News Archive

06.28.06

It has been a month into the summer session so far, and we have four interns, three software developers and one mechanical engineer, working on the robot. Some of the goals for this summer is to create a map of an area by stitching together images gathered from the LADAR, redesign the upper layers of the robot, and update the microprocessor with a developing technology called the "Space Cube" [pdf].

12.30.05

The groups at MSU just finished up another hard working semester on the robot and now it's back at Goddard. Several of them are in Maryland for a couple weeks to finish up some work there wasn't time for during the semester and to prepare the robot for the next semester's projects. More information will be coming soon about the next projects.

08.28.05

Well we just finish with the NBC4's Digital Edge Expo and it was fun. Lots of people interested in robotics came out to look at the various exhibits. We enjoyed talking to those two stopped by. Good job to the robot too...it was well behaved and didn't get stage fright or decide to just not want to work, like several times before ;)

Here are pictures from the expo.

08.12.05

First of all, we would like to thank all those who came out, taking time off from their busy schedules, on August 1st to see the robot at MERS. It was a great success. Some of the team has left to go back to school, however, those left will continue to work on improving the robot's vision and navigation system. There is always something new to do with it. The team will be with the robot at NBC4's Digital Edge Expo on August 27th. We hope to see you there.

07.28.05

The summer is coming to a close soon but there is still much to do. This week we are integrating new sensors, the new mapping and navigation system, and a portable user control interface for manual operation (more info in the development section). We will be testing at MERS this week improving the system. On Monday, August 1 at 2:00, the team will meet with Dr. Ed Weiler at MERS, showing him this summer's work and explaining future plans.

07.12.05

The team just got back from Primm, Nevada visiting the Axion Racing team who is competing in the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 for $2 million. We met with them to see their autonomous vehicle and discuss many aspects of artificial intelligence, autonomous navigation, and path mapping. This was a great opportunity to learn and exchange ideas with the brilliant team. We are now getting back into high gear with the robot to finish up for the summer with these few weeks left and then to send the robot back to MSU for further developments.

06.17.05

Excellent progress is being made on this robot in terms of vision navigation. Another showing at the Mars terrain in the courtyard of building 23 will be schedule soon to test the robot's improved speed, decision making, and mapping system. Information will be posted here when we go. More info and new images of the current progress are up on the current development page.

A 180 degree field view of the office from the
LADAR scanner.

05.26.05

After another very successful semester by the work of three teams of Michigan State University, we now have the robot back at Goddard with several interns continuing the progress in NASA Mike's robotics lab. MSU Team 3, who worked on obstacle avoidance from depth images on simulated lunar terrain, won third place in the ECE480 design class competition. Team 1's job was to automate the docking procedure for NASA's Hubble Module Technology Demonstrator and to develop an improved GUI to remotely control the robot. Team 2's task was to develop a tracking system using an array of capaciflectors to follow a path.

Currently, the interns are developing a system for autonomous navigation of the robot that was started by Team 3, and working to improve the reliability of the capaciflectors for path following. More information is in the current development section.

02.12.05

Everyone is back safely from Antarctica now and despite the weather problems, all went well. On Sunday, January 23, Faisal from MSU was able to control the robot in Antarctica from Kansas by going through the secure Goddard network that was set up. He was able to perform the docking maneuver by using images taken from the onboard mini cams and getting some feedback from Allen who was with the robot. Pictures of the robot from Antarctica can be found here. There is a video of what happened during the project that is being put together now. It shouldn't be too long before it is available.

01.09.05

Happy New Year to all and hope your holidays went well.

Mike, Allen, and Kurt left last Monday and are on their way to Antarctica, but they currently are delayed in Christchurch, New Zealand because of bad weather in McMurdo.

We are anticipating a successful test of the robot sometime within the next two weeks once we are able to test the communication links. Watching the tetwalker walk, even a couple steps, on the ice will also be an exciting event, as both these projects are creating a path for new places to go. Information about pictures and possible live streaming video back to the States to allow everyone to tune in will be forthcoming.

12.15.04

Congratulations to Team 1 in particular for tackling this extraordinarily difficult project and for doing such a fabulous job.
Faisal wrote 5000 lines of code;
Jon Completely rebuilt the arm and added counterbalancing and stiffening.
Brad wrote the inverse kinematics for the entire arm with 6 degrees of freedom;
Chad, Wissam, and Ryan each made a significant contributions including wonderful presentations and the T-shirt design.

I think we needed another week to integrate the work from all three teams properly.
As such, each team presented as their work in an isolated fashion that really did not do justice to what they had accomplished.

