Ambler This project is no longer active. 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 center: FRC Project Description The Amber's legged configuration overcomes three significant liabilities of precedent walkers: complexity of coordination control, resultant energy losses, and redundancy for continued function after loss of some mot ...

Atacama Desert Trek This project is no longer active. Head: William Red L. Whittaker Contact: Dimitrios Apostolopoulos (da1v@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Project Description In June and July of 1997, a four year program to develop technologies for space exploration culminated in the Atacama Desert Trek. The robot Nomad, supervised via satellite from thousands of miles away, attempted to traverse t ...

Beagle 2: Beagle 2 is rode to Mars aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. Beagle 2 was targeted for to Isidis Planitia, a large flat sedimentary basin on Mars, but mission controllers have so far been unable to contact the lander. Beagle 2's main mission was to search for signs of life - past or present - in the Martian soil. It was also equipped to look for signs of water and study Mars' geology and atmosphere. Key Dates: 06.02.03: Launch 12.24.03: Mars Landing ( ...

ESA/BNSC report on Beagle 2 Enquiry 26-May-04 8:30 GMT Summary Statement from Colin Pillinger following the ESA/BNSC Inquiry into the fate of Beagle 2 At the press conference held by BNSC and ESA on 24 May to announce the Beagle 2 inquiry recommendations, Colin Pillinger refuted suggestions that the Beagle 2 project management were to blame for the loss of Beagle 2. Praising everyone in the team from the scientists and engineers who carried out the design, building and testing, the miss ...

The Beam Assembly Teleoperator (BAT) Space Systems Laboratory University of Maryland The Beam Assembly Teleoperator (BAT) was designed to assemble the same structure used by the Space Systems Laboratory for the Experimental Assembly of Structures in EVA (EASE) program. EASE involved two pressure-suited subjects repeatedly assembling a six-element tetrahedral truss, and included both neutral buoyancy simulation and a shuttle flight experiment flown on STS 61-B in late 1985. By choosing as a d ...

Daedalus This project is no longer active. Head: Kevin Dowling Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: FRC Associated lab/group: Mobile Robot Lab Project Description Daedalus is a six-legged frame-walker with efficient redundant drive systems. Daedalus was designed for extreme terrain missions as part of Carnegie Mellon's Lunar Rover Initiative. Past members Name Title Email Address Kevin Dowling Project Scientist nivek@ri.cmu.edu Anthony Nolla Technician III, RI/ECE nolla@cmu.edu

Dante II This project is no longer active. Heads: John Bares and William Red L. Whittaker Contact: John Bares (bares@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: FRC Project Description The CMU Field Robotics Center (FRC) developed Dante II, a tethered walking robot, which explored the Mt. Spurr (Aleutian Range, Alaska) volcano in July 1994. High-temperature, fumarole gas samples are prized by ...

Dexterous Arm Control for the Ranger Flight Experiment Ending Date: October 1996 The NASA-Ranger Flight Experiment led by the University of Maryland is aimed at the development and demonstration of robotic technologies for executing manipulation tasks in space. The Ranger incorporates two dexterous seven degree-of-freedom manipulator arms mounted on a free-flying base. These arms will be used, both individually and cooperatively, to perform a variety of manipulation experiments and servicing o ...

Distributed Space Telerobotics This effort is being developed as a cooperative research and development activity between NASA-JPL and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) -- Electrotechnical Laboratory (ETL) of Japan. The main technical thrust of the project is safe ground control of orbital robots under operational uncertainties caused by impaired remote viewing, communication time delay, and tasking contingencies. The main Japanese application interest is in space assembly ...

Dual-use Mobile Detachable Manipulator ((DM)2) This project is no longer active. Head: H. Benjamin Brown Contact: H. Benjamin Brown (hbb@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Project Description The Dual-Use Mobile Detachable Manipulator, (DM)2 is a mobile manipulator designed to operate in a lunar station scenario. (DM)2 is designed to perform two very different kinds of tasks: exploration on the lunar ter ...

