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At least 199 records · Page 11

A decade of telerobotics in rehabilitation: Demonstrated utility blocked by the high cost of manipulation and the complexity of the user interface

The Stanford/VA Interactive Robotics Laboratory set out in 1978 to test the hypothesis that industrial robotics technology could be applied to serve the manipulation needs of severely impaired individuals. Five generations of hardware, three generations of system software, and over 125 experimental subjects later, we believe that genuine utility is achievable. The experience includes development of over 65 task applications using voiced command, joystick control, natural language command and 3D object designation technology. A brief foray into virtual environments, using flight simulator technology, was instructive. If reality and virtuality come for comparable prices, you cannot beat reality. A detailed review of assistive robot anatomy and the performance specifications needed to achieve cost/beneficial utility will be used to support discussion of the future of rehabilitation telerobotics. Poised on the threshold of commercial viability, but constrained by the high cost of technically adequate manipulators, this worthy application domain flounders temporarily. In the long run, it will be the user interface that governs utility.

Leifer, Larry↗

3D Virtual Simulation for Radiation Safety and Hazards Identification Training

This presentation will be presented at CAES codebreaker session on May 4th. The slides include two projects that demonstrate how virtual training can benefit from visualization technology. One is a collaboration project between the Applied Visualization Laboratory and College of Eastern Idaho for radiation safety and survey training. The other one is Idaho National Laboratory's hazards identification online training that utilized LiDAR technology.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Robot Position Sensor Fault Tolerance

Robot systems in critical applications, such as those in space and nuclear environments, must be able to operate during component failure to complete important tasks. One failure mode that has received little attention is the failure of joint position sensors. Current fault tolerant designs require the addition of directly redundant position sensors which can affect joint design. A new method is proposed that utilizes analytical redundancy to allow for continued operation during joint position sensor failure. Joint torque sensors are used with a virtual passive torque controller to make the robot joint stable without position feedback and improve position tracking performance in the presence of unknown link dynamics and end-effector loading. Two Cartesian accelerometer based methods are proposed to determine the position of the joint. The joint specific position determination method utilizes two triaxial accelerometers attached to the link driven by the joint with the failed position sensor. The joint specific method is not computationally complex and the position error is bounded. The system wide position determination method utilizes accelerometers distributed on different robot links and the end-effector to determine the position of sets of multiple joints. The system wide method requires fewer accelerometers than the joint specific method to make all joint position sensors fault tolerant but is more computationally complex and has lower convergence properties. Experiments were conducted on a laboratory manipulator. Both position determination methods were shown to track the actual position satisfactorily. A controller using the position determination methods and the virtual passive torque controller was able to servo the joints to a desired position during position sensor failure.

Aldridge, Hal A.↗

Virtual Deformation Control of the X-56A Model with Simulated Fiber Optic Sensors

A robust control law design methodology is presented to stabilize the X-56A model and command its wing shape. The X-56A was purposely designed to experience flutter modes in its flight envelope. The methodology introduces three phases: the controller design phase, the modal filter design phase, and the reference signal design phase. A mu-optimal controller is designed and made robust to speed and parameter variations. A conversion technique is presented for generating sensor strain modes from sensor deformation mode shapes. The sensor modes are utilized for modal filtering and simulating fiber optic sensors for feedback to the controller. To generate appropriate virtual deformation reference signals, rigid-body corrections are introduced to the deformation mode shapes. After successful completion of the phases, virtual deformation control is demonstrated. The wing is deformed and it is shown that angle-ofattack changes occur which could potentially be used to an advantage. The X-56A program must demonstrate active flutter suppression. It is shown that the virtual deformation controller can achieve active flutter suppression on the X-56A simulation model.

