SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “ROBOTICS”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2016

Soft-Robotic Rover with Electrodynamic Power Scavenging: NIAC Final Report - Phase 1

The purpose of studying the capabilities of Electrodynamic Tethers (EDT) and Soft Robotics is to ascertain the feasibility of using cross-cutting EDT and soft robotics technologies to achieve future NASA mission objectives with mass and power budgets orders of magnitude lower than conventional spacecraft. In this context, the Phase I study focuses on three technological elements: the design of a soft-robotic rover that can operate in extraterrestrial oceans, demonstrating feasibility of electrodynamic tethers for power scavenging in the Europa environment, and utilizing electrolysis to power biomimetic propulsion.The Phase I results show that a soft robotic, underwater rover has many advantages over a traditional view of autonomous underwater vehicles. Many of these advantages stem from its ability to collapse or expand the body, which carries two key benefits: (i) cost savings in transport and (ii) buoyancy control. Furthermore, this rover's material offers properties that enable it to survive most oceanic conditions, withstand a likely radiation environment, and retard ice formation. The use of these soft robots under water is very attractive because buoyancy enables very large robots without the need for skeletal structures that limit their shape-changing ability. The prime limitation of soft robots for underwater exploration is their nascent state of development, an issue that this study has begun to address and that we hope to continue in Phase II. The theoretical calculations and experimental investigation on electrodynamic tethers discussed in this report show that their use in saltwater environments is feasible. However, magneto hydrodynamic effects require attention, which will be a priority in Phase II. A possible approach involves magnetic shielding of a portion of the EDT array to generate significant current from imposed alternating magnetic fields. The Phase I experiments show that this approach may enable enough power to be generated for a soft robotic rover of the scale contemplated here. This power is in the range of 1mW to 1W and determines the time required to collect and transmit science data.

Soft Robotics↗

NASA NTRS2014

Design and Evolution of a Modular Tensegrity Robot Platform

NASA Ames Research Center is developing a compliant modular tensegrity robotic platform for planetary exploration. In this paper we present the design and evolution of the platform's main hardware component, an untethered, robust tensegrity strut, with rich sensor feedback and cable actuation. Each strut is a complete robot, and multiple struts can be combined together to form a wide range of complex tensegrity robots. Our current goal for the tensegrity robotic platform is the development of SUPERball, a 6-strut icosahedron underactuated tensegrity robot aimed at dynamic locomotion for planetary exploration rovers and landers, but the aim is for the modular strut to enable a wide range of tensegrity morphologies. SUPERball is a second generation prototype, evolving from the tensegrity robot ReCTeR, which is also a modular, lightweight, highly compliant 6-strut tensegrity robot that was used to validate our physics based NASA Tensegrity Robot Toolkit (NTRT) simulator. Many hardware design parameters of the SUPERball were driven by locomotion results obtained in our validated simulator. These evolutionary explorations helped constrain motor torque and speed parameters, along with strut and string stress. As construction of the hardware has finalized, we have also used the same evolutionary framework to evolve controllers that respect the built hardware parameters.

Exploration↗

NASA NTRS2013

Gesture-Based Robot Control with Variable Autonomy from the JPL Biosleeve

This paper presents a new gesture-based human interface for natural robot control. Detailed activity of the user's hand and arm is acquired via a novel device, called the BioSleeve, which packages dry-contact surface electromyography (EMG) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) into a sleeve worn on the forearm. The BioSleeve's accompanying algorithms can reliably decode as many as sixteen discrete hand gestures and estimate the continuous orientation of the forearm. These gestures and positions are mapped to robot commands that, to varying degrees, integrate with the robot's perception of its environment and its ability to complete tasks autonomously. This flexible approach enables, for example, supervisory point-to-goal commands, virtual joystick for guarded teleoperation, and high degree of freedom mimicked manipulation, all from a single device. The BioSleeve is meant for portable field use; unlike other gesture recognition systems, use of the BioSleeve for robot control is invariant to lighting conditions, occlusions, and the human-robot spatial relationship and does not encumber the user's hands. The BioSleeve control approach has been implemented on three robot types, and we present proof-of-principle demonstrations with mobile ground robots, manipulation robots, and prosthetic hands.

