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NASA NTRS2015

Robotic Missions to Small Bodies and Their Potential Contributions to Human Exploration and Planetary Defense

Introduction: Robotic missions to small bodies will directly address aspects of NASA's Asteroid Initiative and will contribute to future human exploration and planetary defense. The NASA Asteroid Initiative is comprised of two major components: the Grand Challenge and the Asteroid Mission. The first component, the Grand Challenge, focuses on protecting Earth's population from asteroid impacts by detecting potentially hazardous objects with enough warning time to either prevent them from impacting the planet, or to implement civil defense procedures. The Asteroid Mission involves sending astronauts to study and sample a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) prior to conducting exploration missions of the Martian system, which includes Phobos and Deimos. The science and technical data obtained from robotic precursor missions that investigate the surface and interior physical characteristics of an object will help identify the pertinent physical properties that will maximize operational efficiency and reduce mission risk for both robotic assets and crew operating in close proximity to, or at the surface of, a small body. These data will help fill crucial strategic knowledge gaps (SKGs) concerning asteroid physical characteristics that are relevant for human exploration considerations at similar small body destinations. These data can also be applied for gaining an understanding of pertinent small body physical characteristics that would also be beneficial for formulating future impact mitigation procedures. Small Body Strategic Knowledge Gaps: For the past several years NASA has been interested in identifying the key SKGs related to future human destinations. These SKGs highlight the various unknowns and/or data gaps of targets that the science and engineering communities would like to have filled in prior to committing crews to explore the Solar System. An action team from the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) was formed specifically to identify the small body SKGs under the direction of the Human Exploration and Operations Missions Directorate (HEOMD), given NASA's recent interest in NEAs and the Martian moons as potential human destinations. The action team organized the SKGs into four broad themes: 1) Identify human mission targets; 2) Understand how to work on and interact with the small body surface; 3) Understand the small body environment and its potential risk/benefit to crew, systems, and operational assets; and 4) Understand the small body resource potential. Of these four SKG themes, the first three have significant overlap with planetary defense considerations. The data obtained from investigations of small body physical characteristics under these three themes can be directly applicable to planetary defense initiatives. Conclusions: Missions to investigate small bodies can address small body strategic knowledge gaps and contribute to the overall success for human exploration missions to asteroids and the Martian moons. In addition, such reconnaissance of small bodies can also provide a wealth of information relevant to the science and planetary defense of NEAs.

Abell, Paul A.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Head Pose Estimation Using Multilinear Subspace Analysis for Robot Human Awareness

Mobile robots, operating in unconstrained indoor and outdoor environments, would benefit in many ways from perception of the human awareness around them. Knowledge of people's head pose and gaze directions would enable the robot to deduce which people are aware of the its presence, and to predict future motions of the people for better path planning. To make such inferences, requires estimating head pose on facial images that are combination of multiple varying factors, such as identity, appearance, head pose, and illumination. By applying multilinear algebra, the algebra of higher-order tensors, we can separate these factors and estimate head pose regardless of subject's identity or image conditions. Furthermore, we can automatically handle uncertainty in the size of the face and its location. We demonstrate a pipeline of on-the-move detection of pedestrians with a robot stereo vision system, segmentation of the head, and head pose estimation in cluttered urban street scenes.

Ivanov, Tonislav↗
NASA NTRS1992

High-Repeatability, Robot Friendly, ORU Interface

A robot-friendly coupling device for an Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU). The invention will provide a coupling that is detached and attached remotely by a robot. The design of the coupling must allow for slight misalignments, over torque protection, and precision placement. This is accomplished by using of a triangular interface having three components. A base plate assembly is located on an attachment surface, such as a satellite. The base plate assembly has a cup member, a slotted member, and a post member. The ORU that the robot attaches to the base plate assembly has an ORU plate assembly with two cone members and a post member which mate to the base plate assembly. As the two plates approach one another, one cone member of the ORU plate assembly only has to be placed accurately enough to fall into the cup member of the base plate assembly. The cup forces alignment until a second cone falls into a slotted member which provides final alignment. A single bolt is used to attach the two plates. Two deflecting plates are attached to the backs of the plates. When pressure is applied to the center of the deflecting plates, the force is distributed preventing the ORU & base plates from deflecting. This accounts for precision in the placement of the article.