Suh, Peter M.↗

Virtual Deformation Control of the X-56A Model with Simulated Fiber Optic Sensors

A robust control law design methodology is presented to stabilize the X-56A model and command its wing shape. The X-56A was purposely designed to experience flutter modes in its flight envelope. The methodology introduces three phases: the controller design phase, the modal filter design phase, and the reference signal design phase. A mu-optimal controller is designed and made robust to speed and parameter variations. A conversion technique is presented for generating sensor strain modes from sensor deformation mode shapes. The sensor modes are utilized for modal filtering and simulating fiber optic sensors for feedback to the controller. To generate appropriate virtual deformation reference signals, rigid-body corrections are introduced to the deformation mode shapes. After successful completion of the phases, virtual deformation control is demonstrated. The wing is deformed and it is shown that angle-of-attack changes occur which could potentially be used to an advantage. The X-56A program must demonstrate active flutter suppression. It is shown that the virtual deformation controller can achieve active flutter suppression on the X-56A simulation model.

Modal Filter↗

2022 Innovation Fair - Simulation Facility to Develop Synchronization Standards for VR Visuals and Motion

Integrating Virtual Reality into the Vertical Motion Simulator for research into the future of simulation and flight To create software and hardware for integration of a Virtual Reality (VR) Head Mounted Display (HMD) into the Ames Vertical Motion Simulator for the purpose of developing and utilizing an empirical human-in-the-loop (HITL) testing method to determine spatial and temporal registration thresholds required for aligning VR Visuals with platform base motion.

Innovation Fair↗

Radar-Data-Processing System

Report describes radar data system at NASA Western Aeronautical Test Range. System provides real-time and recorded data about flightpaths of research aircraft and Space Shuttle. Called RADATS, processes data from three radars simultaneously; interacts with system operator; enhances data by introducing corrections and smoothing; controls range, azimuth, and elevation of radars; and automatically calibrates itself before and after missions. Software classified into three kinds of programs: utility, real-time, and calibration. Equipment exhibited exceptional reliability. Software matured to become virtually trouble-free.

Anderson, Karl F.↗

Aspects of the interstellar medium in starburst galaxies

Researchers are engaged in a multifaceted program to investigate the stellar content and star formation history of actively star-forming galaxies. A large body of stellar spectra have been examined to identify spectral features characteristic of specific stellar types. These spectral diagnostics are then calibrated in terms of temperature (spectral type), gravity (luminosity class) and metallicity. The spectral data is compiled into a stellar library whose members represent specific locations in the HR diagram. Through the use of population synthesis techniques, both optimizing and evolutionary approaches, the stellar luminosity function in composite populations can be determined by analysis of their integrated light. Researchers have concentrated on the ultraviolet wavelength region (lambda lambda 1200 to 3200), utilizing the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) archives supplemented by additional observations. In the optical, virtually all stars will contribute to the integrated light. In the ultraviolet however, cool stars will produce negligible flux due to their steep ultraviolet-to-visual continua, greatly simplifying the investigation of the hot component in a composite population. The researchers' initial stellar library has been applied to several blue compact galaxies, (BCGs), a class of starburst galaxy which is UV luminous. BCGs possess a complex interstellar medium which affects the emergent stellar continuum in several ways. This presents a challenge to the stellar analysis but affords insight into the properties of the gas and dust from which the massive OB stars have formed. The optimizing synthesis method solves for the stellar luminosity function and extinction simultaneously. This therefore provides an independent measure of the extinction affecting the hot population component. Despite the rise of the reddening law towards the ultraviolet, BCGs are found to be brighter in the ultraviolet than expected.

Fanelli, Michael N.↗

Development of the command data system and ground software for the SEDSAT-1 microsatellite

