28 research outputs found

    Mars, invisible vision and the virtual landscape: immersive encounters with contemporary rover images

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    How do contemporary imaging devices and the forms in which images are displayed affect our perception of Mars? How are scientists and engineers visually exploring, experiencing and navigating this uninhabitable terrain? Can we better understand this virtual landscape through immersive imaging techniques, or are these simply illusions? At what point does the glitch invade these immersive spaces, throwing us back into the realm of the image? And finally, can the glitch be seen as a method towards another kind of visibility, enabling us to ‘see’ and encounter Mars in productive ways? Through the analysis of contemporary representations of the Martian terrain, Mars, Invisible Vision and the Virtual Landscape: Immersive Encounters with Contemporary Rover Images offers a new contribution to studies of the digital and virtual image. Specifically addressing immersive image forms used in Mars exploration the research is structured around four main case studies: life-size illusions such as panoramas; 3D imaging; false colour imaging; and the concept of a ‘Mars Yard’. The thesis offers a new understanding of human interaction with a landscape only visible through a screen, and how contemporary scientific imaging devices aim to collapse the frame and increase a sense of immersion in the image. Arguing that these representations produce inherently virtual experiences, their transportive power is questioned, highlighting the image as reconstructed – through the presence of a glitch, illusion is broken, revealing the image-as-image. This thesis takes an interdisciplinary approach in which scientific images are analysed through the prism of photography’s relationship to reality, theories of vision and perception, representations of landscape, and digital and virtual image theory. At the heart of this thesis is the act of looking; critical and speculative writing is used to convey immersive encounters with images at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA); University College London’s Regional Planetary Imaging Facility; Airbus Defence and Space (UK); the photographic archive at the V&A; and the Panorama Mesdag (Netherlands). The research re-examines scientific forms of images against examples from the history of visual culture (be it art or popular culture) to draw parallels between different ways of seeing, representing and discovering the unknown. The eyes of the Mars rovers provide viewpoints through which we regard an alien terrain: windows upon unknown worlds. Rover images bridge a gap between what is known and unknown, between what is visible and invisible. The rover is our surrogate, an extension of our vision that portrays an intuitively comprehensible landscape. Yet this landscape remains totally out of reach, millions of miles away. This distance is an impenetrable boundary – both physically and metaphorically – that new technologies are trying to break. Mars, Invisible Vision and the Virtual Landscape offers a two-way impact, constituting a new approach to the relationship between real and imagined images in order to demonstrate that the real Mars, however it is represented and perceived, remains distant and detached

    Processus d'identification de propriétés de sécurité-innocuité vérifiables en ligne pour des systèmes autonomes critiques

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    Les progrès récents dans la définition de mécanismes décisionnels ont permis de déléguer de plus en plus de responsabilités aux systèmes informatiques. Par exemple, des robots de service travaillent aujourd'hui en interaction avec l'humain et réalisent des tâches de plus en plus complexes. Ce transfert de responsabilité pose alors de manière critique le problème de la sécurité pour l'homme, l'environnement du système, ou le système lui-même. La surveillance en ligne par un moniteur de sécurité indépendant vise à assurer un comportement sûr malgré la présence de fautes et d'incertitudes. Un tel moniteur doit détecter des situations potentiellement dangereuses afin d'enclencher des actions de mise en état sûr et d'éviter les défaillances catastrophiques. Cette thèse traite de l'identification de conditions de déclenchement de sécurité permettant de lancer des actions de mise en état sûr. Un processus systématique permettant d'identifier de telles conditions est défini, en partant d'une analyse de risque HazOp/UML du système fonctionnel. Par ailleurs, une méthode est proposée pour identifier les états du système où des actions de sécurité peuvent être enclenchées simultanément, afin d'être revues et corrigées, en cas de besoin, par un expert du système. L'approche proposée est appliquée à un robot déambulateur.Recent progress in the definition of decisional mechanisms has allowed computer-based systems to become more and more autonomous. For example, service robots can nowadays work in direct interaction with humans and carry out increasingly complex tasks. This transfer of responsibility poignantly raises the issue of system safety towards humans, the environment and the system itself. System surveillance by an independent safety monitor aims to enforce safe behaviour despite faults and uncertainties. Such a monitor must detect potentially dangerous situations in order to trigger safety actions aiming to bring the system towards a safe state. This thesis addresses the problem of identifying safety trigger conditions. A systematic process is proposed for the identification, starting from a HazOp/UML risk analysis. The proposed methodology also allows the identification of system states in which multiple safety actions might be executed concurrently, in order to be checked and, if necessary, corrected by a system expert. The methodology is applied to a robotic rollator