BioSleeve↗

NASA NTRS2015

Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Phase 2 and Smart Autonomous Sand-Swimming Excavator

The Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) Phase 2 is an excavation robot for mining regolith on a planet like Mars. The robot is programmed using the Robotic Operating System (ROS) and it also uses a physical simulation program called Gazebo. This internship focused on various functions of the program in order to make it a more professional and efficient robot. During the internship another project called the Smart Autonomous Sand-Swimming Excavator was worked on. This is a robot that is designed to dig through sand and extract sample material. The intern worked on programming the Sand-Swimming robot, and designing the electrical system to power and control the robot.

Regolith↗

NASA NTRS2017

BILL-E: Robotic Platform for Locomotion and Manipulation of Lightweight Space Structures

We describe a robotic platform for traversing and manipulating a modular 3D lattice structure. The robot is designed to operate within a specifically structured environment, which enables low numbers of degrees of freedom (DOF) compared to robots performing comparable tasks in an unstructured environment. This allows for simple controls, as well as low mass and cost. This approach, designing the robot relative to the local environment in which it operates, results in a type of robot we call a "relative robot." We describe a bipedal robot that can locomote across a periodic lattice structure, as well as being able to handle, manipulate, and transport building block parts that compose the lattice structure. Based on a general inchworm design, the robot has added functionality for traveling over and operating on a host structure.

Aeronautics↗

NASA NTRS2017

A Mobile Robot for Locomotion Through a 3D Periodic Lattice Environment

This paper describes a novel class of robots specifically adapted to climb periodic lattices, which we call 'Relative Robots'. These robots use the regularity of the structure to simplify the path planning, align with minimal feedback, and reduce the number of degrees of freedom (DOF) required to locomote. They can perform vital inspection and repair tasks within the structure that larger truss construction robots could not perform without modifying the structure. We detail a specific type of relative robot designed to traverse a cuboctahedral (CubOct) cellular solids lattice, show how the symmetries of the lattice simplify the design, and test these design methodologies with a CubOct relative robot that traverses a 76.2 mm (3 in.) pitch lattice, MOJO (Multi-Objective JOurneying robot). We perform three locomotion tasks with MOJO: vertical climbing, horizontal climbing, and turning, and find that, due to changes in the orientation of the robot relative to the gravity vector, the success rate of vertical and horizontal climbing is significantly different.

Aeronautics↗

NASA NTRS1987

Knowledge representation system for assembly using robots

Assembly robots combine the benefits of speed and accuracy with the capability of adaptation to changes in the work environment. However, an impediment to the use of robots is the complexity of the man-machine interface. This interface can be improved by providing a means of using a priori-knowledge and reasoning capabilities for controlling and monitoring the tasks performed by robots. Robots ought to be able to perform complex assembly tasks with the help of only supervisory guidance from human operators. For such supervisory quidance, it is important to express the commands in terms of the effects desired, rather than in terms of the motion the robot must undertake in order to achieve these effects. A suitable knowledge representation can facilitate the conversion of task level descriptions into explicit instructions to the robot. Such a system would use symbolic relationships describing the a priori information about the robot, its environment, and the tasks specified by the operator to generate the commands for the robot.