Feedback Control of Very Flexible Manipulators Achieving high-performance control of very flexible structures is a challenging task, but one that is critical to the success of many important applications. Fundamental issues that make this task demanding include: How to control a system where the actuators and sensors are separated by a flexible structure How to model a complex flexible structure How to deal with unknown system parameters How to control end-point impedance to allow contac ...

Research Projects - Hall of Fame - Generation 0 Rovers The construction of the Generation 0 rovers involved some alterations of the initial design. Changes included a lengthened chassis and a "reversed" steering mechanism (where rack is forward of front wheel axle line). As well, narrower front wheels were used and the drive system was enclosed in a box. RC servo controlled optical navigation sensors were included, which used two photodarlington transistors placed back to back to search for the ...

Research Projects - Hall of Fame - Generation 1 Rovers In order to make a model for the Generation 1 rover, Phobos was stripped down and built anew. The new design varied significantly from the old one. It included four-wheel drive, with a separate motor driving the two front wheels using pulleys and elastic bands, and a suspension whereby the front and back of the rover were able to rotate separately about a conjoining rod. As well, the bumper sensors were converted into whiskers for greater ...

Ground Emergency Response Vehicle Mobile robot enables remote reconnaissance of hazardous material sites HAZBOT III mobile robot Enabling Safety and HAZMAT personnel to remotely and therefore safely explore dangerous terrestrial environments, particularly those where hazardous materials have been accidently released, is the primary objective of the Ground Emergency Response Vehicle Project. Begun in October 1990, the project has succeeded in prototyping a teleoperated mobile robot used by ...

Innovative mobility systems: Hopping Robots First Generation: the Hopbot The goal of this task is to explore a different mobility paradigm which may present advantages over conventional wheel and leg locomotion. The approach is to achieve mobility by hopping and perform science and imaging via rolling. The device is currently equipped with a single video camera representing the science sensor suite. The hopper is equipped with a simple microprocessor to autonomously execute a set of fixed tas ...

HSTS Space Observatory Scheduler This project is no longer active. Head: Stephen Smith Contact: Toshio Sato (tsato@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: CIMDS Associated lab/group: Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Laboratory Project Description The observation scheduler for HST that was developed was shown to scale to the full problem, producing observation schedules complete wit ...

Hardware Maneuvering Spacecraft Bus - Interim Control Module Developed by the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for NASA's International Space Station Sufficient payload on an evolved expendable launch vehicle for Ranger robotics, SM-4 servicing hardware, and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) flight support hardware Sufficient maneuvering capability for extensive coorbital operations, followed by HST deorbit or boost to disposal altitude Currently in bonded storage at NRL's Payload Pro ...

JPL Serpentine Robot A Small, light-weight, and highly dexterous serpentine robot is developed for visual inspection A telerobotics inspection system has been developed to perform remote inspection experiments in realistic space-like environments. The main application focus of this task is the Space Station. The Space Station is a large space platform with complex mechanical, electrical, thermal, fluid and gas interfaces, and a changing suite of internal and external scientific experimental ap ...

Laboratory Tending Telerobot Task Space science is an important application domain for NASA missions such as Space Shuttle and Space Station. An important activity of Shuttle astronauts is to tend space science experiments. The astronauts are highly trained on the ground to accurately tend the experiments. But because astronaut time is so valuable, space science experiments often are not allocated the amount of tending time that a principal investigator desires. Ground based telerobotic tendin ...

Lightweight Survivable Rover (LSR) This task develops, demonstrates and quantifies new rover technologies that will enable low mass, volume and power (m/v/p) Mars surface exploration over diverse terrain and latitudes, thereby increasing NASA capabilities for in situ planetary science. The envisioned applications are mobile sample selection, packaging and return functions of the Mars Surveyor Program (MSP), and missions beyond. FY97 work targets creation of a new rover prototype for Mars Sampl ...

Lunar Rover Initiative (LRD) This project is no longer active. Head: William Red L. Whittaker Mailing address: LRI (lri-feedback@frc.ri.cmu.edu) Associated center: FRC For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description Carnegie Mellon University, in conjunction with LunaCorp, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, will conduct the first private lunar mission, landing a pair of teleoperated robotic vehicles on the Moon's surface. A central goal of the mission is to provide th ...

