windows™ based proprietary software, a proprietary command and control system, and a visual image displayed on a 10"LCD video monitor. Applications include research, maintenance and inspection and waterway emergency response. Key features include: Portable ROV with arcuate wings Proprietary Command and Control soft ...

O'Keefe Still Prefers Robots for Hubble Servicing Mission 24 August 2004 By BRIAN BERGER Space News Staff Writer SPACE.com WASHINGTON — NASA has not ruled out sending astronauts to the Hubble Space Telescope for one final service call, but agency officials made clear that their preference is to do the job with robotic spacecraft. "We agree that servicing by the shuttle should not be ruled out, although we are aggressively pursuing robotic servicing options," NASA spokesman Glenn Mahone sai ...

FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY On-line Terrain Characterization for Mars Rovers Principal Investigator Steven Dubowsky Group Members Chris Brooks, MS student Ibrahim Halatci, MS student Dr. Karl Iagnemma, Research Scientist Motivation Mobile rovers will be a primary platform for studying the surface of Mars during the next several years. Substantial research effort has gone into developing autonomous na ...

Opportunity: Opportunity found the strongest evidence yet that liquid water once existed on the surface of Mars. Scientists believe the rover's Meridiani Planum landing site "was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars." Like it sister rover - Spirit - Opportunity is a full-equipped robot geologist. Both rovers are packed with sensors and cameras that have been revealing Mars in unprecedented detail from microscopic images of rocks to panoramic views of the rocky landscape. Both rovers are ...

The Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) is a robotic assistant for astronauts working in space. The PSA is about the size of a softball and has sensors for measuring gases, temperature, and air pressure. Also, the PSA is able to perform video conferencing and can communicate with electronic support devices such as computer servers, avionics systems, and wireless LAN bridges. Overview The PSA is an astronaut support device designed to move and operate independently in the microgravity environmen ...

Phoenix: Phoenix will land in an ice-rich region on Mars' north pole. The lander will use a robotic arm to dig into the arctic terrain in search of clues to the geologic history of water on Mars. It will also search for evidence of possible habitable zones that could support microbial life. "Even though the northern plains are thought to be too cold now for water to exist as a liquid, periodic variations in the martian orbit allow a warmer climate to develop every 50,000 years," explains Dr. ...

FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Physics-Based Design, Planning, and Control of Robotic Systems in Space Principal Investigator Steven Dubowsky Group Members Chris Brooks, MS student Dr. Karl Iagnemma, Research Scientist Collaborators Drs. Paul Schenker, Terry Huntsberger, Eric Baumgartner, Samaad Hayati, and Rich Volpe, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Introduction Future planetary exploration missions will r ...

Power-Assisted Space Suit Glove The current space suit glove design places a significant encumbrance on common dexterous hand motions due to the tendency of the pressurized glove to return to the preferred neutral orientation. Working against the spring-like restoring torques which arise when the glove is moved from this neutral position is particularly tiring for wrist and forearm muscles, resulting in discomfort and loss of productivity. To combat this fatigue problem, the University of Mary ...

Ranger NBV In the future the demand for space operations is projected to increase dramatically, requiring the development of innovative methods for accomplishing work in space. One method under consideration to meet this demand is the use of robotic systems, with capabilities ranging from simple teleoperation to complete autonomy. The Ranger Neutral Buoyancy Vehicle is designed to demonstrate the ability of a free flying telerobotic system to perform many required operational tasks including E ...

Ranger Robotics Program Engineering arm and right dexterous arm working together 2 June 2003 (update by Walt Smith and Stephen Roderick) In a simulation of the ability of two Ranger dexterous arms to work together, the engineering arm and the right dexterous arm were used to pass a handhold from one arm to another and back again. One of the tasks planned for the next Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission is the changeout of one of HST's three Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS). After a h ...

Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment October 1996 to June 2002 (Current Ranger Program) Program Objectives | Configuration | Control Stations | SSL Home Ranger Simulation Gallery, EVA Mockup, our Test link @ JSC, NGST Relevance (April 1999), and Code S Manifest Priority (April 2001). Ranger TSX Overview The Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment (RTSX) evolved from the Ranger Telerobotic Flight Experiment in October 1996. RTSX intended to demonstrate telerobotic servicing on Internationa ...

With missions and projects such as those, the U.S. can guarantee itself an academic pipeline bursting with the best and the brightest astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, engineers, geologists, and physicists. And they will collectively form a new kind of "missile silo"--filled with intellectual capital--ready to come forward whenever they are called, just as the nation's best and brightest have always come forward in times of need. For the U.S. space program to die along with the crew of the ...