SEDSAT-1 is designed to be a low cost scientific satellite which is to be used to perform a minimum of five tasks which include: (1) the acquisition of a number of important parameters associated with the tethering processes from the payloads perspective (such as accelerations incurred and imaging data of the tether during deployment), (2) to act as a remote sensing platform for making measurements of the Earth's Atmosphere (allowing research to be performed in such areas as vertical lightning observation, visible light spectrography, and cloud cover studies, (3) to act as a general purpose amateur radio communication satellite relaying information back to earth, (4) to demonstrate the feasibility of the deployment in low earth orbit of advanced technology such as the Gallium Arsenide Solar Cells, Nickel Metal Hydride batteries, and multi-chip module technology and, (5) to support student's active participation in applying the disciplines of engineering and science to space-based hardware platforms. The project includes the Three-axis Accelerometer System, TAS, Experiment which is designed to report the accelerations that the satellite undergoes during the tethering operations and during the second phase of the mission when the free floating satellite comes in contact with orbit debris. The SEASIS (SEDS Earth, Atmosphere, and Space Imaging System) is another SEDSAT experiment designed to provide images of the tether during its deployment and the earth during the second phase of the mission. To control these experiments and virtually all other satellite operations the Command Data System, CDS is employed. This system utilizes a moderate complexity micro-controller controlled by tasks operating under a real-time operating system to dynamically monitor and control the satellite. The scope of this researchers efforts has been in the general area of coordinating and assisting the student researchers with the development of the CDS and ground station interfaces. This included the low level CDS hardware design and the formulization of a general software plan and schedule for both the CDS and ground station portions of the project.

Wells, B. Earl↗

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2012

Topics covered include: Instrument Suite for Vertical Characterization of the Ionosphere-Thermosphere System; Terahertz Radiation Heterodyne Detector Using Two-Dimensional Electron Gas in a GaN Heterostructure; Pattern Recognition Algorithm for High-Sensitivity Odorant Detection in Unknown Environments; Determining Performance Acceptability of Electrochemical Oxygen Sensors; Versatile Controller for Infrared Lamp and Heater Arrays; High-Speed Scanning Interferometer Using CMOS Image Sensor and FPGA Based on Multifrequency Phase-Tracking Detection; Ultra-Low-Power MEMS Selective Gas Sensors; Compact Receiver Front Ends for Submillimeter-Wave Applications; Dynamically Reconfigurable Systolic Array Accelerator; Blocking Losses With a Photon Counter; Motion-Capture-Enabled Software for Gestural Control of 3D Mod; Orbit Software Suite; CoNNeCT Baseband Processor Module Boot Code SoftWare (BCSW); Trajectory Software With Upper Atmosphere Model; ALSSAT Version 6.0; Employing a Grinding Technology to Assess the Microbial Density for Encapsulated Organisms; Demonstration of Minimally Machined Honeycomb Silicon Carbide Mirrors; Polyimide Aerogel Thin Films; Nanoengineered Thermal Materials Based on Carbon Nanotube Array Composites; Composite Laminate With Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Matching D263 Glass; Robust Tensioned Kevlar Suspension Design; Focal Plane Alignment Utilizing Optical CMM; Purifying, Separating, and Concentrating Cells From a Sample Low in Biomass; Virtual Ultrasound Guidance for Inexperienced Operators; Beat-to-Beat Blood Pressure Monitor; Non-Contact Conductivity Measurement for Automated Sample Processing Systems; An MSK Radar Waveform; Telescope Alignment From Sparsely Sampled Wavefront Measurements Over Pupil Subapertures; Method to Remove Particulate Matter from Dusty Gases at Low Pressures; Terahertz Quantum Cascade Laser With Efficient Coupling and Beam Profile; Measurement Via Optical Near-Nulling and Subaperture Stitching; 885-nm Pumped Ceramic Nd:YAG Master Oscillator Power Amplifier Laser System; Airborne Hyperspectral Imaging System; Heat Shield Employing Cured Thermal Protection Material Blocks Bonded in a Large-Cell Honeycomb Matrix; and Asymmetric Supercapacitor for Long-Duration Power Storage.