Voellmer, George M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

On the Efficacy of Isolating Shoulder and Elbow Movements with a Soft, Portable, and Wearable Robotic Device

Treatment intensity has a profound effect on motor recovery following neurological injury. The use of robotics has potential to automate these labor-intensive therapy procedures that are typically performed by physical therapists. Further, the use of wearable robotics offers an aspect of portability that may allow for rehabilitation outside the clinic. The authors have developed a soft, portable, lightweight upper extremity wearable robotic device to provide motor rehabilitation of patients with affected upper limbs due to traumatic brain injury (TBI). A key feature of the device demonstrated in this paper is the isolation of shoulder and elbow movements necessary for effective rehabilitation interventions. Herein is presented a feasibility study with one subject and demonstration of the device's ability to provide safe, comfortable, and controlled upper extremity movements. Moreover, it is shown that by decoupling shoulder and elbow motions, desired isolated joint actuation can be achieved.

Kadivar, Zahra↗
NASA NTRS2016

ISS Robotic Student Programming

The SPHERES facility is a set of three free-flying satellites launched in 2006. In addition to scientists and engineering, middle- and high-school students program the SPHERES during the annual Zero Robotics programming competition. Zero Robotics conducts virtual competitions via simulator and on SPHERES aboard the ISS, with students doing the programming. A web interface allows teams to submit code, receive results, collaborate, and compete in simulator-based initial rounds and semi-final rounds. The final round of each competition is conducted with SPHERES aboard the ISS. At the end of 2017 a new robotic platform called Astrobee will launch, providing new game elements and new ground support for even more student interaction.

competition↗
NASA NTRS2016

Localization from Visual Landmarks on a Free-Flying Robot

We present the localization approach for Astrobee, a new free-flying robot designed to navigate autonomously on the International Space Station (ISS). Astrobee will accommodate a variety of payloads and enable guest scientists to run experiments in zero-g, as well as assist astronauts and ground controllers. Astrobee will replace the SPHERES robots which currently operate on the ISS, whose use of fixed ultrasonic beacons for localization limits them to work in a 2 meter cube. Astrobee localizes with monocular vision and an IMU, without any environmental modifications. Visual features detected on a pre-built map, optical flow information, and IMU readings are all integrated into an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate the robot pose. We introduce several modifications to the filter to make it more robust to noise, and extensively evaluate the localization algorithm.

Coltin, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2016

Localization from Visual Landmarks on a Free-Flying Robot

We present the localization approach for Astrobee,a new free-flying robot designed to navigate autonomously on board the International Space Station (ISS). Astrobee will conduct experiments in microgravity, as well as assisst astronauts and ground controllers. Astrobee replaces the SPHERES robots which currently operate on the ISS, which were limited to operating in a small cube since their localization system relied on triangulation from ultrasonic transmitters. Astrobee localizes with only monocular vision and an IMU, enabling it to traverse the entire US segment of the station. Features detected on a previously-built map, optical flow information,and IMU readings are all integrated into an extended Kalman filter (EKF) to estimate the robot pose. We introduce several modifications to the filter to make it more robust to noise.Finally, we extensively evaluate the behavior of the filter on atwo-dimensional testing surface.

Coltin, Brian↗
NASA NTRS2017

NASA's Robotics Mining Competition Provides Undergraduates Full Life Cycle Systems Engineering Experience

NASA has held an annual robotic mining competition for teams of university/college students since 2010. This competition is yearlong, suitable for a senior university engineering capstone project. It encompasses the full project life cycle from ideation of a robot design to actual tele-operation of the robot in simulated Mars conditions mining and collecting simulated regolith. A major required element for this competition is a Systems Engineering Paper in which each team describes the systems engineering approaches used on their project. The score for the Systems Engineering Paper contributes 25% towards the team's score for the competition's grand prize. The required use of systems engineering on the project by this competition introduces the students to an intense practical application of systems engineering throughout a full project life cycle.

Stecklein, Jonette↗
NASA NTRS2017

Biologically-Inspired Control for a Planetary Exploration Tensegrity Robot

Tensegrity structures are becoming increasingly popular as mechanical structures for robots. Their inherent compliance makes them extremely robust to environmental disturbances, and their design allows them to have a high strength-to-weight ratio whilst being lightweight compared to traditional robots. For these reasons they would be of interest to the aerospace industry, particularly for planetary exploration. However, being such compliant structures thanks to their network of elastic elements also means that their control is not an easy task. Relying solely on traditional control strategies to generate efficient locomotion would surely be near impossible due to the complex oscillatory motions and nonlinear interactions of its members. The goal of this project was to use bio-inspired control techniques to generate locomotion for a tensegrity icosahedron, namely the SUPERball project of the Intelligent Robotics Group of NASA Ames Research Center.