Jain, A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Determining robot actions for tasks requiring sensor interaction

The performance of non-trivial tasks by a mobile robot has been a long term objective of robotic research. One of the major stumbling blocks to this goal is the conversion of the high-level planning goals and commands into the actuator and sensor processing controls. In order for a mobile robot to accomplish a non-trivial task, the task must be described in terms of primitive actions of the robot's actuators. Most non-trivial tasks require the robot to interact with its environment; thus necessitating coordination of sensor processing and actuator control to accomplish the task. The main contention is that the transformation from the high level description of the task to the primitive actions should be performed primarily at execution time, when knowledge about the environment can be obtained through sensors. It is proposed to produce the detailed plan of primitive actions by using a collection of low-level planning components that contain domain specific knowledge and knowledge about the available sensors, actuators, and sensor/actuator processing. This collection will perform signal and control processing as well as serve as a control interface between an actual mobile robot and a high-level planning system. Previous research has shown the usefulness of high-level planning systems to plan the coordination of activities such to achieve a goal, but none have been fully applied to actual mobile robots due to the complexity of interacting with sensors and actuators. This control interface is currently being implemented on a LABMATE mobile robot connected to a SUN workstation and will be developed such to enable the LABMATE to perform non-trivial, sensor-intensive tasks as specified by a planning system.

Budenske, John↗

NASA NTRS1991

Navigation strategies for multiple autonomous mobile robots moving in formation

The problem of deriving navigation strategies for a fleet of autonomous mobile robots moving in formation is considered. Here, each robot is represented by a particle with a spherical effective spatial domain and a specified cone of visibility. The global motion of each robot in the world space is described by the equations of motion of the robot's center of mass. First, methods for formation generation are discussed. Then, simple navigation strategies for robots moving in formation are derived. A sufficient condition for the stability of a desired formation pattern for a fleet of robots each equipped with the navigation strategy based on nearest neighbor tracking is developed. The dynamic behavior of robot fleets consisting of three or more robots moving in formation in a plane is studied by means of computer simulation.

Wang, P. K. C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The ROMPS robot in HitchHiker

The Robotics Branch of the Goddard Space Flight Center has under development a robot that fits inside a Get Away Special can. In the RObotic Materials Processing System (ROMPS) HitchHiker experiment, this robot is used to transport pallets containing wafers of different materials from their storage rack to a halogen lamp furnace for rapid thermal processing in a microgravity environment. It then returns them to their storage rack. A large part of the mechanical design of the robot dealt with the potential misalignment between the various components that are repeatedly mated and demated. A system of tapered guides and compliant springs was designed to work within the robot's force and accuracy capabilities. This paper discusses the above and other robot design issues in detail, and presents examples of ROMPS robot analyses that are applicable to other HitcherHiker materials handling missions.

Voellmer, George↗

NASA NTRS1993

Testing of ROMPS robot mechanical interfaces and compliant device

The Robot Operated Materials Processing System (ROMPS) has been developed at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) under a flight project to investigate commercially promising in-space material processes and to design reflyable robot automated systems to be used in the above processes for low-cost operations. The ROMPS is currently scheduled for flight in 1994 as a Hitchhiker payload in a Get Away Special (GAS) can. An important component of the ROMPS is a three degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot which will be responsible for carrying out the required tasks of in-space processing of selected materials. This report deals with testing of the mating capability of the ROMPS robot fingers with its various mechanical interfaces. In particular, the test plan will focus on studying the capability of a compliance mechanism mounted on the robot fingers in accommodating misalignments between the robot fingers and the interfaces during the mating. The report is organized as follows: Section 2 represents the main components of the ROMPS robot and briefly describes its operations. Section 3 presents the objectives of the test and outlines the test plan. The testbed comprising a Steward Platform-based high precision manipulator and associated data acquisition and control systems is described in Section 4. Section 5 presents results of numerous experiments conducted to study the mating capability of the robot fingers with its various interfaces under misalignments. The report is concluded with observations and recommendations based on the test results.

