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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

How do we get robots to take self-portraits on Mars? – Perseverance-Ingenuity and Curiosity selfies

The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater,Mars, on 18 February 2021. It carried with it a technologydemonstration, the Ingenuity helicopter, which hasdemonstrated the first controlled, powered flight on anotherplanet. This paper describes how an iconic, April 2021 imageof the Perseverance rover with the Ingenuity helicopter wasdesigned and executed as the rover was getting ready todeploy the helicopter. WATSON is a camera mounted at theend of the rover’s robotic arm and was used to acquire theself-portrait. WATSON is designed to take close up picturesof rocks and regolith on Mars but can also provide views ofthe terrain. A single image covers a small portion of thescene. In order to a create a mosaic covering the full roverand helicopter, 62 WATSON images were acquired. To allowthe images to be mosaicked together, the camera needs to bekept in the same spot. The robotic arm has five degrees offreedom for motion; small changes in orientation can requiresignificant repositioning of the robotic arm joints. Todocument this, a movie of the arm motion was acquired bythe rover’s mast-mounted left navigation camera pointed atthe WATSON and robotic arm while it was simultaneouslymoving to acquire the selfie. For the first time, we alsocaptured the sound of the arm motion as it was acquiring theselfie. In the case of the Perseverance selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, we also had to think about how toposition the rover with respect to the helicopter and fit theselfie acquisition into the helicopter prime mission timeline.This paper also describes the history of NASA Mars roverselfies.

Beegle, Luther↗
NASA NTRS1992

Hazardous materials emergency response mobile robot

A simple or unsophisticated robot incapable of effecting straight-line motion at the end of its arm inserts a key held in its end effector or hand into a door lock with nearly straight-line motion by gently thrusting its back heels downwardly so that it pivots forwardly on its front toes while holding its arm stationary. The relatively slight arc traveled by the robot's hand is compensated by a complaint tool with which the robot hand grips the door key. A visible beam is projected through the axis of the hand or gripper on the robot arm end at an angle to the general direction in which the robot thrusts the gripper forward. As the robot hand approaches a target surface, a video camera on the robot wrist watches the beam spot on the target surface fall from a height proportional to the distance between the robot hand and the target surface until the beam spot is nearly aligned with the top of the robot hand. Holes in the front face of the hand are connected through internal passages inside the arm to an on-board chemical sensor. Full rotation of the hand or gripper about the robot arm's wrist is made possible by slip rings in the wrist which permit passage of the gases taken in through the nose holes in the front of the hand through the wrist regardless of the rotational orientation of the wrist.

Stone, Henry W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Hazardous materials emergency response mobile robot

A simple or unsophisticated robot incapable of effecting straight-line motion at the end of its arm is presented. This robot inserts a key held in its end effector or hand into a door lock with nearly straight-line motion by gently thrusting its back heels downwardly so that it pivots forwardly on its front toes while holding its arm stationary. The relatively slight arc traveled by the robot's hand is compensated by a complaint tool with which the robot hand grips the door key. A visible beam is projected through the axis of the hand or gripper on the robot arm end at an angle to the general direction in which the robot thrusts the gripper forward. As the robot hand approaches a target surface, a video camera on the robot wrist watches the beam spot on the target surface fall from a height proportional to the distance between the robot hand and the target surface until the beam spot is nearly aligned with the top of the robot hand. Holes in the front face of the hand are connected through internal passages inside the arm to an on-board chemical sensor. Full rotation of the hand or gripper about the robot arm's wrist is made possible by slip rings in the wrist which permit passage of the gases taken in through the nose holes in the front of the hand through the wrist regardless of the rotational orientation of the wrist.