The approaches in any type of new ambition is to orbit, then land, and then traverse, and sometimes sample return. In many of these venues we've already done some of that. No matter what the venue there is an argument for some boldness and ambition. On the moon, there's a tremendous agenda, particularly around the poles and these unique prospects for volatiles. But beyond that, the resource utilization and experiments call for working machines. There are entire scenarios for habitation that are ...

Maria Zuber: I would contend that if you wanted to send a robotic rover to the poles of the moon or Mars that you would need nuclear power. If you wanted to go to the poles of the moon and really do something there, you've got to go into the areas that are permanently shadowed, not the areas that are permanently light. So from a standpoint of scientific exploration, if you want to try to see if there's hydrogen in the form of water ice on the moon, you want to go where it's dark, not where it's ...

Remote Robotic Reconnaissance Vehicle (2003-) The Remote Robotic Reconnaissance Vehicle (R3V) project is a development effort to provide the soldier with an enhanced situational awareness capability using fused sensors on a robotic vehicle. The R3V project is part of the Night Vision Cave and Urban Assault (NVCUA) ACTD whose objective is to provide advanced lightweight imaging sensor technologies allowing long-range surveillance and identification for dismounted assault in difficult and restri ...

Replacing Humans in Space 071604 Tariq Malik SPACE.com Human-like robots need not be limited to the bonds of Earth or even to just roving other planets. NASA researchers at Johnson Space Center are working to build an android that could be used to assist human spacewalkers or even replace them altogether. A collaborative effort with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Robonaut project is a potential contender for future Hubble Space Telescope maintenance missions. ...

Then there is the matter of using the sensor data. "We are seeing the computing requirements for unmanned vehicle platforms reaching into the teraflops," said Ed King, chairman and CEO of high-performance-computing vendor CPU Technology Inc. "Not only is this a huge amount of computing power to deliver, but it requires so much logic that there is a high probability of singe-event upset to the logic circuits, even at sea level." It seems likely that so many parties would benefit from NASA's nee ...

ROBOCRANE® PROJECT Large Scale Manufacturing using Cable Control This page is always under construction! Please check back in the near future to find additional information about the NIST RoboCrane. The Intelligent Systems Division is actively seeking partners for cooperative research in large scale manufacturing technology and standards development. Please contact the project manager, Roger Bostelman, if you are interested in further information. Applications Dual Manipulators Flexible ...

Robonaut Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in th ...

ROBOSPHERE is a project to explore the possibility of long term or continuous robotic presence on planetary surfaces and in space, in order to increase scientific returns, decrease exploration costs and greatly decrease any chances of mission failures. The underlying notion is that of self-sustaining robotic ecologies, where the continuous survival and exploration activities of robotic teams and colonies are dependent on the exchange of matter, energy and information among robotic individuals an ...

Robot to rescue Hubble telescope Nov. 21, 2004 BY GUY GUGLIOTTA, Washington Post Pioneer Press The promotional video shows a multi-jointed titanium handyman untwisting knobs and disconnecting an electrical cable with slow-motion aplomb, displaying fine motor skills that the voice-over assures will enable it to install "new batteries, gyroscopes and scientific instruments" aboard the aging Hubble Space Telescope. But the video is only a teaser. In April, when NASA's Goddard Space Flight Cent ...

Planetary Surface Robot Work Crews (RWC) Technology and Mission Relevance Technology: Simultaneous multi-dimensional controlled application of force and movement by a team of robots in uncertain terrain to achieve goal-level coordinated behaviors. State of the art is currently limited to indoor lab demonstrations on a level floor. Enterprise Applications: Space Science: Enables long duration, complex planetary surface science applications such as deep drilling, networked instrument activiti ...

Life in the Atacama Head: David Wettergreen Contact: David Wettergreen (dsw@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Location: NSH 1202 Phone: (412) 268 3856 Associated center: FRC For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description Evidence suggests that the interior of the Chilean Atacama Desert, the most arid region on Earth, is lifeless. Yet, where the desert meets the Pacific Co ...

BioRobotics Lab University of Washington Biorobotics Lab Research > Haptic Interfaces > Project Haptics Interfaces Robotic Graphics for Astronaut Training OVERVIEW The only way for astronauts to safely and effectively perform complex tasks in EVA is to provide simulation training facilities with as much realism as possible. Virtual Reality technology is playing an increasing role in EVA training. Although a state of the art system with highly realistic graphics simulations, the current ...