Nguyen, Charles C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Robotic servicing on Earth orbiting satellites

An articulated calibration experiment (ACE) concept study was conducted by GSFC to prove the feasibility of instrument calibration by a resident robot on the EOS spacecraft. This study provided a basis for determining the most suitable robot design and operations concepts required to perform accurate instrument calibration on the EOS platform. During the study, the first-order dynamics of robot walking and docking motions as it moves about were evaluated to determine the accelerations and torques imparted into the spacecraft. The major perturbation to the spacecraft was the effect of robot motion and impact on the EOS platform attitude control system. If not carefully controlled, these levels could exceed the maximum allowable levels. As a result of the EOS/ACE feasibility study, a GSFC robotic ground development effort was established. This effort, as described on the paper, will identify the technology required to resolve issues associated with robot in-space servicing dynamics and its impact on spacecraft and designs. Of primary concern are those relating to robot contact loads, docking of robotic systems on space platforms, and basic motion and mobility.

Ollendorf, Stanford↗

NASA NTRS1993

Robotics handbook. Version 1: For the interested party and professional

This publication covers several categories of information about robotics. The first section provides a brief overview of the field of Robotics. The next section provides a reasonably detailed look at the NASA Robotics program. The third section features a listing of companies and organization engaging in robotics or robotic-related activities; followed by a listing of associations involved in the field; followed by a listing of publications and periodicals which cover elements of robotics or related fields. The final section is an abbreviated abstract of referred journal material and other reference material relevant to the technology and science of robotics, including such allied fields as vision perception; three-space axis orientation and measurement systems and associated inertial reference technology and algorithms; and physical and mechanical science and technology related to robotics.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1994

Intelligent robotics can boost America's economic growth

A case is made for strategic investment in intelligent robotics as a part of the solution to the problem of improved global competitiveness for U.S. manufacturing, a critical industrial sector. Similar cases are made for strategic investments in intelligent robotics for field applications, construction, and service industries such as health care. The scope of the country's problems and needs is beyond the capability of the private sector alone, government alone, or academia alone to solve independently of the others. National cooperative programs in intelligent robotics are needed with the private sector supplying leadership direction and aerospace and non-aerospace industries conducting the development. Some necessary elements of such programs are outlined. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) can be key players in such national cooperative programs in intelligent robotics for several reasons: (1) human space exploration missions require supervised intelligent robotics as enabling tools and, hence must develop supervised intelligent robotic systems; (2) intelligent robotic technology is being developed for space applications at JSC (but has a strong crosscutting or generic flavor) that is advancing the state of the art and is producing both skilled personnel and adaptable developmental infrastructure such as integrated testbeds; and (3) a NASA JSC Technology Investment Program in Robotics has been proposed based on commercial partnerships and collaborations for precompetitive, dual-use developments.

Erickson, Jon D.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Evolutionary Design and Simulation of a Tube Crawling Inspection Robot

The Space Robotics Assembly Team Simulation (SpaceRATS) is an expansive concept that will hopefully lead to a space flight demonstration of a robotic team cooperatively assembling a system from its constitutive parts. A primary objective of the SpaceRATS project is to develop a generalized evolutionary design approach for multiple classes of robots. The portion of the overall SpaceRats program associated with the evolutionary design and simulation of an inspection robot's morphology is the subject of this paper. The vast majority of this effort has concentrated on the use and modification of Darwin2K, a robotic design and simulation software package, to analyze the design of a tube crawling robot. This robot is designed for carrying out inspection duties in relatively inaccessible locations within a liquid rocket engine similar to the SSME. A preliminary design of the tube crawler robot was completed, and the mechanical dynamics of the system were simulated. An evolutionary approach to optimizing a few parameters of the system was utilized, resulting in a more optimum design.