Stone, Henry W.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Pathfinder Lander Rover Recharge System, and MARCO POLO Controls and ACME Regolith Feed System Controls and Integration

This project stems from the Exploration, Research, and Technology Directorate (UB) Projects Division, and one of their main initiatives is the "Journey to Mars". Landing on the surface of Mars which is millions of miles away is an incredibly large challenge. The terrain is covered in boulders, deep canyons, volcanic mountains, and spotted with sand dunes. The robotic lander is a kind of spacecraft with multiple purposes. One purpose is to be the protective shell for the Martian rover and absorb the impact from the landing forces; another purpose is to be a place where the rovers can come back to, actively communicate with, and recharge their batteries from. Rovers have been instrumental to the Journey to Mars initiative. They have been performing key research on the terrain of the red planet, trying to unlock the mysteries of the land for over a decade. The rovers that will need charging will not all have the same kind of internal battery either. RASSOR batteries may differ from the PbAC batteries inside Red Rover's chassis. NASA has invested heavily in the exploration of the surface of Mars. A driving force behind further exploration is the need for a more efficient operation of Martian rovers. One way is to reduce the weight as much as possible to reduce power consumption given the same mission parameters. In order to reduce the mass of the rovers, power generation, communication, and sample analysis systems currently onboard Martian rovers can be moved to a stationary lander deck. Positioning these systems from the rover to the Lander deck allows a taskforce of smaller, lighter rovers to perform the same tasks currently performed by or planned for larger rovers. A major task in transferring these systems to a stationary lander deck is ensuring that power can be transferred to the rovers.

Internship↗
NASA NTRS2014

Deployable Greenhouse for Food Production

The X-HAB team in the CU Graduate Projects course was tasked with developing a Distributed Robotic Plant Production System (DRoPPS) that provided remote food production capability for long-duration space missions. The system consists of a Remotely Operated Gardening Robot (ROGR) and a Smart Pot (SPOT). SPOT was designed to grow a plant in a hydroponic system, while also providing multiple sensor data feedback to a remote user. ROGR was designed to give a remote user a method of moving SPOT and caring for the plant. A User Interface (UI) was created to provide a means by which a remote user could interact with the system. At the conclusion of the semester, ROGR was 95% complete, and only required minor mechanical fixes. SPOT was 85% complete, and required additional machining of mechanical parts. The UI was 75% complete, and required additional functionality and user testing. The project was not fully completed due to the scope of the project. Regardless, multiple team members have agreed to continue working on the project to finish by the June 1st presentation day at NASA.

Nikolaus Correll↗
NASA NTRS2007

Mapping Nearby Terrain in 3D by Use of a Grid of Laser Spots

A proposed optoelectronic system, to be mounted aboard an exploratory robotic vehicle, would be used to generate a three-dimensional (3D) map of nearby terrain and obstacles for purposes of navigating the vehicle across the terrain and avoiding the obstacles. The difference between this system and the other systems would lie in the details of implementation. In this system, the illumination would be provided by a laser. The beam from the laser would pass through a two-dimensional diffraction grating, which would divide the beam into multiple beams propagating in different, fixed, known directions. These beams would form a grid of bright spots on the nearby terrain and obstacles. The centroid of each bright spot in the image would be computed. For each such spot, the combination of (1) the centroid, (2) the known direction of the light beam that produced the spot, and (3) the known baseline would constitute sufficient information for calculating the 3D position of the spot.

Padgett, Curtis↗
NASA NTRS1987

Monitoring robot actions for error detection and recovery

Reliability is a serious problem in computer controlled robot systems. Although robots serve successfully in relatively simple applications such as painting and spot welding, their potential in areas such as automated assembly is hampered by programming problems. A program for assembling parts may be logically correct, execute correctly on a simulator, and even execute correctly on a robot most of the time, yet still fail unexpectedly in the face of real world uncertainties. Recovery from such errors is far more complicated than recovery from simple controller errors, since even expected errors can often manifest themselves in unexpected ways. Here, a novel approach is presented for improving robot reliability. Instead of anticipating errors, researchers use knowledge-based programming techniques so that the robot can autonomously exploit knowledge about its task and environment to detect and recover from failures. They describe preliminary experiment of a system that they designed and constructed.