Source record↗

Implementing Mixed Reality Tools to Support Mission Delivery at Hanford - 20520

Mission Support Alliance's (MSA) Public Works and Information Systems organizations have been working with Microsoft Corporation to develop and implement mixed reality operational solutions using their HoloLens technology. This collaborative effort is intended to drive innovative solutions and significantly improve MSA's efficiency in performing work at the Hanford Site. HoloLens, a mixed reality tool, is a commercial off-the-shelf technology that combines a head-mounted viewing screen with applications to help people and organizations learn, communicate, and collaborate more effectively through the use of mixed reality. https://microsoft.com/en-us/hololens MSA's initial pilot successfully demonstrated its ability to use mixed reality utilizing HoloLens' advanced features in a variety of ways, illustrating the potential efficiency gains previously stated as goals of this pilot. These achievements include the development of proprietary technology that allows synchronization between a HoloLens device and a mobile device or alternate global positioning system (GPS) device. This synchronization enables the HoloLens device to access real time GPS location data anywhere on the Hanford Site. This real time location data, combined with MSA's improved Hanford Geographical Information System (GIS) data, enables the mixed reality pilot application to identify underground utility systems as well as related utility attributes. This ability will aid utility workers in several areas, including excavation activities, the placement of large cranes, identifying interactions and conflicts with future underground utility placements and, eventually, recognizing and de-conflicting tank waste transfer system valve alignments. The HoloLens mixed reality application is also able to provide full or small scale holographic images of a facility's digital twin. This feature will allow MSA's Water and Sewer Utilities team to train and validate procedures associated with the new water treatment facility virtually, before it is constructed. This reduces the amount of time it takes to complete the training and procedure validation, and accelerates the overall construction schedule. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Assessments of Physiology and Cognition in Hybrid-Reality Environments (APACHE)

NASA is planning to return to the Moon in the mid-2020s as a stepping stone to Mars missions in the 2030s. Spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs), performed on the Moon and Mars will differ in a variety of ways from those that have been performed in decades past. NASA has identified multiple risks to human health and performance associated with a crewed mission to Mars, especially those associated with exploration EVAs which are expected to be a primary mission activity. Crew may be expected to conduct up to 24 hours of EVA per person per week, where the likelihood of injury and/or mental mistakes are increased compared to ground-based training or current microgravity EVAs and the consequences of which can be catastrophic. Current test environments for exploration EVA research and technology development are large, costly facilities that are limited in their availability or capabilities. Spacesuit testing in a reduced gravity environment such as NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, while a good representation of the crew’s physical workload during exploration EVAs, typically has small datasets and is difficult to integrate physiological sensors or other types of crew performance measures. Meanwhile, scientific field-based testing such as NASA’s Desert Research and Technology Studies offers an operationally relevant environment for exploration EVAs, particularly for cognitive workload, but is also limited by small datasets, lack of a pressurized spacesuit, and obtrusive measures. The limitations of current analogs for exploration EVAs identify a need for a new test environment that can approximate both the physical and cognitive demands associated with exploration EVAs to enable rapid, controlled, and repeatable evaluations of human health and performance risks of exploration missions. In response, the Human Physiology, Performance, Protection, and Operations Laboratory (H-3PO) at NASA Johnson Space Center has developed a hybrid reality exploration EVA analog named the Assessments of Physiology And Cognition in Hybrid-reality Environments (APACHE) to address these limitations using a combination of virtual, physical, and hybrid reality techniques. The APACHE facility resides at NASA Johnson Space Center and serves as a large “sandbox” for EVA research and simulation. At its center is a roughly 15x20ft space surrounded by a 14” tall sandbox partially filled with lunar regolith simulant to emulate the physical feeling of walking on a planetary surface and to allow for simulated geology operations. Nearby, a curved passive treadmill (Skillmill Connect, Technogym, Fairfield, NJ) and an omnidirectional treadmill (Infinadeck, Infinadeck, Rocklin, CA) are included to enable exploration of these large virtual environments while also imposing the physical demands, representative timelines, and cognitive burdens required to navigate and traverse these distances during exploration EVA. A 6DOF motion platform is used to simulate rover operations and supports various human performance evaluations and associated risks. Lastly, APACHE can support two extravehicular (EV) crewmembers working in tandem. A computer workstation is located nearby and also supports an intravehicular (IV) crewmember as part of a full mission simulation. The IV crewmember has direct video and audio communication with the EV crew in VR to provide operational and procedural support. The software used in APACHE was created by the JSC Engineering Directorate, in partnership with Buendea, powered by a custom Unreal Engine 5 (UE5.3, Epic Games) project. APACHE currently utilizes the HTC Vive Pro Eye in a wireless configuration for VR simulations. There are two virtual environments that subjects can explore within APACHE, a Lunar and Martian surface. The virtual Lunar surface was created from LIDAR data of the Lunar South Pole to create roughly 16 sq km of explorable terrain. The virtual Martian surface contains roughly 400 sq km of explorable terrain derived from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter LIDAR data of the Jezero Crater. The immersion and related cognitive burdens of conducting a planetary EVA is simulated through a series of EVA-relevant tasks performed in the VR environment, using these high-fidelity visual representations. Additionally, APACHE includes biosensor driven informatics, such as real-time heart rate monitoring and/or derived values from model simulations, for active monitoring by the EV crew and added cognitive demand. A “Wizard of Oz” control panel enables test operators to activate contingency events such as simulated spacesuit malfunctions, loss of communications, and/or limited visibility. Embedded performance measures such as accuracy, completeness, and execution time have been developed for various exploration tasks to objectively quantify crew performance during an EVA and compare impacts to performance when different environmental stressors, both physical and cognitive, are added to or removed from the simulation. Additionally, validated cognitive and operational performance measures such as the Digit Symbol Substitution Task have been recreated and embedded in VR for direct and relatively unobtrusive measurement of motor perception. The APACHE environment currently supports multiple research studies at NASA. Examples include the CHAPEA project, a series of simulated year-long missions on Mars by a 4-person crew; and the CO2 Contingency Walk Back Study, an investigation of elevated CO2 exposure on crew performance during a contingency EVA scenario. APACHE also provides a test environment to support the development of the Crew State and Risk Model, which is a collection of individualized, mathematical models of crew physical and cognitive state; and the Personalized EVA Informatics and Decision Support system, an operational tool for flight controllers, and eventually a self-reliant Martian crew, to make biomedically-informed decisions in real-time to optimize the EVA planning and execution with respect to crew health and performance. Some technical challenges associated with developing the APACHE environment, as well as current limitations, include VR limitless natural walking with a hybrid spacesuit simulator, optimizing performance for wireless PC VR streaming while maintaining a high degree of visual fidelity, and the integration of various physiological (metabolic masks) and psychometric (eye tracking) sensors with the VR headset.