Project: Robotic Kinematic and Dynamic Simulations Contact: Craig Carignan Description Neutral buoyancy provides a high fidelity simulation for developing and training. However, there are times when one of the underwater vehicles is either not functioning or not available. The use of a computer simulation fills the void allowing for some level of training and development without the actual vehicle. Even with a relatively low-fidelity computer simulation, much can be accomplished with t ...

Robotic space endeavors lack creativity of humans By Mark R. Whittington USA Today July 13, 2004 While human beings remain stuck in low-Earth orbit, Cassini-Huygens has become the latest robotic explorer to examine another world. It recently entered orbit around Saturn and began to unlock the secrets of the ringed, gas giant and her moons. Barring an unforeseen accident, the next four years of Cassini's sojourn around Saturn will be filled with discovery and wonder. The mission is an example ...

Robots - our helpers in space 29 November 2004 European Space Agency A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. At this month's ASTRA 2004 workshop robots designed in ESA’s space research and technical centre in the Netherlands attracted much attention. "On Earth, robots regularly take over whe ...

Robots - our helpers in space 29 November 2004 European Space Agency A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. At this month's ASTRA 2004 workshop robots designed in ESA’s space research and technical centre in the Netherlands attracted much attention. "On Earth, robots regularly take over when ...

Robots come to aid of human exploration By Tariq Malik CNN.com April 14, 2004 Computer software developed in California's Silicon Valley, as well as autonomous robotic assistants, may prove indispensable to future astronauts charged with the monumental job of exploring an entire planet. Embedded in a backpack-mounted laptop, smart software responds to voice commands, links astronauts to mission control and their planet-side habitat. It even communicates with robotic assistants that might be ...

Robots with human intelligence and emotions - a fast forward technology being implemented in Indian Technology Institutes January 27, 2005 Staff Reporter India Daily In Southern side Kolkata and in Bangalore a fast forward technology is being tested before being unveiled to the country and the world. The Technology Institutes in India have finally cracked the black box of artificial intelligence. Robots are being tested that have human level of intelligence, get emotionally effected and does ...

Robots: our helpers in space December 4, 2004 PhysOrg.com A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. At this month's ASTRA 2004 workshop robots designed in ESA’s space research and technical centre in the Netherlands attracted much attention. "On Earth, robots regularly take over when it comes to ...

LONG RANGE SCIENCE ROVER TECHNOLOGY The Rocky 7 microrover: Overview: picture gallery, rover features Vision: stereo vision, vehicle self inspection, visual dig/dump verification, science imaging, panoramic imaging, multispectral imaging Manipulation: integrated spectrometer, arm and mast, design concepts Navigation: algorithm, localization, lander descent imagery Field Tests: Lavic Lake test site, U of A collaboration. Science: subsytems and data. The Rocky 3 microrover: Field T ...

Robotic Systems DLR - ROboter Technology EXperiment ROTEX In April '93 the space robot technology experiment ROTEX was flown on space-shuttle COLUMBIA (STS 55). A multisensory robot on board the spacecraft successfully worked in several modes, teleoperated by astronauts, as well as in different telerobotic ground control modes. A variety of operational modes was verified to demonstrate the flexibility of the overall system: teleoperation on board teleoperation from ground using predictive ...

Rover Engineers Change the Rules for Driving July 16, 2004 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Designing New Ways to Drive on Mars When Joe Melko started design work four years ago on the six-wheeled rovers that are now on Mars, he didn’t plan on steering one of them like a six-person river raft. Five 1/2 months after landing the robots on Mars, that’s what he and a team of engineers are doing. Now that the right front wheel on the Spirit rover is showing signs of wear, Melko and a team of ass ...

Rover Sojourner Mission Overview The rover is constrained to a weight of 11.5 kilograms (25.4 lb.). Another 6 kilograms (13.3 pounds) is allocated to lander-mounted rover telecommunications equipment, structural support of the rover and its deployment mechanisms. The rover has a normal height of 280 millimeters (10.9 inches), with ground clearance of 130 mm (5 inches). Its stowage space in the lander allows only 200 mm (7.8 inches) forcing it to squat to a height of 180 mm (7 inches) when stow ...

Rover-based Manipulation NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Paul Backes (JPL) Abstract The Viking and Mars Polar Lander (MPL) missions used a scoop on a stationary lander's robot arm to collect samples for analysis. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will be the first to use a surface rover to acquire and analyze soil and rock samples. Investigators are developing the software to control a rover and its arm-mounted tools, for single-command-cycle approach to a science target, deploymen ...