    Design principles for the development of space technology maturation laboratories aboard the International Space Station

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, p. 339-349).This thesis formulates seven design principles for the development of laboratories which utilize the International Space Station (ISS) to demonstrate the maturation of space technologies. The principles are derived from the lessons learned from more than two decades of space technology research at the MIT Space Systems Laboratory and the existence of unique resources aboard the ISS. The thesis provides scientists with a design framework for new laboratories and an evaluation framework to responds to a call by the National Research Council to institutionalize science activities aboard the ISS. Experience from previous missions and research on the resources available at the ISS led to the development of the SPHERES Laboratory for Distributed Satellite Systems (DSS), which constitutes the experimental part of the thesis. SPHERES allows tests in a representative, risk-tolerant environment aboard the ISS to demonstrate metrology, control, and autonomy algorithms for DSS. The implementation of ground-based and ISS-based facilities permits incremental technology maturation by enabling iterative research; algorithms can mature through multiple research cycles with increasing complexity. The SPHERES Guest Scientist Program supports research by multiple scientists: since the Spring of 2000 SPHERES has enabled research on formation flight, communications requirements, mass properties identification, autonomous rendezvous and docking, and tethered formation flight.(cont.) The design principles were formulated by first identifying the features of the SPHERES laboratory which allow it to fulfill the MIT SSL Laboratory Design Philosophy and utilize the ISS correctly, and then finding the applicability of these features to space technology maturation research. The seven principles are: Principle of Iterative Research, Principle of Enabling a Field of Study, Principle of Optimized Utilization, Principle of Focused Modularity, Principle of Remote Operations and Usability, Principle of Incremental Technology Maturation, and Principle of Requirements Balance. The design framework is used to assess SPHERES and suggest a new design iteration which better satisfies the design principles. The evaluation of SPHERES concludes that it is ready for operations aboard the ISS, since the modular design of SPHERES allows most of the proposed design changes to occur after the initial deployment.by Alvar Saenz-Otero.Ph.D

    Design and development of a one-degree-of-freedom force-reflecting manual controller prototype for teleoperation

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    The present research is carried out from the viewpoint of primarily space applications where human lives may be in danger if they are to work under these conditions. This work proposes to develop a one-degree-of-freedom (1-DOF) force-reflecting manual controller (FRMC) prototype for teleoperation, and address the effects of time delays commonly found in space applications where the control is accomplished via the earth-based control stations. To test the FRMC, a mobile robot (PPRK) and a slider-bar were developed and integrated to the 1-DOF FRMC. The software developed in Visual Basic is able to telecontrol any platform that uses an SV203 controller through the internet and it allows the remote system to send feedback information which may be in the form of visual or force signals. Time delay experiments were conducted on the platform and the effects of time delay on the FRMC system operation have been studied and delineated