Lunar Rover Navigation This project is no longer active. Head: William Red L. Whittaker Contact: Reid Simmons (reids@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: FRC For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description Capabilities are needed to enable driving the rover over varied terrain and to safeguard its operation. Time-delayed teleoperation is laborious and upredictab ...

Macro/Micro Manipulators Long reach space manipulators, such as the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS), must be made as lightweight as possible. A lightweight manipulator will have flexibility both in the drive system and in the structure of the manipulator. This flexibility limits the speed and dexterity that can be achieved at the end-point of a manipulator. A much smaller manipulator can be faster and more rigid, at the expense of workspace. Thus the combination of a small "micro" ...

Multifunction Automated Crawling System (MACS) Contributors: Paul G. Backes, Ph.D. --- robotics Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Ph.D. --- ndi Ed Barlow --- technician Benjamin Joffe, Ph.D. --- mechanical design Shyh-Shiuh (Mike) Lih, Ph.D. --- ultrasonic motors Walter Proniewicz --- fabrication, electronics and assembly Point of Contact: Paul G. Backes Mail Stop 198-219 Jet Propulsion Laboratory 4800 Oak Grove Dr. Pasadena CA 91109 Paul.G.Backes@jpl.nasa ...

Mars Pathfinder Key Concepts Remote operations, collaboration, distributed computing Scientific Vision To demonstrate state-of-the-art graphic visualization tools in the creation of an interactive virtual environment model to enhance the efficiency of rover operations during the Mars Pathfinder mission and to enhance scientific analysis and public presentation of mission results. Networking Challenge High bandwidth, bandwidth guarantees Application Description The Mars Pathfinder w ...

The MARS Rovers Motivation Under Construction. Description The Micro-Autonomous RoverS Test-Bed consists of six small rovers that move freely on a large flat granite table. Each rover has two independantly driven wheels, allowing rovers to rotate on the spot. Sensing is accomplished via an overhead vision system. Located on the top of each rover is a distinct pattern of LED's that are by the vision system to distinguish the robots. All processing for the robots is done off-board Research Topics Current research topics include multi-robot motion planning, assembly and manipulation planning.

Microgravity Experiments With Long Reach Manipulator Systems Sponsor Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver, CO and NASA Investigators Dubowsky, S., Pisoni, A.C. and Mavroidis, C. Introduction Long reach manipulator systems (LRMS) are being considered as a promising solution to the problem of performing remotely operated servicing tasks in space. The proposed Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) mounted on the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) is an example of long rea ...

BioRobotics Lab University of Washington Biorobotics Lab Research > Telerobotics > Device Telerobotics Mini direct-drive robot Abstract The Minirobot is a small-scale direct-drive robot designed for manipulating small, delicate objects with high positioning precision and accurate force control. Potential uses include biomedical applications such as the probing of cells or the preparation of electrophoresis gels in genetics research. Electronic testing applications such as automated probin ...

Nomad Rover Key Concepts Hybrid networking, remote control Scientific Vision To demonstrate robotic capabilities relevant to long-duration, long-distance planetary excursion. Networking Challenge High bandwidth, low latency Application Description From June through July of 1997, Carnegie Mellon University deployed the robot Nomad to traverse the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. Nomad traveled an unprecedented 215 km in 45 days, remotely controlled and driven from both the Carnegie ...

Planetary Dexterous Manipulators (PDM) Planetary Dexterous Manipulators (PDM) is a task in the NASA Space Telerobotics Program. PDM is conducted at JPL under the management of the Robotics and Mars Exploration Technology Program. This task is reviewed through the NASA Telerobotics Inter-center Working Group (TRIWG). PDM develops new robotic system concepts and technologies for planetary surface and near-surface science. The primary applications are sample acquisition functions of the NASA Mar ...

