2.2.7 Terrestrial And Commercial Applications

Terrestrial and Commercial Applications: This element of the program provides a means for the test and demonstration of space-targetted developed technologies in realistic operational test environments. These tasks are intended to move the technologies developed in the other elements of the program from the laboratory setting into operational use, and take advantage of the relatively easy access, well understood environments, and myriad problems to be solved to demonstrate the applicability of telerobotics. In addition, this element of the program includes tasks intended to rapidly move program-developed technology out into the commercial applications community. The intent of these tasks is ultimately to improve the national economic competitiveness of the United States and to improve the technology transfer efforts of the agency through the development of commercializable applications which draw upon space telerobotics technologies. These projects are jointly conducted by program laboratories and industrial partners to create and demonstrate full system prototype solutions to well understood terrestrial problems which can positively impact significant areas of the national economy.

Robotics Engineering Consortium

Medical Applications of MicroTelerobotics

Ground Emergency Response Vehicle

Integrated Robot Control Architecture

Robotics Engineering Consortium

Demeter Agricultural Robot

Agriculture is a ripe, relatively unexploited application opportunity with uncommon advantages for commercializing mobile robotics technology. Over a billion tractor miles are driven annually, repeatedly over the same ground. Speeds are low, and precision is moderate. The terrain is mild, and proven navigation techniques apply. The goal of this CMU task is to develop, demonstrate and productize marketworthy controllers, positioners, safeguards, and task software specialized to the needs and constraints of commercial agriculture and related industries. Component technology results will be integrated onto a commercial agricultural harvester, and demonstrations will be conducted of automatically controlled harvesting operations to market relevant standards.

Point of Contact:
Dave Pahnos
(412) 268-7084
dpahnos@frc2.frc.ri.cmu.edu

Medical Applications of MicroTelerobotics

This task is a cooperative NASA-Industry effort to develop a telerobot for breakthrough micro-and-minimally invasive surgeries. The resulting Robot Assisted Microsurgery (RAMS) workstation, via computer enhanced controls, will enable new procedures beyond human manual dexterity, and allow a broader group of practitioners to successfully deliver needed healthcare services at reduced cost. Surgical applications include the eye, ear, nose, throat, face, hand, spine, and brain. NASA-JPL's role is to design, fabricate, test, and document an engineering R&D prototype -- a six degrees-of-freedom, position- and-force scaling master/slave telemanipulator -- capable of non-indexed relative positioning of 20 microns over a 10-to-20 cm*3 continuous volume (e.g., the eye). The industry partner, MicroDexterity Systems, Inc., working through independent funding, defines medical requirements, collaborates in system engineering design, develops and tests a pre-commercial clinical prototype, and with end market support, certifies and commercializes a final design. At FY94- end, JPL demonstrated a robot slave engineering prototype, and in FY 1995 has developed a complementary master hand controller. Master- slave system growth capabilities will include force-reflection at the master (FY1996), and in situ imaging modes at the robot slave (FY1997). JPL and MDS conduct this cooperative work under guidance of a NASA-convened Medical Advisory Board (MAB). The micro- telerobotic technologies developed in this task have other potential applications in telescience/telemedicine, processing of hazardous bio-materials, and micro- mechanical assembly & small instrument servicing.

Focus and Directions:

FY 1994 Develop a 6-d.o.f. micro-robot slave with task-level teleoperative control interfaces, providing non-singular work volume of 10-20 cubic centimeters and relative positioning of at least 25 microns [Level 1].

FY 1995 Develop a back-drivable 6-d.o.f. master hand controller for the robot slave, capable of at least 2:1 kinematic scaling over a 10 cubic centimeter non- indexed work volume, and having 50 micron relative positioning resolution [Level 1]. Develop and verify in simulation a manual control enhancement technique to selectively filter operator's manual jerk and involuntary tremor in the 5-10 Hz regime. Begin fabrication of a RAMS slave prototype & controls/interfaces suitable dedicated to medical laboratory tests, and initiate such an experimental collaboration with the MAB.

FY 1996 Develop and demonstrate the integrated RAMS master-slave telemanipulator performing a calibrated microsurgical procedure with controlled incisions into soft media, guarded teleoperated control and coordinated surgical instrument handling; demonstrate direct and virtual force feedback over a nominal 10:1 dynamic range of .5 - 5.0 oz. and, integrate and evaluate tremor compensation [Level 1]. With MAB member participation, conduct medical lab tests of robot performance. Also complete the fabrication, assembly and integration of a second master-slave system for independant medical laboratory tests.