Leroy, Marc↗
NASA NTRS2018

Surrogate: A Body-Dexterous Mobile Manipulation Robot with a Tracked Base

Robotics platforms in accordance with various embodiments of the invention can be utilized to implement highly dexterous robots capable of whole body motion. Robotics platforms in accordance with one embodiment of the invention include: a memory containing a whole body motion application; a spine, where the spine has seven degrees of freedom and comprises a spine actuator and three spine elbow joints that each include two spine joint actuators; at least one limb, where the at least one limb comprises a limb actuator and three limb elbow joints that each include two limb joint actuators; a tracked base; a connecting structure that connects the at least one limb to the spine; a second connecting structure that connects the spine to the tracked base; wherein the processor is configured by the whole body motion application to move the at least one limb and the spine to perform whole body motion.

Kennedy, Brett A.↗
NASA NTRS2016

ISS Robotic Student Programming

The SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold Engage and Reorient Experimental Satellite) facility is a set of three free-flying satellites launched in 2006. In addition to scientists and engineers, middle- and high-school students program the SPHERES during the annual Zero Robotics programming competition. Zero Robotics conducts virtual competitions via simulator and on SPHERES aboard the ISS (International Space Station), with students doing the programming. A web interface allows teams to submit code, receive results, collaborate, and compete in simulator-based initial rounds and semi-final rounds. The final round of each competition is conducted with SPHERES aboard the ISS. At the end of 2017 a new robotic platform called Astrobee will launch, providing new game elements and new ground support for even more student interaction.

competition↗
NASA NTRS2014

Advanced Inspection System: Integrating Robotic Configurations & Controls

The Advanced Inspection System (AIS) promotes the ability to perform field inspections and repairs remotely by operator command. The robotic system is required to be a fully autonomous operation, managed by computer execution of scripts with limited user control. AIS is a complex yet intriguing challenge in which various goals must be reached to achieve complete autonomy. The first steps to building such a system require human computer interactions and computer simulations for testing and verification. Such applications include the use of a wireless video game controller via Bluetooth Technology and the use of Leap Motion, a gesture based motion controller which can be used to manipulate robotic arm movements. Utilizing the Robotic Operating System (ROS) environment, these applications, in accordance to developing a 3D simulation of the system, will provide a foundational test bed for AIS development.

Wlodarczyk, Stephan J.↗
NASA NTRS2020

MAGIK Animation of Robotic Operations for Flight SpaceX-21 to ISS

The MAGIK Robotic analysis team provides kinematic feasibility assessments for the ISS and has produced an animation to evaluate Extravehicular Robotics (EVR) activities for SpaceX (SpX)-21 flight. Flight SpX-21 includes a Dragon 2 vehicle docked to Node 2 Zenith (N2Z) International Docking Adapter (IDA) and consists of the delivery of the NanoRacks Airlock Assembly (NRAL). Robotic operations shown include Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Trunk extraction of the NRAL and maneuvering through the ISS Port Corridor to Node 3 Port (N3P). Extravehicular Activities not shown will complete the install to N3P. There is no disposal payload for this flight.

Alexander Radford Fryer↗
NASA NTRS2020

MAGIK Animation of Robotic Operations for Flight SpaceX-22 to ISS

The MAGIK Robotic analysis team provides kinematic feasibility assessments for the ISS and has produced an animation to evaluate Extravehicular Robotics (EVR) activities for the SpaceX (SpX)-22 flight. The animation also displays the current ISS configuration at the time of the flight. Flight SpX-22 includes a SpaceX Cargo Dragon vehicle docked to Node 2 Zenith (N2Z) International Docking Adapter (IDA) and consists of the delivery of the ISS Power Augmentation (IPA) Carrier. Robotic operations shown include the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Trunk extraction of the IPA Carrier and maneuvering to the install position on the Payload ORU (Orbital Replacement Unit) Accommodation (POA). There is no disposal payload for this flight.