Gini, M.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Spatial Representativeness Error in the Ground-Level Observation Networks for Black Carbon Radiation Absorption

There is high uncertainty in the direct radiative forcing of black carbon (BC), an aerosol that strongly absorbs solar radiation. The observation-constrained estimate, which is several times larger than the bottom-up estimate, is influenced by the spatial representativeness error due to the mesoscale inhomogeneity of the aerosol fields and the relatively low resolution of global chemistry-transport models. Here we evaluated the spatial representativeness error for two widely used observational networks (AErosol RObotic NETwork and Global Atmosphere Watch) by downscaling the geospatial grid in a global model of BC aerosol absorption optical depth to 0.1° × 0.1°. Comparing the models at a spatial resolution of 2° × 2° with BC aerosol absorption at AErosol RObotic NETwork sites (which are commonly located near emission hot spots) tends to cause a global spatial representativeness error of 30%, as a positive bias for the current top-down estimate of global BC direct radiative forcing. By contrast, the global spatial representativeness error will be 7% for the Global Atmosphere Watch network, because the sites are located in such a way that there are almost an equal number of sites with positive or negative representativeness error.

Wang, Rong↗
NASA NTRS2014

Active Collision Avoidance for Planetary Landers

Present day robotic missions to other planets require precise, a priori knowledge of the terrain to pre-determine a landing spot that is safe. Landing sites can be miles from the mission objective, or, mission objectives may be tailored to suit landing sites. Future robotic exploration missions should be capable of autonomously identifying a safe landing target within a specified target area selected by mission requirements. Such autonomous landing sites must (1) 'see' the surface, (2) identify a target, and (3) land the vehicle. Recent advances in radar technology have resulted in small, lightweight, low power radars that are used for collision avoidance and cruise control systems in automobiles. Such radar systems can be adapted for use as active hazard avoidance systems for planetary landers. The focus of this CIF proposal is to leverage earlier work on collision avoidance systems for MSFC's Mighty Eagle lander and evaluate the use of automotive radar systems for collision avoidance in planetary landers.

Rickman, Doug↗
NASA NTRS2009

NASA Tech Briefs, August 2009

Topics covered include: Aligning a Receiving Antenna Array to Reduce Interference; Collecting Ground Samples for Balloon-Borne Instruments; Tethered Pyrotechnic Apparatus for Acquiring a Ground Sample; Enhanced Video-Oculography System; Joint Carrier-Phase Synchronization and LDPC Decoding; Dual-Polarization, Sideband-Separating, Balanced Receiver for 1.5 THz Modular Battery Charge Controller; Efficient Multiplexer FPGA Block Structures Based on G4FETs; VLSI Microsystem for Rapid Bioinformatic Pattern Recognition; Low-Noise Amplifier for 100 to 180 GHz; Improved Fabrication of Ceramic Matrix Composite/Foam Core Integrated Structures; Inert Welding/Brazing Gas Filters and Dryers; Fabricating Copper Nanotubes by Electrodeposition; Reducing Aerodynamic Drag on Empty Open Cargo Vehicles; Rotary Percussive Auto-Gopher for Deep Drilling and Sampling; More About Reconfigurable Exploratory Robotic Vehicles; Thermostatic Valves Containing Silicone-Oil Actuators; Improving Heat Flux Performance of Flat Surface in Spray-Cooling Systems; Treating Fibrous Insulation to Reduce Thermal Conductivity; Silica-Aerogel Composites Opacified with La(sub0.7)Sr(sub0.3)MnO3; Cyclic Oxidation Behavior of CuCrAl Cold-Sprayed Coatings for Reusable Launch Vehicles; Ceramic Fiber Structures for Cryogenic Load-Bearing Applications; Elastomer Reinforced with Carbon Nanotubes; Biologically Inspired Purification and Dispersion of SWCNTs; A Technique for Adjusting Eigenfrequencies of WGM Resonators; Low-Pressure, Field-Ionizing Mass Spectrometer; Modifying Operating Cycles to Increase Stability in a LITS; Chamber for Simulating Martian and Terrestrial Environments; Algorithm for Detecting a Bright Spot in an Image; Extreme Programming: Maestro Style; Adaptive Behavior for Mobile Robots; Protocol for Communication Networking for Formation Flying; Planning Complex Sequences Using Compressed Representations; and Self-Supervised Learning of Terrain Traversability from Proprioceptive Sensors.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2006