FY 1997 Develop and instrument the RAMS platform with optical/multi-mode imaging. Integrate and demonstrate techniques for robot auto-positioning, including supervisory control referenced to operator-designated features within 2-D/3-D surgical imagery. Integrate, and test a finalized RAMS dexterity enhancement platform configuration, including force-textural feedback and in situ sensor processing-and-display to the operator, with an end-goal of 10 micron relative positioning.

Point of Contact:
Hari Das
(818) 354-9174
hari@telerobotics.jpl.nasa.gov

Ground Emergency Response Vehicle

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing a teleoperated mobile robot enabling Safety and HAZMAT Team personnel remote access to sites where hazardous materials have been accidently spilled or released. This task is demonstrating the feasibility of using teleoperated robots in hazardous and dangerous environments, thereby protecting people from unknown dangers. An important aspect of the project is the close involvement of the JPL Fire Department HAZMAT Team which provides input for system modifications as well as operates and tests the robot. The primary mission of the robot is first entry and reconnaissance of an incident site that may require unlocking and opening doors, climbing stairs, and maneuvering in tight spaces. The system has been specially designed with solid state electronics, brushless motors, and on-board pressurization system for operation in atmospheres containing combustible vapors (NEC Class I, Division 2 areas). The robot can also aid in material identification using an on-board chemical sensor as well as aid in incident mitigating by, for example, deploying absorbent pads or closing a valve.

Focus and Directions:

FY91 Training and experimentation by JPL HAZMAT Team with commercially available REMOTEC mobile robot to establish robotic system requirements for HAZMAT operations.

FY 1992 Major redesign of commercial system to enable operation in combustible atmospheres.

FY 1993 Integration and testing of redesigned system.

FY 1994 Increase operator feedback with addition of graphical display of system and sensor data and initial field deployment.

FY 1995 Automate sub-tasks such as tool retrieval and storage to reduce demands on operator.

FY 1996 Increase mission range and mobility by replacing 100m tether with RF link.

Point of Contact:
Rick Welch
(818) 354-7084
welch@telerobotics.jpl.nasa.gov

Integrated Robot Control Architecture

The objective of the Integrated Robot Control Architecture task is to integrate TCA task-level control and ControlShell real-time control to create a powerful new architecture for building autonomous and teleoperated robots. An additional aim is to prepare TCA for commercialization by making it more reliable, through improved software engineering, and more usable, through the development of design and analysis tools.

Approach:

The work on TCA supported by this task is being integrated with work being performed by RTI on ControlShell under an SBIR Phase II contract. Part of the RTI effort will include a market study of the commercial viability of the TCA/ControlShell integrated architecture. The approach being undertaken by CMU includes:

1) Integration of TCA and ControlShell: To facilitate tight integration, the message passing communications subsystem of TCA will be replaced NDDS, which is used by ControlShell. The architectures will be integrated by enabling TCA task-trees to directly invoke ControlShell state machines, and to receive signals from them indicating completion and status of subtasks.

2) Reengineering Software: Several aspects of the TCA task-tree and resource management software will be made more efficient and reliable to facilitate long-term usage. This subtask will benefit from careful software engineering and use of a formal model of TCA developed under a previous NASA contract.

3) Development of Graphical Design and Analysis Tools: Tools will be developed to graphically lay out hierarchical task-trees, define TCA-based message interfaces, and analyze and graph resource utilization. The design tools will support automatic code generation of TCA-based modules.

4) Application Demonstration: A combined real-time/task-level architectural specification will be developed for a complex application. Potential applications include the CMU Lunar Rover, the MAPS underwater vehicle, and the New Millennium generation of autonomous spacecraft.

Focus and Directions:

FY 1996: Reengineer TCA to utilize the NDDS communications package and to have more reliable and efficient task-tree and resource management code. Integrate the architectures, enabling TCA task-trees to invoke ControlShell state machines. Begin developing design and analysis tools.

FY 1997: Complete development of design and analysis tools for TCA. Create user documents for tools. Develop and document architectural specification for complex application that relies on both TCA and ControlShell.

Point of Contact:
Reid Simmons
(412) 268-2621
reids@cs.cmu.edu