RUSSIA OUTER SPACE ISS ROBOT 2005-01-18 14:36 Russian News and Information Agency ISS CREW POISED FOR ANOTHER EVA MOSCOW, January 18 (RIA Novosti) - The International Space Station (ISS) crew is preparing for the first 2005 extra-vehicular activity (EVA) scheduled for January 27. "This time, the main task faced by Salizhan Sharipov and Leroy Chiao, is getting the German robot ROKVISS outside and fix it to the outer surface of the orbiter," a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control Cente ...

RWS Robotic Workstation The International Space Station will be equipped with a Canadian-built Mobile Servicing System (MSS). The MSS will be to the Space Station what the Canadarm is to the Shuttle. Much of the Space Station will actually be assembled using the MSS. To control this robotic system, a Robotic Workstation (RWS), featuring a Display and Control Panel, hand controllers, video monitors and computers was designed and built to provide a highly reliable, seamless interface between ...

Scientists on the ball Saturday, January 04, 2003 By Becky Oskin , Staff Writer NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- When most Alaskans were escaping frigid winter temperatures by traveling the warmer climates, one JPL researcher went north far north to test a 6-foot- wide sphere that could become NASA's newest explorer. Developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Tumbleweed Rover likened by one researcher to a giant beach ball has a tough nylon shell and carries a ...

The robotic ground-based agents would be simpler and smaller than the rovers currently being sent to Mars. Though not necessarily any more robust than the current generation, the agents would be able to take on rocky and steep terrains simply because there would be several with varying degrees of intelligence and thereby, would be somewhat expendable. If a single rover turned over on a steep terrain, for example, the mission would not be lost. The stationary sensors would be even more expendabl ...

Scout Recent NASA studies have identified the utility of the Earth-Moon L1 libration point for the assembly and maintenance of future space systems including large science platforms such as optical telescopes. This work has culminated in the conceptual design of an L1 Gateway station, which could be used to support human operations on an as-needed basis. While human presence will provide highly skilled and flexible capabilities for space operations, most of these need to be applied in EVA asso ...

Seiko Epson Develops Micro Flying Robot By Yuri Kageyama Space.com August 19, 2004 Seiko Epson Corp. is developing a flying robot that looks like a miniature helicopter and is about the size of a giant bug. The company hopes it'll prove handy for security, disaster rescue and space exploration. The robot, 3.35 inches tall and 0.4 ounces, follows a flight-route program sent by Bluetooth wireless from a computer. On board is a 32-bit microcontroller, a super-thin motor, a digital camera tha ...

NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts Self-Transforming Robotic Planetary Explorers S. Dubowsky, MIT Field and Space Robotics Lab I. Hunter, MIT Bioinstrumentation Lab G. Chirikjian, Johns Hopkins University In the future, 10 to 40 Years, society will want robots to explore the planets, moons, asteroids and comets of the solar system, build robotic outposts and ultimately the infrastructure for human colonies. Current Rovers-(2000 c.e.) Todays Rovers Cannot: Traverse Varying Terrain ...

Shape-Shifting Robot Nanotech Swarms on Mars 03.29.05 NASA Astronaut Journal, Mars, 2034 The latest spacecraft sent to us is more a living thing than a robot. Shortly after launch from Earth, the tiny capsule blossomed into a sail and rode the solar wind to Mars. On the way, a meteoroid punched a hole in the sail, but surrounding material flowed in and closed the tear. Upon arrival, the spacecraft shrunk more than 100 times its volume to return to the safety of its capsule. After the capsule ...

Shape-shifting robot shows off its moves 17 November 04 By: Will Knight NewScientist.com news service A shape-shifting robot comprised of many independently moving components has been demonstrated walking, rolling and slithering for the first time. The prototype robot - called ATRON - demonstrated its various metamorphoses in Tokyo on Wednesday. For example, reconfiguring its many individual modules allows the robot to change its mode of locomotion on command. "We can envision it being ...

Skyworker Future space facilities that could power our planet and expand our horizons will differ vastly from the satellites and space stations familiar today. Characterized by their immense size and the difficulties of human construction in orbit, future space facilities will be assembled in part by robots. Skyworker, is an assembly, inspection and maintenance robot that will softly and autonomously transport and manipulate payloads of kilograms to tons over kilometer distances. Free flyin ...

Parent-Child Type Planetary Rover "SMC Rover" and Arm-Equipped Single Wheel Rover "Uni-Rover" (1997-) As one of the main research subjects of COE/TITech Super Mechano-System project, we have been studying a heterogeneous planetary rover system composed of decentralized autonomous agents (child rovers) and a leader agent (parent unit) as shown in Fig.1. This rover system called "SMC Rover" consists of one main body (parent unit) and multiple detachable wheel units (child units). The main bod ...

