Advancing automation and robotics technology for the space station and for the US economy: Submitted to the United States Congress October 1, 1987

In April 1985, as required by Public Law 98-371, the NASA Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) reported to Congress the results of its studies on advanced automation and robotics technology for use on the space station. This material was documented in the initial report (NASA Technical Memorandum 87566). A further requirement of the Law was that ATAC follow NASA's progress in this area and report to Congress semiannually. This report is the fifth in a series of progress updates and covers the period between 16 May 1987 and 30 September 1987. NASA has accepted the basic recommendations of ATAC for its space station efforts. ATAC and NASA agree that the mandate of Congress is that an advanced automation and robotics technology be built to support an evolutionary space station program and serve as a highly visible stimulator affecting the long-term U.S. economy

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

Technology for the Future: In-Space Technology Experiments Program, part 2

The purpose of the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) In-Space Technology Experiments Program In-STEP 1988 Workshop was to identify and prioritize technologies that are critical for future national space programs and require validation in the space environment, and review current NASA (In-Reach) and industry/ university (Out-Reach) experiments. A prioritized list of the critical technology needs was developed for the following eight disciplines: structures; environmental effects; power systems and thermal management; fluid management and propulsion systems; automation and robotics; sensors and information systems; in-space systems; and humans in space. This is part two of two parts and contains the critical technology presentations for the eight theme elements and a summary listing of critical space technology needs for each theme

Development of personal area network (PAN) for mobile robot using bluetooth transceiver

The work presents the concept of providing a Personal Area Network (PAN) for microcontroller based mobile robots using Bluetooth transceiver. With the concept of replacing cable, low cost, low power consumption and communication range between 10m to 100m, Bluetooth is suitable for communication between mobile robots since most mobile robots are powered by batteries and have high mobility. The network aimed to support real-time control of up to two mobile robots from a master mobile robot through communication using Bluetooth transceiver. If a fast network radio link is implemented, a whole new world of possibilities is opened in the research of robotics control and Artificial Intelligence (AI) research works, sending real time image and information. Robots could communicate through obstacles or even through walls. Bluetooth Ad Hoc topology provides a simple communication between devices in close by forming PAN. A system contained of both hardware and software is designed to enable the robots to form a PAN and communicating, sharing information. Three microcontroller based mobile robots are built for this research work. Bluetooth Protocol Stack and mobile robot control architecture is implemented on a single microcontroller chip. The PAN enabled a few mobile robots to communicate with each other to complete a given task. The wireless communication between mobile robots is reliable based from the result of experiments carried out. Thus this is a platform for multi mobile robots system and Ad Hoc networking system. Results from experiments show that microcontroller based mobile robots can easily form a Bluetooth PAN and communicate with each other

Ground reaction force sensor fault detection and recovery method based on virtual force sensor for walking biped robots

This paper presents a novel method for ground force sensor faults detection and faulty signal reconstruction using Virtual force Sensor (VFS) for slow walking bipeds. The design structure of the VFS consists of two steps, the total ground reaction force (GRF) and its location estimation for each leg based on the center of mass (CoM) position, the leg kinematics, and the IMU readings is carried on in the first step. In the second step, the optimal estimation of the distributed reaction forces at the contact points in the feet sole of walking biped is carried on. For the optimal estimation, a constraint model is obtained for the distributed reaction forces at the contact points and the quadratic programming optimization method is used to solve for the GRF. The output of the VFS is used for fault detection and recovery. A faulty signal model is formed to detect the faults based on a threshold, and recover the signal using the VFS outputs. The sensor offset, drift, and frozen output faults are studied and tested. The proposed method detects and estimates the faults and recovers the faulty signal smoothly. The validity of the proposed estimation method was confirmed by simulations on 3D dynamics model of the humanoid robot SURALP while walking. The results are promising and prove themselves well in all of the studied fault cases

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review. Executive summary

Research and Development projects in automation technology for the Space Station are described. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics

2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy

This document is an update (new photos used) of the PDF version of the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy that will be available to download on the OCT Public Website. The updated 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy, or "technology dictionary", uses a technology discipline based approach that realigns like-technologies independent of their application within the NASA mission portfolio. This tool is meant to serve as a common technology discipline-based communication tool across the agency and with its partners in other government agencies, academia, industry, and across the world

Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks

In this chapter, we present a literature survey of an emerging, cutting-edge, and multi-disciplinary field of research at the intersection of Robotics and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which we refer to as Robotic Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSN). We define a RWSN as an autonomous networked multi-robot system that aims to achieve certain sensing goals while meeting and maintaining certain communication performance requirements, through cooperative control, learning and adaptation. While both of the component areas, i.e., Robotics and WSN, are very well-known and well-explored, there exist a whole set of new opportunities and research directions at the intersection of these two fields which are relatively or even completely unexplored. One such example would be the use of a set of robotic routers to set up a temporary communication path between a sender and a receiver that uses the controlled mobility to the advantage of packet routing. We find that there exist only a limited number of articles to be directly categorized as RWSN related works whereas there exist a range of articles in the robotics and the WSN literature that are also relevant to this new field of research. To connect the dots, we first identify the core problems and research trends related to RWSN such as connectivity, localization, routing, and robust flow of information. Next, we classify the existing research on RWSN as well as the relevant state-of-the-arts from robotics and WSN community according to the problems and trends identified in the first step. Lastly, we analyze what is missing in the existing literature, and identify topics that require more research attention in the future

2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy: 2015 Technology Areas to 2020 Taxonomy Areas Crosswalk

To help users of the 2020 Taxonomy navigate changes from the 2015 Technology Area Breakdown Structure (TABS), this companion document provides a crosswalk between the 2015 Technology Areas (TAs) and the updated 2020 Taxonomy areas (TXs)

Advancing automation and robotics technology for the Space Station Freedom and for the U.S. economy

In April 1985, as required by Public Law 98-371, the NASA Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) reported to Congress the results of its studies on advanced automation and robotics technology for use on Space Station Freedom. This material was documented in the initial report (NASA Technical Memorandum 87566). A further requirement of the law was that ATAC follow NASA's progress in this area and report to Congress semiannually. This report is the fifteenth in a series of progress updates and covers the period between 27 Feb. - 17 Sep. 1992. The progress made by Levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Space Station Freedom in developing and applying advanced automation and robotics technology is described. Emphasis was placed upon the Space Station Freedom program responses to specific recommendations made in ATAC Progress Report 14. Assessments are presented for these and other areas as they apply to the advancement of automation and robotics technology for Space Station Freedom