Alexander Radford Fryer↗
NASA NTRS2020

Kibo Robot Programming Challenge Final Activity Report

On October 8th, 2020 the Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (RPC) Finals Event took place. Student teams from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and UAE were the finalists of the competition and became the first students to ever upload APKs to an Astrobee robot (Bumble) on the ISS. This was the culmination of a joint effort between JAXA’s Int-Ball developing team in Tsukuba, Japan and NASA’s Astrobee Facility team at NASA Ames Research Center\ in California, USA. The collaboration between JAXA and NASA started in late 2017. Throughout this time mutual visits by the engineering and management teams were organized. In July 2019 the Kibo RPC concept was formally defined and the competition started. Hundreds of students across the Asia Pacific region participated and during the final event they did so in real time with the participation of NASA’s astronaut, Chris Cassidy. Chris interacted with the students, JAXA personnel and with the robot during the activity. This report aims to summarize the lessons learned from the several crew and non-crew tended activities, the evaluations performed on ground, the coordination of resources both in the ground and at the International Space Station (ISS) as well as operations. It identifies the issues the teams faced and the solutions put in place to mitigate them.

Astrobee↗
NASA NTRS2019

SPARROW: A Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds

This paper presents the results of a NIAC Phase I study into the use of a propulsively hopping robot for the exploration of Europa’s rugged, icy surface. Named the“Steam Propelled Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds,” SPARROW is a multi-thruster robot passively gimballed within a protective, spherical shell, which enables it to freely rotate, self-right, and tumble over chaotic terrains. SPARROW is envisioned as a soccerball-sized payload to a primary lander mission. Europa’s abundant surface ice would be harvested as an in situ propellant source. The principal objective of SPARROW would be to increase the science return of a Europa landed asset by enabling access to distal, spatially distributed geologic units. The design of mobility systems for Europa is challenging, due in part to its almost entirely unconstrained surface topography and strength. Images returned by Voyager and Galileo yielded resolutions on the order of hundreds of meters per pixel, with localized regions reaching 6 meters per pixel—still far larger than a typical rover. A key benefit of SPARROW’s hopping, impact-tolerant design, is that it eliminates the need for a piori information on the terrain topography and surface strength; no surface reaction forces are required for motion. In this context, SPARROW is entirely terrain agnostic. In this paper we detail the results of three study objectives: i) to quantify the energy required to collect surface ice, change its phase, and maintain propellant temperature, ii) to identify control and estimation strategies that enable SPARROW to successfully reach, and return from, regions of scientific interest, and iii) to characterize the impact of SPARROW’s range on likely science return. Five water-based propellant architectures are presented alongside their mass, power, and volume requirements. Monte Carlo simulations of SPARROW hopping and tumbling over 1 km of glacial ice are summarized, characterizing SPARROW’s sensitivity to uncertainty in: initial conditions, thrust control, and cage-terrain interaction. Finally, a science traceability matrix is presented, which details the effect of sortie range on three science goals: constraining Europa’s evolutionary morphology, assessing sub-surface ocean habitability, and searching for life and/or biosignatures.

Phillips, Cynthia↗
NASA NTRS2017

Legacy of the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM)

NASA’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) began with the recognition in a 2010 NASA study that emerging high-power solar electric propulsion technology could be used to rendezvous with, capture, and return an entire, very small (~10,000 kg), near Earth asteroids to the International Space Station. A 2011 workshop by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) extended the earlier NASA study to asteroid masses of order 500,000 kg by returning them to cislunar space. Subsequent detailed NASA studies in 2013-2014 confirmed the feasibility of this concept. This led to the establishment of the Asteroid Redirect Mission program that consisted of a robotic mission to return multiple tons of asteroid material to cislunar space and a crewed mission to rendezvous with the robotic vehicle, perform two extra vehicular activities (EVAs), collect samples of the asteroid material, and return this material to Earth. Implementation of ARRM got midway through Phase B before being cancelled in April 2017. Although ARRM was cancelled, it has left a near-term legacy of positive impacts to the human spaceflight community, the planetary defense community, the deep space science community, and asteroid mining interests.

Brophy, John R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

SSIM: NASA Mars rover robotics flight software simulation

The focus of SSim on MSL was the robotic flight software, including rover mobility and navigation, robotic arm manipulation, and sample acquisition, processing, and delivery. It can execute behaviors in simulation a thousand times faster than they execute in real time on the flight compute element. SSim is used by rover drivers to develop and validate command sequences throughout the planning cycle. SSim has been used to plan all of the Curiosity robotic operations since landing and is expected to continue to be used for the remaining life of the rover.

Leger, Chris↗