Human Performance↗

The assessment of virtual reality for human anatomy instruction

This research project seeks to meet the objective of science training by developing, assessing, and validating virtual reality as a human anatomy training medium. In ideal situations, anatomic models, computer-based instruction, and cadaver dissection are utilized to augment the traditional methods of instruction. At many institutions, lack of financial resources limits anatomy instruction to textbooks and lectures. However, human anatomy is three dimensional, unlike the one dimensional depiction found in textbooks and the two dimensional depiction found on the computer. Virtual reality is a breakthrough technology that allows one to step through the computer screen into a three dimensional world. This technology offers many opportunities to enhance science education. Therefore, a virtual testing environment of the abdominopelvic region of a human cadaver was created to study the placement of body parts within the nine anatomical divisions of the abdominopelvic region and the four abdominal quadrants.

Benn, Karen P.↗

Head-mounted displays and the measurement of performance in a virtual world

The problems associated with assessing visual performance during translation and rotation in a virtual world are presented. Two studies are summarized that highlight the difficulties in defining and measuring the optical and visual variables that pilots use during the control of a craft in simulated flight. The analysis suggests that gaze line-of-sight (LOS), based on craft orientation, should be used to describe the visual information available to an observer. Head-mounted displays that utilize a headtracker provide a technology that can be used for determining an observer's LOS and generating a virtual world display. Such head-mounted displays put observers in a graphical world that exists no matter where they look.

Bennett, C. Thomas↗

Integrated data-driven and experimental approaches to accelerate lead optimization targeting SARS-CoV- 2 main protease