    Sistema de control para robots móviles autónomos basado en habilidades reactivas

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    Un robot autónomo móvil debe ser capaz de adaptarse de manera flexible a cambios que se produzcan en el entorno sin la necesidad de decirle qué hacer en cada momento. La aptitud de un robot de decidir cómo actuar ante una determinada situación y de reaccionar adecuadamente ante eventos para ejecutar sus tareas de manera segura va a depender de cómo estén distribuidas las capacidades de deliberación y reacción en él. La arquitectura de control híbrida AD se basa en la forma en la que se organizan los procesos mentales humanos. Consta de dos niveles: uno Deliberativo que está relacionado con la capacidad de razonar, y otro Automático que está relacionado con las capacidades de ejecutar acciones de manera automática. Uno de los objetivos de esta tesis consiste en el desarrollo del nivel Au­tomático de la arquitectura AD. Este nivel permite al robot disponer de la necesaria reactividad para responder rápidamente a cambios que se produzcan en el entorno. Está formado por habilidades automáticas que incluyen las capacidades de percepción y acción del robot y por acciones reflejas que permiten al robot responder de manera prioritaria ante determinados estímulos. En esta tesis se ha definido una estructura genérica para habilidades que facilita su programación, integración y modificación en la arquitectura de control de manera que no afecte al resto de los componentes que constituyen dicha arquitectura. Las habilidades pueden ejecutarse en paralelo, son acti­vadas por el nivel Deliberativo cuando se necesitan para llevar a cabo una determinada tarea y generan sus propios eventos notificándoselo a aquellas habilidades que se hayan registrado en ella para recibirlos. También se propone tres diferentes métodos de generación de habilidades complejas a partir de habilidades ya existentes denominados secuenciación, adición de salidas y flujo de datos. Estos tres métodos no son excluyentes sino que pueden darse en una misma habilidad. El nivel Deliberativo tiene que conocer cuales son las habilidades au­tomáticas de las que dispone para ejecutar una tarea determinada. Se presenta una base de datos que contiene información acerca de las habilidades automáticas que le puede servir al nivel Deliberativo para razonar o tomar decisiones. Por último, se propone un algoritmo de aprendizaje por refuerzo basado en redes neuronales que permite a un robot móvil aprender habilidades sensorimotoras automáticas sencillas. De esta manera, el robot es capaz de aprender a adaptarse y a reaccionar para mejorar su actuación. El algoritmo de aprendizaje propuesto trabaja con espacios de entrada y salida continuos y señal de refuerzo continua.An autonomous mobile robot must be able to flexibly adapt its behaviors without explicitly being told what to do in each situation. Robot 's decision capacity to react to events in arder to carry out its tasks safely depends on how its deliberation and reaction capacities are organized on it. The hybrid control architecture called AD is based on how mental processes are performed in humans. It has two levels: one is the Deliberative level which is related to reasoning capacity and the another is the Automatic level which is related to execution of automatic actions. One of the objectives of this PhD Thesis is to develop the Automatic level of the architecture AD. This level allows the robot to react to changes took place in the environment. It is formed by automatic skills which include the robot's perception and action capacities, and by reflex actions which allow the robot to respond with priority to a specific stimulus. A generic structure for skills is defined which makes its programming, modification and integration easier so it does not affect the other architec­ture's components. Skills can execute parallel, are activated by the Deliber­ative level and generate their own events notifying them to skills which have registered at it in order to receive the events. Three different methods are also proposed for generating complex skills from simple ones called sequencing, output addition and data fiow. These methods are not exclusive but they can be in the same skill. The Deliberative level has to know what are the available automatic skills in order to perform a task. A data base is presented which contains infor­mation about skills useful for the Deliberative level for reasoning or taking decisions. Finally, a reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed based on neural networks which allows a mobile robot to learn simple automatic sensorimotor skills. In this case, the robot is capable of learning to adapt and react in order to improve its performance. The proposed learning algorithm works with continuous inputs and outputs and continuous reinforcement signal.Doctor por la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Programa en Tecnologías IndustrialesPresidente: Carlos Balaguer Bernaldo de Quirós.- Secretario: Luis Enrique Moreno Lorente.- Vocales: Jesús Manuel de la Cruz García, Fernando Morilla García y Antonio Barriento

    Robotik in USA. Ein Reisebericht

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    Autonomous control for on-orbit assembly using artificial potential functions

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    Current spacecraft mission analysis has highlighted a requirement for the assembly of large structures in Earth Orbit. This thesis investigates an autonomous method of assembly for such large structures. The scheme envisaged is based on Lyapunov's method which is extended to potential function theory. The method forms an analytical solution to the assembly problem by generating high level control commands which are then devolved to individual actuator commands for the assembly vehicles. The application of the method to general assembly problems has allowed the development of a generic global potential function. The application of the global potential function has required the use of a connectivity matrix which contains the information required to assemble the goal structure. Thus, a structure may be modified by altering only the characteristics of the connectivity matrix. The generic assembly method is then applied using a subsumptive type architecture which allows the assembly controller to delegate sub-components of the total structure to secondary controllers. Therefore, the method may then be utilised to construct complex structures, which, when linked to the use of smart components and joints allows the assembly of adaptive structures. These adaptive and variable topology structures which may change their functionality with time may prove useful for future mission applications

    NASA Tech Briefs, December 1990

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    Topics: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

    NASA Small Business Innovation Research Program. Composite List of Projects, 1983 to 1989

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    The NASA SBIR Composite List of Projects, 1983 to 1989, includes all projects that have been selected for support by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program of NASA. The list describes 1232 Phase 1 and 510 Phase 2 contracts that had been awarded or were in negotiation for award in August 1990. The main body is organized alphabetically by name of the small businesses. Four indexes cross-reference the list. The objective of this listing is to provide information about the SBIR program to anyone concerned with NASA research and development activities
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