NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Imagery

Experiment Overview


Brief Summary

The objective of the Surface Telerobotics is to examine how the crew can effectively tele-operate ground robots from orbit while constrained by factors related to the space environment, crew vehicle resources and communications.

Principal Investigator(s)

Terry Fong, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

Information Pending

Developer(s)

NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States

Sponsoring Space Agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Sponsoring Organization

Technology Demonstration Office (TDO)

Research Benefits

Information Pending

ISS Expedition Duration:

September 2012 - September 2013

Expeditions Assigned

33/34,35/36

Previous ISS Missions

A communications test must be performed during Inc 33-34 on ISS.

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Experiment Description

Research Overview

• Surface Telerobotics will investigate space-based crew control of surface telerobotics in preparation for future missions such as L2 Lunar farside, Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), and Mars orbital exploration. This operation will allow researchers to characterize the differences between Earth-based control and on-orbit control of surface robots which will drive requirements for future human-robotic systems.



• Operations will focus on ISS crew control of terrestrial robot(s). The robot(s) will be at surface NASA analog or lab facilities and connected to ISS through an SSC-OCA-VPN interface. Crew will use the robot(s) to simulate activities such as landing site validation and traverse scouting. Images will be uplinked from the ground to the ISS during/after each session. Ground will observe the robots performing their predetermined tasks.



• This operation will obtain baseline engineering data, validate & correlate prior ground simulations, and reduce the risk that architecture/mission planning is based on inaccurate assumptions.

Description

Surface Telerobotics will investigate space-based crew control of surface telerobotics in preparation for future missions such as L2 Lunar farside, Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), and Mars orbital exploration. This operation will allow researchers to characterize the differences between Earth-based control and on-orbit control of surface robots which will drive requirements for future human-robotic systems. Operations will focus on ISS crew control of terrestrial robot(s). The robot(s) will be at surface NASA analog or lab facilities and connected to ISS through an SSC-OCA-VPN interface. Crew will use the robot(s) to simulate activities such as landing site validation and traverse scouting. Images will be uplinked from the ground to the ISS during/after each session. Ground will observe the robots performing their predetermined tasks. This operation will obtain baseline engineering data, validate & correlate prior ground simulations, and reduce the risk that architecture/mission planning is based on inaccurate assumptions

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Applications

Space Applications

This operation will obtain baseline engineering data, validate & correlate prior ground simulations, and reduce the risk that architecture/mission planning is based on inaccurate assumptions associated with space-based crew control of surface telerobotics for future missions such as L2 Lunar farside, Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA), and Mars orbital exploration.

Earth Applications

This payload can lead to advances for controlling deep sea exploration robotic missions.

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Operations

Operational Requirements

Trained USOS crewmembers are eligible to participate in these sessions. One crew person is required, three sessions of 3.5 hours each, spaced early, middle, and late in Inc 35-36. The flight crew will use ISS SSC laptop, camcorder or video downlink, and UOP to connect to the surface telerobotics via an SSC-OCA-VPN link. The crew will use the interfaces to test feasibility of interactions required to command a ground based robot (8 kbps downlink minimum) and view telemetry, data, and images returned by the robot (768 kbps uplink minimum).

Operational Protocols

In-flight, crewmember will review procedures, setup the appropriate communications interfaces, and control surface telerobot(s).

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Results/More Information

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Related Websites

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Imagery

K-10 Robot.
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