Perception for Off-road Robotics (PerceptOR) This project is no longer active. Head: Martial Hebert Contact: Martial Hebert (hebert@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Associated labs/groups: 3D Computer Vision Group and Vision and Mobile Robotics Lab Project Description The Perception for Off-road Robotics (PerceptOR) program will identify and develop revolutionary unmanned vehi ...

Perception for Rock Sampling This project is no longer active. Head: Katsushi Ikeuchi Contact: Martial Hebert (hebert@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and VASC Project Description Autonomous manipulation in natural environments, in which few constraints exist on the geometry of the objects to be manipulated, is becoming increasingly important. Its potential applications includ ...

Position Estimation This project is no longer active. Head: Martial Hebert Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Project Description The overall goal of this research effort is to develop a means for an autonomous rover to use vision to improve estimates of its own pose by using naturally occurring terrain features as landmarks. The approach assumes that the rover is given no a priori map inform ...

Precise space telerobotic experiment on ETS-VII [ space robotics, telerobot, multisensory hand, ETS-VII ] A space robot performing precise servicing tasks in an unmanned facility will be indispensable in space activity of the 21st century. It requires a skillful onboard work system and a ground operation system augmenting the onboard system capability. MITI/ETL has been developing the precise space telerobotic system called Advanced Robotic Hand System (ARH), and participates in the space robo ...

Robotic All Terrain Lunar Exploration Rover (Ratler) This project is no longer active. Head: Eric Krotkov Contact: Reid Simmons (reids@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: FRC For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description Ratler, or Robotic All Terrain Lunar Exploration Rover, is about the size of a tractor mower, with four depth-sensing (or stereo) cameras mou ...

Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search (RAMS) This project is no longer active. Head: William Red L. Whittaker Contact: Dimitrios Apostolopoulos (da1v@ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI Project Description The goals of this program are to develop robots for autonomous search of Antarctic meteorites and demonstrate robotic capability with planetary analogs of environment, cont ...

Self-Mobile Space Manipulator ((SM)2) This project is no longer active. Head: H. Benjamin Brown Contact: H. Benjamin Brown (hbb@cs.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Project Description Astronaut extra-vehicular activity (EVA) at a space station is costly, potentially dangerous, and requires extensive preparation. Some EVA tasks, such as unplanned repairs, may require the versatilit ...

FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Self-Transforming Robotic Planetary Explorers Principal Investigator Steven Dubowsky Group Members Olivier Chocron, Postdoc Associate Ebraheem Fontaine, Undergraduate student Moustapha Hafez, Postdoc Associate Matt Lichter, MS student Vivek Sujan, PhD student Andreas Wingert, MS student Drew Woodbury, Undergraduate student John Madden, Postdoctoral Associate, Bio-Instrum ...

SKIT: Sub-Kilogram Intelligent Tele-Robots Project Summary 4 K-Team Khepera make up a team of small, networked tele-robots, named SKITs (Sub-Kilogram Intelligent Telerobots). Each module contains a dedicated 68331 processor, and is 3-inches in diameter, equipped with a gripper turret. Their height is modular based on what sensory systems are used. The sensory capabilities include position encoders in the wheels and 8 infra-red emitter detector pairs for obstacle avoidance. A radio turret enab ...

Skyworker This project is no longer active. Head: William Red L. Whittaker Contact: Peter Staritz (pstaritz@frc.ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI Project Description The Skyworker Project, funded by NASA, will create a team of mobile manipulators capable of walking over extensive space solar power stations and performing the assembly, inspection, and maintenance tasks n ...

Solar Blade Solar Sail This project is no longer active. Head: Richard Blomquist Contact: Richard Blomquist (rsb@frc.ri.cmu.edu) Mailing address: 2216 Newell-Simon Hall Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and SRI Project Description Solar sail concepts have existed for decades, but their implementation has been elusive; to date, no true solar sail craft have flown in space. The primary difficulty with solar sails has been the need for great sai ...