Range-Measuring Video Sensors

Optoelectronic sensors of a proposed type would perform the functions of both electronic cameras and triangulation- type laser range finders. That is to say, these sensors would both (1) generate ordinary video or snapshot digital images and (2) measure the distances to selected spots in the images. These sensors would be well suited to use on robots that are required to measure distances to targets in their work spaces. In addition, these sensors could be used for all the purposes for which electronic cameras have been used heretofore. The simplest sensor of this type, illustrated schematically in the upper part of the figure, would include a laser, an electronic camera (either video or snapshot), a frame-grabber/image-capturing circuit, an image-data-storage memory circuit, and an image-data processor. There would be no moving parts. The laser would be positioned at a lateral distance d to one side of the camera and would be aimed parallel to the optical axis of the camera. When the range of a target in the field of view of the camera was required, the laser would be turned on and an image of the target would be stored and preprocessed to locate the angle (a) between the optical axis and the line of sight to the centroid of the laser spot.

Howard, Richard T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2005

Thin-Film Resistance Heat-Flux Sensors Circuit Indicates that Voice-Recording Disks are Nearly Full Optical Sensing of Combustion Instabilities in Gas Turbines Topics include: Crane-Load Contact Sensor; Hexagonal and Pentagonal Fractal Multiband Antennas; Multifunctional Logic Gate Controlled by Temperature; Multifunctional Logic Gate Controlled by Supply Voltage; Power Divider for Waveforms Rich in Harmonics; SCB Quantum Computers Using iSWAP and 1-Qubit Rotations; CSAM Metrology Software Tool; Update on Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program; Selecting Data from a Star Catalog; Rotating Desk for Collaboration by Two Computer Programmers; Variable-Pressure Washer; Magnetically Attached Multifunction Maintenance Rover; Improvements in Fabrication of Sand/Binder Cores for Casting; Solid Freeform Fabrication of Composite-Material Objects; Efficient Computational Model of Hysteresis; Gauges for Highly Precise Metrology of a Compound Mirror; Improved Electrolytic Hydrogen Peroxide Generator; High-Power Fiber Lasers Using Photonic Band Gap Materials; Ontology-Driven Information Integration; Quantifying Traversability of Terrain for a Mobile Robot; More About Arc-Welding Process for Making Carbon Nanotubes; Controlling Laser Spot Size in Outer Space; or Software-Reconfigurable Processors for Spacecraft.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2007

V-Man Generation for 3-D Real Time Animation

The V-Man project has developed an intuitive authoring and intelligent system to create, animate, control and interact in real-time with a new generation of 3D virtual characters: The V-Men. It combines several innovative algorithms coming from Virtual Reality, Physical Simulation, Computer Vision, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. Given a high-level task like "walk to that spot" or "get that object", a V-Man generates the complete animation required to accomplish the task. V-Men synthesise motion at runtime according to their environment, their task and their physical parameters, drawing upon its unique set of skills manufactured during the character creation. The key to the system is the automated creation of realistic V-Men, not requiring the expertise of an animator. It is based on real human data captured by 3D static and dynamic body scanners, which is then processed to generate firstly animatable body meshes, secondly 3D garments and finally skinned body meshes.

Nebel, Jean-Christophe↗
NASA NTRS2006

Electron Beam Brazing of Titanium for Construction in Space

An extended presence of humans in space requires an in-situ capability to construct various permanent structures to support scientific research, power generation, communication, radiation shielding and other functions. Electron Beam (EB) vacuum brazing has been identified as one of the best joining processes for in-space joining, particular for making a large quantity of permanent joints as required for construction of the sizeable truss structures. Thin wall titanium tubes are perhaps the best choice because of their high stiffness, excellent strength-to-weight ratio and great metal forming and joining ability. An innovative EB vacuum spot brazing process is being developed at Goddard Space Flight Center to be used for robotic as well as human-assisted construction in space. This paper describes experimental results obtained during the initial effort of EB brazing of titanium tubes with the special emphasis on low temperature aluminum filler metals.