Craft, Michael↗

NASA NTRS2004

Teleoperated Modular Robots for Lunar Operations

Solar system exploration is currently carried out by special purpose robots exquisitely designed for the anticipated tasks. However, all contingencies for in situ resource utilization (ISRU), human habitat preparation, and exploration will be difficult to anticipate. Furthermore, developing the necessary special purpose mechanisms for deployment and other capabilities is difficult and error prone. For example, the Galileo high gain antenna never opened, severely restricting the quantity of data returned by the spacecraft. Also, deployment hardware is used only once. To address these problems, we are developing teleoperated modular robots for lunar missions, including operations in transit from Earth. Teleoperation of lunar systems from Earth involves a three second speed-of-light delay, but experiment suggests that interactive operations are feasible.' Modular robots typically consist of many identical modules that pass power and data between them and can be reconfigured for different tasks providing great flexibility, inherent redundancy and graceful degradation as modules fail. Our design features a number of different hub, link, and joint modules to simplify the individual modules, lower structure cost, and provide specialized capabilities. Modular robots are well suited for space applications because of their extreme flexibility, inherent redundancy, high-density packing, and opportunities for mass production. Simple structural modules can be manufactured from lunar regolith in situ using molds or directed solar sintering. Software to direct and control modular robots is difficult to develop. We have used genetic algorithms to evolve both the morphology and control system for walking modular robots3 We are currently using evolvable system technology to evolve controllers for modular robots in the ISS glove box. Development of lunar modular robots will require software and physical simulators, including regolith simulation, to enable design and test of robot software and hardware, particularly automation software. Ready access to these simulators could provide opportunities for contest-driven development ala RoboCup (http://www.robocup.org/). Licensing of module designs could provide opportunities in the toy market and for spin-off applications.

Globus, Al↗

NASA NTRS2005

A Hexapod Robot to Demonstrate Mesh Walking in a Microgravity Environment

The JPL Micro-Robot Explorer (MRE) Spiderbot is a robot that takes advantage of its small size to perform precision tasks suitable for space applications. The Spiderbot is a legged robot that can traverse harsh terrain otherwise inaccessible to wheeled robots. A team of Spiderbots can network and can exhibit collaborative efforts to SUCCeSSfUlly complete a set of tasks. The Spiderbot is designed and developed to demonstrate hexapods that can walk on flat surfaces, crawl on meshes, and assemble simple structures. The robot has six legs consisting of two spring-compliant joints and a gripping actuator. A hard-coded set of gaits allows the robot to move smoothly in a zero-gravity environment along the mesh. The primary objective of this project is to create a Spiderbot that traverses a flexible, deployable mesh, for use in space repair. Verification of this task will take place aboard a zero-gravity test flight. The secondary objective of this project is to adapt feedback from the joints to allow the robot to test each arm for a successful grip of the mesh. The end result of this research lends itself to a fault-tolerant robot suitable for a wide variety of space applications.

Foor, David C.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Virtual Reality Robotic Operation Simulations Using MEMICA Haptic System

There is an increasing realization that some tasks can be performed significantly better by humans than robots but, due to associated hazards, distance, etc., only a robot can be employed. Telemedicine is one area where remotely controlled robots can have a major impact by providing urgent care at remote sites. In recent years, remotely controlled robotics has been greatly advanced. The robotic astronaut, "Robonaut," at NASA Johnson Space Center is one such example. Unfortunately, due to the unavailability of force and tactile feedback capability the operator must determine the required action using only visual feedback from the remote site, which limits the tasks that Robonaut can perform. There is a great need for dexterous, fast, accurate teleoperated robots with the operator?s ability to "feel" the environment at the robot's field. Recently, we conceived a haptic mechanism called MEMICA (Remote MEchanical MIrroring using Controlled stiffness and Actuators) that can enable the design of high dexterity, rapid response, and large workspace system. Our team is developing novel MEMICA gloves and virtual reality models to allow the simulation of telesurgery and other applications. The MEMICA gloves are designed to have a high dexterity, rapid response, and large workspace and intuitively mirror the conditions at a virtual site where a robot is simulating the presence of the human operator. The key components of MEMICA are miniature electrically controlled stiffness (ECS) elements and Electrically Controlled Force and Stiffness (ECFS) actuators that are based on the sue of Electro-Rheological Fluids (ERF). In this paper the design of the MEMICA system and initial experimental results are presented.

NDE NDT composite materials defects inspection↗