Project SONIC-GUIDE SonicGuide - Development of an ultrasonic-based navigation system for a surveillance robot The company RoboWatch, Berlin, develops mobile robots for the surveillance of industry buildings and convention halls. In the project SonicGuide a new navigation system for these robots was developed, which allowed a safe and stable autonomous drive of the robot, while being able to learn a new route very fast and simple by getting guided by a human operator. Thereby, ultrasonic data was retrieved during a reference drive, which was than compared to the sensor data retrieved afterwards, allowing to measure the deviation from the planned route. The project was successful finished, and the robots are for sale today. Status: finished Beteiligte Forschungsbereiche: MMR

STAR: Satellite Test Assistant Robot A Robotic Inspection System for Thermal/Vacuum Environments Current Task Members: Doug McAffee [task manager] Mark Long Technical Objectives: The objective of this work element is to use telerobotic technology to assist engineers as they ground test satellites or spacecraft in the large Space Simulation Chambers at JPL. Inside these test chambers spacecraft are exposed to extremely cold temperatures, high vacuum, and simulated sunlight thereby approx ...

Supervised TeleRobotics using Incremental Polyhedral-Earth geometry (STRIPE) This project is no longer active. Head: Charles Thorpe Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Associated lab/group: NavLab Project Description Supervised TeleRobotics using Incremental Polyhedral-Earth geometry (STRIPE) is a system for vehicle teleoperation across low bandwidth links and links with transmission delays. ...

BioRobotics Lab University of Washington Biorobotics Lab Research > Space Telerobotics > Device Space Telerobotics Telerobotic Crystal Mounting Demonstration Abstract A significant scientific opportunity is to use microgravity to grow crystals of biologically significant proteins. NASA has a large program in microgravity protein crystal growth. Protein crystals are necessary for X-ray crystallography, the major technique for determining the chemical structure of proteins. It is hoped that ...

Telerobotics Testbed (Under Construction) Completion Date: October 1990 Project Members: Manipulator Control System Samad Hayati Paul Backes Tom Lee Others Sensing and Perception Control System Bruce Bon Todd Litwin Brian Wilcox Others Run Time Control J. (Bob) Balaram John Beahan Henry Stone Abhi Jain Others Other Subsytems Other people Accomplishments: Lessons Learned Fast Robot Motion Planners

Tessellator This project is no longer active. Head: Kevin Dowling Contact: Hagen Schempf (hagen+@cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated centers: FRC and VASC Associated lab/group: NavLab For more information, see this project's homepage. Project Description Tessellator inspects and waterproofs each of the 17,000 tiles that coat the space shuttle's underside, saving humans a laborious task that la ...

The Design, Planning and Control of Robotic Systems in Space Sponsor NASA Langley Research Center Investigators Dubowsky, S., Moore, C., Corrigan, T., Torres, M., Meller, U., Antonella, S., Mavroidis, C. and Yoshida, K. Introduction In the future, robotic systems will be expected to perform important tasks in space, in orbit and in planetary exploration. However, such applications introduce a number of technical problems not found in conventional earth-bound industrial robots. To design us ...

The Tumbleweed Rover Welcome to the main page of the NASA/JPL inflatable instrumented sphere called the "Tumbleweed" rover. Here you will find pictures, videos, & documentation from its development including the 2003 deployment from Summit Camp which is in the center of Greenland at an elevation of 10,600ft MSL. The links below lead you to the documents describing the project, data from each of the testing locations, and pictures of the Tumbleweed system, crew, camp. This site is designed for ...

Visual Position Estimator (VIPER) This project is no longer active. Head: Fabio Cozman Contact: Fabio Cozman Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated center: VASC Project Description In remotely driven systems, loss of situational awareness and fatigue are usually experienced by human operators. Despite the availability of topographical maps, operators are unable to follow rover's position and focus on mission ...

Zero Gravity Robot (1988) The Zero-G robot is designed for running in zero-gravity. Normally it is not possible to run without gravity, because the upward motion that initiates the flight phase can not be reversed once contact with the ground is lost. One way to overcome this limitation is to run between two parallel rebound surfaces. In this case, the supporting forces generated in the collision with one surface reverse the vertical velocity generated during collision with the other surface. S ...