Identification of potential therapeutic candidates can be expedited by integrating computational modeling with domain aware machine learning (ML) approaches followed by experimental validation. Generative deep learning models have been recently developed that can generate thousands of new candidates, but their physiochemical properties are typically not optimized. Using our deep learning models and a scaffold as a starting point, we generated tens of thousands of compounds for SARS-CoV-2 M pro that preserve the core scaffold. Here we utilized and implemented several computational tools such as structural alert and toxicity analysis, high throughput virtual screening, ML-based 3D quantitative structure–activity relationships, multi-parameter optimization, and graph neural networks on libraries of generated candidates to predict biological activity and binding affinity a priori. From these collective computational results, eight promising candidates were identified and tested experimentally using Native Mass Spectrometry (MS) and FRET-based functional assays. Two compounds, with quinazoline-2-thiol and acetylpiperidine core moiety showed IC 50 values in the low micromolar range: 2.95±0.0017 µM and 3.41±0.0015 µM, respectively. The molecular dynamics simulations further highlight that binding of these compounds results in allosteric modulations in the chain B and the interface domains of the M pro . The key fragments from these top hits can be used as input for closed loop lead optimization in the integrated pipeline.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

High-Fidelity Neutronics Model of a Realistic Heat Pipe Microreactor Report

The creation of a digital twin requires two parallel products: a virtual model and a physical asset. This report details the development the high-fidelity reactor physics model of a realistic heat pipe micro reactor for the virtual model. The realistic heat pipe micro reactor provides a generic model that research can utilize to make safeguards considerations. The model will be leveraged for capturing diversion and misuse scenarios expected to take place in a microreactor. A python wrapper has been developed to rapidly explore various acquisition pathways by manipulating the reactor physics model on-the-fly.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Enhancing Docking Accuracy with PECAN2, a 3D Atomic Neural Network Trained without Co-Complex Crystal Structures

Decades of drug development research have explored a vast chemical space for highly active compounds. The exponential growth of virtual libraries enables easy access to billions of synthesizable molecules. Computational modeling, particularly molecular docking, utilizes physics-based calculations to prioritize molecules for synthesis and testing. Nevertheless, the molecular docking process often yields docking poses with favorable scores that prove to be inaccurate with experimental testing. To address these issues, several approaches using machine learning (ML) have been proposed to filter incorrect poses based on the crystal structures. However, most of the methods are limited by the availability of structure data. Here, we propose a new pose classification approach, PECAN2 (Pose Classification with 3D Atomic Network 2), without the need for crystal structures, based on a 3D atomic neural network with Point Cloud Network (PCN). The new approach uses the correlation between docking scores and experimental data to assign labels, instead of relying on the crystal structures. We validate the proposed classifier on multiple datasets including human mu, delta, and kappa opioid receptors and SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Our results demonstrate that leveraging the correlation between docking scores and experimental data alone enhances molecular docking performance by filtering out false positives and false negatives.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Modeling complex chemical effects in turbulent nonpremixed combustion

Virtually all of the energy derived from the consumption of combustibles occurs in systems which utilize turbulent fluid motion. Since combustion is largely related to the mixing of fluids and mixing processes are orders of magnitude more rapid when enhanced by turbulent motion, efficiency criteria dictate that chemically powered devices necessarily involve fluid turbulence. Where combustion occurs concurrently with mixing at an interface between two reactive fluid bodies, this mode of combustion is called nonpremixed combustion. This is distinct from premixed combustion where flame-fronts propagate into a homogeneous mixture of reactants. These two modes are limiting cases in the range of temporal lag between mixing of reactants and the onset of reaction. Nonpremixed combustion occurs where this lag tends to zero, while premixed combustion occurs where this lag tends to infinity. Many combustion processes are hybrids of these two extremes with finite non-zero lag times. Turbulent nonpremixed combustion is important from a practical standpoint because it occurs in gas fired boilers, furnaces, waste incinerators, diesel engines, gas turbine combustors, and afterburners etc. To a large extent, past development of these practical systems involved an empirical methodology. Presently, efficiency standards and emission regulations are being further tightened (Correa 1993), and empiricism has had to give way to more fundamental research in order to understand and effectively model practical combustion processes (Pope 1991). A key element in effective modeling of turbulent combustion is making use of a sufficiently detailed chemical kinetic mechanism. The prediction of pollutant emission such as oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)) and sulphur (SO(x)) unburned hydrocarbons, and particulates demands the use of detailed chemical mechanisms. It is essential that practical models for turbulent nonpremixed combustion are capable of handling large numbers of 'stiff' chemical species equations.

Smith, Nigel S. A.↗