Human missions to the Moon or Mars will likely be accompanied by many useful robots that will ass... more Human missions to the Moon or Mars will likely be accompanied by many useful robots that will assist in all aspects of the mission, from construction to maintenance to surface exploration. Such robots might scout terrain, carry tools, take pictures, curate samples, or provide status information during a traverse. At NASA/JSC, the EVA Robotic Assistant (ERA) project has developed a robot testbed for exploring the issues of astronaut-robot interaction. Together with JSC’s Advanced Spacesuit Lab, the ERA team has been developing robot capabilities and testing them with spacesuited test subjects at planetary surface analog sites. In this paper, we describe the current state of the ERA testbed and two weeks of remote field tests in Arizona in September 2002. A number of teams with a broad range of interests participated in these experiments to explore different aspects of what must be done to develop a program for robotic assistance to surface EVA. Technologies explored in the field expe...
My project Involved Improving upon existing software and writing new software for the Project Mor... more My project Involved Improving upon existing software and writing new software for the Project Morpheus Team. Specifically, I created and updated Integrated Test and Operations Systems (ITOS) user Interfaces for on-board Interaction with the vehicle during archive playback as well as live streaming data. These Interfaces are an integral part of the testing and operations for the Morpheus vehicle providing any and all information from the vehicle to evaluate instruments and insure coherence and control of the vehicle during Morpheus missions. I also created a "bridge" program for Interfacing "live" telemetry data with the Engineering DOUG Graphics Engine (EDGE) software for a graphical (standalone or VR dome) view of live Morpheus nights or archive replays, providing graphical representation of vehicle night and movement during subsequent tests and in real missions.
Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to the advancement of aeronautics and space science. ... more Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to the advancement of aeronautics and space science. The NASA scientific and technical
NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) is working to develop capabilities neede... more NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) is working to develop capabilities needed to return humans to the moon. The Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project is an ETDP project focused on enabling safe precision landing anywhere on the Moon. Ensuring safe and precise landing is especially challenging at the North or South Pole because of the large shadows (sun angle less than 1.5 degrees above horizon), rugged terrain (rock/craters), and large slopes (1km elevation change over 1.2 km ground distance). Providing hazard information effectively to the crew is critical during landing operations, because of the limited visibility of the surface out the window. The ALHAT HSI (Human System Interface) team is tasked with the design and development of crew display and control systems that support ALHAT System development and human-in-the-loop testing. .
Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, a... more Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, and Tam Ngo4 NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058 David S. Mittman5 NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA ...
Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering, 2012
ABSTRACT Predicting computer processing requirements of a completed system early in the design an... more ABSTRACT Predicting computer processing requirements of a completed system early in the design and development lifecycle of that system is challenging. Software requirements and avionic or hardware systems often mature in parallel, and, in early stages of design, uncertainty over processing requirements makes determination of processing architecture difficult. Later in the design process, as details become finalized and prototypes are developed, estimations become increasingly more accurate. However, waiting until later in the lifecycle to make architectural changes causes those changes to be more costly and introduces schedule and technical risks. The sooner processing needs are determined and the corresponding system architecture is established, the more easily an appropriate processing platform can be incorporated into the design. This paper describes a novel approach for estimating processor utilization early in the lifecycle of a large, real-time software development project: NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle flight software. The approach uses available requirements documentation as a basis of the estimate and decouples input/output (I/O)- and computation-based processing by estimating each separately then combining the results. This approach is unique because it can be used to estimate the execution time for unwritten or partially specified software, in addition to giving a specific contribution for I/O. The methodology for estimating I/O processing is based on quantifying data, while the methodology for estimating algorithmic processing is based on approximated code size. Results can be used as an aid to predict target processor types and quantities, allocate software to processors, predict communication bandwidth utilization, and manage processor margins.
The Mars Society's Desert Research Station (MDRS) Rotation 38, April 3-17, 2005, was dedicate... more The Mars Society's Desert Research Station (MDRS) Rotation 38, April 3-17, 2005, was dedicated to field tests of NASA's Mobile Agents EVA communications system. MDRS provided an excellent, cost-effective venue for bringing together teams from NASA Ames and Johnson Space Center, including six distinct projects, in an intensive two weeks of system integration and experiments. The flexibility of the Mobile Agents Architecture, the voice--2-commanding framework, and the empirical approach to requirements specification and development provide a powerful combination for development of integrated EVA systems.