Snakebot Images Snakebots that are being developed will be able to independently dig in loose extraterrestrial soil, are smart enough to slither into cracks in a planet's surface, and are capable of planning routes over or around obstacles. Engineer Gary Haith checking electrical connections to robotic snake Three segements of Ames Generation 2 robotic snake. Gen 3 sanke segments with tension sensing rings. Gen 2 snake demonstrating rearing capabilities Gen 2 snake. Gen 1 and 2 snakes intertwined.

About Solarbotics ScoutWalkerII, Solar-Bot This was the first test robot to show a good starting point for this work. It is a commercially available kit that can be ready to go with very little construction. This robot provided a great initial available prototype to show the general idea of using many (100s, or 1000s) of inexpensive mobile platforms.

Sooner Landing December 03, 2004 Scooby Axson - Daily Staff Writer The Oklahoma Daily OU’s Department of Engineering is taking the next step in trying to enter the world of space exploration. OU is trying to become the first public university to put a spacecraft of any kind on the moon. David Miller, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering; Donna Shirley, former OU professor; and Dean Hougen, computer science professor are spearheading The Sooner Lunar Schooner Project that will ...

Wasp drill Bath's biomimetics professor, Julian Vincent, has mimicked the drilling abilities of a wasp to create a robot much better equipped for taking samples for analysis. He has taken an electric jigsaw tool and added an extra gearbox at the front and an extra blade at the bottom. This bio-inspired drill could be useful for gouging deep into rocks, in particular on asteroids where there is little gravity, which would effectively leave normal drills bouncing on the surface. "We worked ...

Space in 2004: Robots versus the right stuff Mon, 20 Dec 2004 Richard Ingham iafrica.com From the Moon and Mars to the satellites of Saturn and the cold, dark depths of the Solar System, robots have been the big stars of space exploration this year. Manned missions were deep in the doldrums, yielding the headlines to a small force of unmanned probes and landers. The three surviving craft in US space shuttle fleet remained grounded, overshadowed by the loss of Columbia in 2003. China ch ...

Space mission to track gamma ray bursts October 26, 2004 By: Tim Radford The Guardian British and US scientists are preparing to launch a robot spacecraft to track down the brightest and most dangerous objects in the universe. Gamma ray bursts - brief, brilliant flashes of energy bright enough to be spotted across a distance of 12bn light years - were mistaken for Soviet nuclear weapons tests in space when they were first spotted 35 years ago. But scientists behind Nasa's £138m Swift m ...

Space Modular Manipulators The unique thermal, vacuum and gravitational conditions of space drive the robot design process towards solutions that are much different from the typical laboratory robot. JSC's A&R Division is at the forefront of this design effort with the prototypes being built for the Space Modular Manipulators (SMM) project. The first SMM joint prototype has completed its thermal-mechanical-electrical design phase, is now under construction in the JSC shops, and is scheduled for ...

Thanks to the Army Without the Army, their hopes of exploring space would still be dreams, the astronauts said. They feel indebted, and use every public appearance to boast about the opportunities the Army presents. Space was off limits to women when Currie's interest in aeronautics piqued. So she became an Army pilot and waited for the day NASA would begin accepting female astronauts. Currently the Army's most experienced astronaut, Currie has been to space four times. During the first trip ...

SPACE STATION CREW PREPARES FOR ROBOT December 15, 2004 Russian Information Agency MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti's Alexander Kovalev) - The crew of the International Space Station (ISS), Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and American astronaut Leroy Chiao, are preparing to receive a German robot, which will be launched to the station on a Progress spaceship on December 24. Mission Control Center spokesman Valery Lyndin said the crew would use Wednesday to sharpen their skills at opera ...

Space Watch: The outlook for 2005 By Robert Zimmerman January 13, 2005 The Washington Times The wheels of human space exploration might turn very slowly, but all signs indicate they are beginning to turn faster and -- if all goes well -- finally might reach escape velocity in 2005. Without a doubt, the future remains cloudy for a number of NASA issues. Until a new NASA administrator is chosen, for example, there is no way to predict what will happen to the Hubble Space Telescope. Under Sean ...

SPDM Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator The Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) is an extremely advanced, highly dexterous dual-armed robot with a body that includes two shoulder structures that provide support for the arms. Each arm has seven joints, terminating with an Orbit R