Nevertheless, I'm very proud of all those who worked so hard on this. They exceeded my expectations.
Now, with their documentation, we are able to provide that last week of integration, take it to Antarctica, and then turn it over to a new set of teams for continued developments in the Spring. This was a magnificent step in the long-term program.

Congratulations once again.

NASA Mike

Team 1 got third place in the MSU competition and won $500. Although the arm worked the night before, a few gears on the elbow of the arm broke just prior to the demo, so the demo was not attempted. They would have probably gotten first place if the demo had been done successfully. New parts to replace the broken ones have been ordered so the arm can be fixed soon.

REAL T-SHIRT: If you would like to order a t-shirt to help support the project, please e-mail NASA Mike at mcomberi@pop400.gsfc.nasa.gov requesting one with your information. Quantities are limited.

12.14.04

The robot is back at Goddard now and the students from MSU did an excellent job. There are still a few things that need to happen before this goes down to Antarctica next month. One of the main tasks still to do is set up the communication links that will allow both MSU and Goddard workstations to control the robots. Software issues of interfacing the spectrometer with the robot's single board computer have been addressed and solutions are under way. January is getting close.

12.07.04

Good News. The rover is just about completed now, and we will get it back at Goddard by next week. An image of the REAL Project t-shirt can be seen here. More pictures of the robot from MSU will be up soon.

11.21.04

The tetwalker robot, developed at Goddard, will go down to Antarctic with us for remote testing similar to that of our rover. It will wirelessly connect to our system, and users from the other end can control it with the help of the cameras attached to the rover. Pictures of the tetwalker can be found here.

11.04.04

Good progress is being made on the robotic arm, rover, and sun tracking device. MSU Team 1 has added a counterbalance to the arm on the shoulder joint to allow it to handle heavier loads. They have also included inverse kinematics software for controlling the arm. MSU Team 2 is working with Tom Riley (GSFC Electrical Engineer) on a sun tracking system. Team 3 is installing smaller server motors that have encoders into the rover to allow better control over it.

Next teleconference is Friday, November 5, 2004 at noon. An email has been sent out.

10.21.04

The Robotic Arm group, Team 1, from MSU has installed the 6th degree of freedom and a new base for smoother operation of the robotic arm. They are working now to counterbalance the arm.

A conference call on the project status will be this Friday, October 22 at noon. An email has been sent out with the number.

10.16.04

The new parts for the robotic arm were sent out to MSU last week so that they will be able to add the 6th degree of freedom to the arm.

Talks about future development for the rover for 2005 are in progress, such as building an adjustable level 3 platform it can be leveled should the rover be slightly tilted.

More information about the current robotic development is located in the Current Development section.

10.08.04

Michigan State University has received the Robot and the Arm. However, the arm was delivered with only 5 degrees of freedom, but we will be adding the 6th DoF later this month. We will work out how to incorporate both the Roll and the Yaw servos onto the Wrist motion.

Pictures and video of the robot in action can be viewed at the MSU Robotic Arm Team's web site here.

New links will be added for each of the MSU teams' web sites in the Links section.

09.20.04

NASA Mike is presenting the project to NASA-Goddard Management today and then we'll ship it to MSU.

We are shipping the robot with the HST docking system, the telescope, and spectrometer, but not the small robotic arm. The new larger arm is being shipped separately.

We are applying for new funding to add a wireless power transmission system to this robot and to start a new tracked vehicle as well. We'll be working on the second robot while MSU has this one.

We've demonstrated that we can command the robot and the arm and the pointing platform via the Internet and the wireless link to the onboard single board computer. We held a video conference with MSU on Friday Sept 27 where we were sending video at 1 frame per second as we will do over the slow link to Antarctica. We showed that we can reduce the frame rate and frame size down to whatever will work over a very slow link. Now we're fairly comfortable that we have a viable communications link. Next we'll work on the network security issues. All the schools who will want to monitor or perhaps command the robot in Antarctica will need to access it via our gateway system here at GSFC.

We'll also be programming a force-feedback joy stick so it can be used at least from the GSFC end to manipulate the robot devices. This effort is independent of the work MSU is doing.

09.17.04

Yesterday a communications test was done to control the rover's wheels and the mechanical arm remotely through the single board computer. A small test program was made and one could log in to the SBC through SSH and send commands directly out the specified serial port. A live streaming video test was also done so users can view live video over the Internet from the rover when it is deported to Antarctica. Pictures of the current robotic development can be found here.

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