Flom, Yury↗
NASA NTRS1991

Gain in computational efficiency by vectorization in the dynamic simulation of multi-body systems

An improved technique for the identification and extraction of the exact quantities associated with the degrees of freedom at the element as well as the flexible body level is presented. It is implemented in the dynamic equations of motions based on the recursive formulation of Kane et al. (1987) and presented in a matrix form, integrating the concepts of strain energy, the finite-element approach, modal analysis, and reduction of equations. This technique eliminates the CPU intensive matrix multiplication operations in the code's hot spots for the dynamic simulation of the interconnected rigid and flexible bodies. A study of a simple robot with flexible links is presented by comparing the execution times on a scalar machine and a vector-processor with and without vector options. Performance figures demonstrating the substantial gains achieved by the technique are plotted.

Amirouche, F. M. L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Laser-Directed Ranging System Implementing Single Camera System for Telerobotics Applications

The invention relates generally to systems for determining the range of an object from a reference point and, in one embodiment, to laser-directed ranging systems useful in telerobotics applications. Digital processing techniques are employed which minimize the complexity and cost of the hardware and software for processing range calculations, thereby enhancing the commercial attractiveness of the system for use in relatively low-cost robotic systems. The system includes a video camera for generating images of the target, image digitizing circuitry, and an associated frame grabber circuit. The circuit first captures one of the pairs of stereo video images of the target, and then captures a second video image of the target as it is partly illuminated by the light beam, suitably generated by a laser. The two video images, taken sufficiently close together in time to minimize camera and scene motion, are converted to digital images and then compared. Common pixels are eliminated, leaving only a digital image of the laser-illuminated spot on the target. Mw centroid of the laser illuminated spot is dm obtained and compared with a predetermined reference point, predetermined by design or calibration, which represents the coordinate at the focal plane of the laser illumination at infinite range. Preferably, the laser and camera are mounted on a servo-driven platform which can be oriented to direct the camera and the laser toward the target. In one embodiment the platform is positioned in response to movement of the operator's head. Position and orientation sensors are used to monitor head movement. The disparity between the digital image of the laser spot and the reference point is calculated for determining range to the target. Commercial applications for the system relate to active range-determination systems, such as those used with robotic systems in which it is necessary to determine the, range to a workpiece or object to be grasped or acted upon by a robot arm end-effector in response to commands generated by an operator. In one embodiment, the system provides a real-time image of the target for the operator as the robot approaches the object. The system is also adapted for use in virtual reality systems in which a remote object or workpiece is to be acted upon by a remote robot arm or other mechanism controlled by an operator.

Wells, Dennis L.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Industrial robots in Europe - market, applications and developments

Different companies involving a wide range of products and manufacturing processes were studied to define the requirements for industrial robots. A survey of all such automatic units offered on the world market was made to establish a data base. Principal applications include coating, spot welding, and loading and unloading operations.

Schraft, R. D.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

On The Ultimate Fate of Interplanetary Dust

Interplanetary dust is interesting both from a physical point of view and from the awareness that the population poses a substantial collision risk to manned and unmanned spacecraft alike. Insight into the time evolution of the population gives important insights into solar system formation and, we argue, will offer clues as to the behavior of solar cycles predating modern ways of viewing the sun (e.g., sun spot counting, magnetograms, etc.). In addition, knowing how the dust population moves under the variety of forces each grain experiences will inform and better prepare manned and robotic spacecraft missions to mitigate the risk posed by dust. With these aims in mind, we developed a simple dynamical model for dust motion based on the work of Czechowski and Mann [1]. A byproduct of that development is a clear analytic model that demonstrates how the interplay of the Poynting-Robertson and Lorenz perturbation forces on the Keplerian motion of charged dust grains around the Sun can result in dust populations that move inward, outward, or remain confined in annular rings about the Sun. The timing of any of these behaviors is strongly dependent on the physical properties of the grain (mass, charge and reflectivity) and the evolution of the Sun’s dipole field.

Force models↗