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
In visual servoing applications using a position-based approach and an end-effector-mounted camer... more In visual servoing applications using a position-based approach and an end-effector-mounted camera, the position and orientation of the camera with respect to the end-effector must be known. This information is frequently represented in the form of a homogeneous transformation matrix (HTM). For special "noise-free" cases, a closed-form solution for this calibration problem can be determined. However, in the real world, such a solution is not adequate and a least-squares approach or an adaptive algorithm must be used. In this paper, we describe a new algorithm that can simultaneously calculate the base-world and the hand-eye (camera to end-effector) HTMs. This method is robust to noise, and converges to a valid solution very quickly.
Three NASA centers are working together to address the challenge of operating robotic assets in s... more Three NASA centers are working together to address the challenge of operating robotic assets in support of human exploration of the Moon. This paper describes the combined work to date of the Ames Research Center (ARC), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Johnson Space Center (JSC) on a common support framework to control and monitor lunar robotic assets. We discuss how we have addressed specific challenges including time-delayed operations, and geographically distributed collaborative monitoring and control, to build an effective architecture for integrating a heterogeneous collection of robotic assets into a common work. We describe the design of the Robot Application Programming Interface Delegate (RAPID) architecture that effectively addresses the problem of interfacing a family of robots including the JSC Chariot, ARC K-10 and JPL ATHLETE rovers. We report on lessons learned from the June 2008 field test in which RAPID was used to monitor and control all of these assets. We con...
Page 1. 1 Crew Office Evaluation of a Precision Lunar Landing System Laura M. Major The Charles S... more Page 1. 1 Crew Office Evaluation of a Precision Lunar Landing System Laura M. Major The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. 555 Technology Square Cambridge, MA 02139 617-258-3432 lmajor@draper.com Kevin R. Duda The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. ...
... Specifically, the lessons learned could be categorized into four types: 1) operator experienc... more ... Specifically, the lessons learned could be categorized into four types: 1) operator experience 2) Mapping ... The asset bridge will stay center specific, but the RAPID server can be universal ... Current topics of interest include the use of virtual worlds to effectively explore remote worlds ...
Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, a... more Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, and Tam Ngo4 NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058 David S. Mittman5 NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA ...
Human missions to the Moon or Mars will likely be accompanied by many useful robots that will ass... more Human missions to the Moon or Mars will likely be accompanied by many useful robots that will assist in all aspects of the mission, from construction to maintenance to surface exploration. Such robots might scout terrain, carry tools, take pictures, curate samples, or provide status information during a traverse. At NASA/JSC, the EVA Robotic Assistant (ERA) project has developed a robot testbed for exploring the issues of astronaut-robot interaction. Together with JSC’s Advanced Spacesuit Lab, the ERA team has been developing robot capabilities and testing them with spacesuited test subjects at planetary surface analog sites. In this paper, we describe the current state of the ERA testbed and two weeks of remote field tests in Arizona in September 2002. A number of teams with a broad range of interests participated in these experiments to explore different aspects of what must be done to develop a program for robotic assistance to surface EVA. Technologies explored in the field expe...
My project Involved Improving upon existing software and writing new software for the Project Mor... more My project Involved Improving upon existing software and writing new software for the Project Morpheus Team. Specifically, I created and updated Integrated Test and Operations Systems (ITOS) user Interfaces for on-board Interaction with the vehicle during archive playback as well as live streaming data. These Interfaces are an integral part of the testing and operations for the Morpheus vehicle providing any and all information from the vehicle to evaluate instruments and insure coherence and control of the vehicle during Morpheus missions. I also created a "bridge" program for Interfacing "live" telemetry data with the Engineering DOUG Graphics Engine (EDGE) software for a graphical (standalone or VR dome) view of live Morpheus nights or archive replays, providing graphical representation of vehicle night and movement during subsequent tests and in real missions.
Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to the advancement of aeronautics and space science. ... more Since its founding, NASA has been dedicated to the advancement of aeronautics and space science. The NASA scientific and technical
NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) is working to develop capabilities neede... more NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) is working to develop capabilities needed to return humans to the moon. The Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) project is an ETDP project focused on enabling safe precision landing anywhere on the Moon. Ensuring safe and precise landing is especially challenging at the North or South Pole because of the large shadows (sun angle less than 1.5 degrees above horizon), rugged terrain (rock/craters), and large slopes (1km elevation change over 1.2 km ground distance). Providing hazard information effectively to the crew is critical during landing operations, because of the limited visibility of the surface out the window. The ALHAT HSI (Human System Interface) team is tasked with the design and development of crew display and control systems that support ALHAT System development and human-in-the-loop testing. .
Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, a... more Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, and Tam Ngo4 NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058 David S. Mittman5 NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA ...
Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering, 2012
ABSTRACT Predicting computer processing requirements of a completed system early in the design an... more ABSTRACT Predicting computer processing requirements of a completed system early in the design and development lifecycle of that system is challenging. Software requirements and avionic or hardware systems often mature in parallel, and, in early stages of design, uncertainty over processing requirements makes determination of processing architecture difficult. Later in the design process, as details become finalized and prototypes are developed, estimations become increasingly more accurate. However, waiting until later in the lifecycle to make architectural changes causes those changes to be more costly and introduces schedule and technical risks. The sooner processing needs are determined and the corresponding system architecture is established, the more easily an appropriate processing platform can be incorporated into the design. This paper describes a novel approach for estimating processor utilization early in the lifecycle of a large, real-time software development project: NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle flight software. The approach uses available requirements documentation as a basis of the estimate and decouples input/output (I/O)- and computation-based processing by estimating each separately then combining the results. This approach is unique because it can be used to estimate the execution time for unwritten or partially specified software, in addition to giving a specific contribution for I/O. The methodology for estimating I/O processing is based on quantifying data, while the methodology for estimating algorithmic processing is based on approximated code size. Results can be used as an aid to predict target processor types and quantities, allocate software to processors, predict communication bandwidth utilization, and manage processor margins.
The Mars Society's Desert Research Station (MDRS) Rotation 38, April 3-17, 2005, was dedicate... more The Mars Society's Desert Research Station (MDRS) Rotation 38, April 3-17, 2005, was dedicated to field tests of NASA's Mobile Agents EVA communications system. MDRS provided an excellent, cost-effective venue for bringing together teams from NASA Ames and Johnson Space Center, including six distinct projects, in an intensive two weeks of system integration and experiments. The flexibility of the Mobile Agents Architecture, the voice--2-commanding framework, and the empirical approach to requirements specification and development provide a powerful combination for development of integrated EVA systems.
Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
In visual servoing applications using a position-based approach and an end-effector-mounted camer... more In visual servoing applications using a position-based approach and an end-effector-mounted camera, the position and orientation of the camera with respect to the end-effector must be known. This information is frequently represented in the form of a homogeneous transformation matrix (HTM). For special "noise-free" cases, a closed-form solution for this calibration problem can be determined. However, in the real world, such a solution is not adequate and a least-squares approach or an adaptive algorithm must be used. In this paper, we describe a new algorithm that can simultaneously calculate the base-world and the hand-eye (camera to end-effector) HTMs. This method is robust to noise, and converges to a valid solution very quickly.
Three NASA centers are working together to address the challenge of operating robotic assets in s... more Three NASA centers are working together to address the challenge of operating robotic assets in support of human exploration of the Moon. This paper describes the combined work to date of the Ames Research Center (ARC), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Johnson Space Center (JSC) on a common support framework to control and monitor lunar robotic assets. We discuss how we have addressed specific challenges including time-delayed operations, and geographically distributed collaborative monitoring and control, to build an effective architecture for integrating a heterogeneous collection of robotic assets into a common work. We describe the design of the Robot Application Programming Interface Delegate (RAPID) architecture that effectively addresses the problem of interfacing a family of robots including the JSC Chariot, ARC K-10 and JPL ATHLETE rovers. We report on lessons learned from the June 2008 field test in which RAPID was used to monitor and control all of these assets. We con...
Page 1. 1 Crew Office Evaluation of a Precision Lunar Landing System Laura M. Major The Charles S... more Page 1. 1 Crew Office Evaluation of a Precision Lunar Landing System Laura M. Major The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. 555 Technology Square Cambridge, MA 02139 617-258-3432 lmajor@draper.com Kevin R. Duda The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. ...
... Specifically, the lessons learned could be categorized into four types: 1) operator experienc... more ... Specifically, the lessons learned could be categorized into four types: 1) operator experience 2) Mapping ... The asset bridge will stay center specific, but the RAPID server can be universal ... Current topics of interest include the use of virtual worlds to effectively explore remote worlds ...
Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, a... more Page 1. Astronaut Interface Device (AID) Robert L. Hirsh1*, Cory L. Simon2, Kimberly S. Tyree3, and Tam Ngo4 NASA/Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058 David S. Mittman5 NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA ...
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