Human factors and telerobotics : tools and approaches for designing remote robotic workstation displays

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, February 2002.Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 297-300).A methodology is created for designing and testing an intuitive synthesized telerobotic workstation display configuration for controlling a high degree of freedom dexterous manipulator for use on the International Space Station. With the construction and maintenance of the International Space Station, the number of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) hours is expected to increase by a factor of four over the current Space Shuttle missions, resulting in higher demands on the EVA crewmembers and EVA crew systems. One approach to utilizing EVA resources more effectively while increasing crew safety and efficiency is to perform routine and high-risk EVA tasks telerobotically. NASA's Johnson Space Center is developing the state-of-the-art dexterous robotic manipulator. An anthropomorphic telerobot called Robonaut is being constructed that is capable of performing all of the tasks required of an EVA suited crewmember. Robonaut is comparable in size to a suited crewmember and consists of two 7 DOF arms, two 12 DOF hands, a 6+ DOF "stinger tail", and a 2+ DOF stereo camera platform. Current robotic workstations are insufficient for controlling highly dexterous manipulators, which require full immersion operator telepresence. The Robonaut workstation must be designed to allow an operator to intuitively control numerous degrees of freedom simultaneously, in varying levels of supervisory control and for all types of EVA tasks. This effort critically reviewed previous research into areas including telerobotic interfaces, human-machine interactions, microgravity physiology, supervisory control, force feedback, virtual reality, and manual control.(cont.) A methodology is developed for designing and evaluating integrated interfaces for highly dexterous and multi-functional telerobots. In addition a classification of telerobotic tasks is proposed. Experiments were conducted with subjects performing EVA tasks with Space Station hardware using Robonaut and a Robonaut simulation (also under development). Results indicate that Robonaut simulation subject performance matches Robonaut performance. The simulation can be used for training operators for full-immersion teleoperation and for developing and evaluating future telerobotic workstations. A baseline amount of Situation Awareness time was determined and reduced using the display design iteration.by Jennifer Lisa Rochlis.Ph.D

Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS 1994), volume 1

The AIAA/NASA Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS '94) was originally proposed because of the strong belief that America's problems of global economic competitiveness and job creation and preservation can partly be solved by the use of intelligent robotics, which are also required for human space exploration missions. Individual sessions addressed nuclear industry, agile manufacturing, security/building monitoring, on-orbit applications, vision and sensing technologies, situated control and low-level control, robotic systems architecture, environmental restoration and waste management, robotic remanufacturing, and healthcare applications

Vision 21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace

The symposium Vision-21: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in the Era of Cyberspace was held at the NASA Lewis Research Center on March 30-31, 1993. The purpose of the symposium was to simulate interdisciplinary thinking in the sciences and technologies which will be required for exploration and development of space over the next thousand years. The keynote speakers were Hans Moravec, Vernor Vinge, Carol Stoker, and Myron Krueger. The proceedings consist of transcripts of the invited talks and the panel discussion by the invited speakers, summaries of workshop sessions, and contributed papers by the attendees