Future Directions in Automation and Robotics for Manufacturing

The current emphasis on designing flexible manufacturing systems, particularly in the electronics manufacturing industry, is bringing automation and robotics technologies to the factory at increasing rates. The rate of advance in these technologies raises serious concerns among engineers and managers about how to proceed in building modern manufacturing systems. A large portion of this uncertainty results from the difficulty of fitting technological advances into the existing models of manufacturing. What is needed is a new framework within which to perceive automation and robotics which will permit the adoption of more encompassing design strategies and principles to be followed in the practice of modernizing and maintaining advanced electronics manufacturing systems. This paper provides a framework that might be adopted to structure new strategies for incorporating automation and robotics in manufacturing. The approach is one that we at SRI have found useful in considering automation and robotics issues for the NASA Space Station and other complex systems which need to incorporate new technologies throughout long lifetimes. These same issues are becoming increasingly important in electronics manufacturing system design and development.     

NASA research and development for space telerobotics

The goal of this research is to explore and prevent robust concepts for telerobotic support of space servicing, assembly, maintenance, and telescience tasks. This goal is being addressed through a program of coordinated work in artificial intelligence, robotics, and human factors. The general research objective is the fusion of robot sensing and manipulation, teleoperation, and human and machine cognitive skills into an effective architecture for supervised task automation. NASA is evaluating results of this research program in a ground laboratory telerobot testbed under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The testbed development activity includes integrated technology demonstrations. The demonstrations show telerobot capabilities to perform tasks of increasing complexity, and duration in increasingly unstructured environments. The first such demonstration is the ground-based grappling, docking, and servicing of a satellite taskboard. The author outlines this demonstration and briefly reports on some aspects of its implementation     

Tetrahedral Robotics for Space Exploration

A reconfigurable space filling robotic architecture has a wide range of possible applications. One of the more intriguing possibilities is mobility in very irregular and otherwise impassable terrain. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is developing the third generation of its addressable reconfigurable technology (ART) tetrahedral robotics architecture. An ART-based variable geometry truss consisting of 12 tetrahedral elements made from 26 smart struts on a wireless network has been developed. The primary goal of this development is the demonstration of a new kind of robotic mobility that can provide access and articulation that complement existing capabilities. An initial set of gaits and other behaviors are being tested, and accommodations for payloads such as sensor and telemetry packages are being studied. Herein, we describe our experience with the ART tetrahedral robotics architecture and the improvements implemented in the third generation of this technology. Applications of these robots to space exploration and the tradeoffs involved with this architecture will be discussed.     

Steering the station back on course

Rising costs of the International Space Station prompted NASA to convene a panel of experts to assess the quality of ISS cost estimates and review program assumptions and requirements. The panel concluded that NASA was unable to accurately predict ISS costs or to support requests for increased funding for the ISS through 2006 and should maintain a U.S. core complete program with three-person crews with 6-month stays on the ISS. International response to the panel report was negative with space agencies from Japan, Russia, Canada, and Europe taking issue with the expected impact on ISS construction and use.     

The International Space Station: a question of federal funding andpolicy implications

A summary form is given of the author's full paper (ibid. vol. 33, p. 7, 1998). The ISS program is a huge investment by the U.S. government. It is estimated by NASA that the program will cost the American public more than $70 billion over a period of 30 years. Since the scientific impact of this program is relatively unknown (and uncertain), the question that policy makers will have to struggle with is whether the federal government should continue to fund the program, or to pull out from the program altogether, thus saving American taxpayers close to $30 billion. Although funding is a major concern, since the inclusion of Russia in the program, the ISS has also become a foreign policy tool. Therefore, additional questions about policy implications of the ISS program need to be addressed     

The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Education and Outreach (E/PO) Program

The STEREO mission’s Education and Outreach (E/PO) program began early enough its team benefited from many lessons learned as NASA’s E/PO profession matured. Originally made up of discrete programs, by launch the STEREO E/PO program had developed into a quality suite containing all the program elements now considered standard: education workshops, teacher/student guides, national and international collaboration, etc. The benefit of bringing so many unique programs together is the resulting diverse portfolio, with scientists, E/PO professionals, and their education partners all of whom can focus on excellent smaller programs. The drawback is a less cohesive program nearly impossible to evaluate in its entirety with the given funding. When individual components were evaluated, we found our programs mostly made positive impact. In this paper, we elaborate on the programs, hoping that others will effectively use or improve upon them. When possible, we indicate the programs’ effects on their target audiences.     

Decisions, endings, and new beginnings

The Washington Watch column examines NASA shuttle developments, airline pilot age issues, development of a personnel recovery vehicle, and includes an obituary for retired Air Force General Bernard Schriever, remembered as an air and space pioneer. The discussion of NASA shuttle developments reports on the space shuttle flight schedule and NASA's ability to deliver hardware to the International Space Station, funding levels and equipment development schedules related to President Bush's mandate to visit Mars, a report on the space program by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and top-level management changes at NASA. The discussion of airline pilot age issues examines efforts to change mandatory retirement requirements. The discussion of personnel recovery vehicles reports on development of an aircraft designed to rescue survivors during combat search and rescue missions.     

Robotic technology integration for army ground vehicles

This paper discusses the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center's (TARDEC's) four (4) axis strategy for integration of robotics into the legacy, interim, and objective forces. At the cornerstone of this strategy is the R&D effort concentrating on autonomous perception and navigation, intelligent tactical behavior, command and control, and man-robot interface entailed in the Demo III and Robotic Follower programs. Smart Manned Systems focuses on a systems engineering approach for robotic solutions into the interim force (Vetronics Technology Testbed and Crew Integration & Automation Testbed). In the near-term, application of robotics to the legacy force will be achieved through adapting commercial automation technologies, which address military requirements. Finally, Intelligent Mobility will investigate improving intrinsic platform mobility to lessen the burden on robotic sensing performance. The ultimate goal of this strategy is to advance the robotics technology state-of-the-art to achieve off-road full autonomous operations for military systems in support of the objective force     

For aerospace programs,the crises continue

The Legislative Update column reports on President Bush's supplemental budget request for the war in Iraq, the formation of a defense caucus in the House of Representatives, stabilized funding for airport security, the Department of Homeland Security budget, NASA's budget request, funding for NASA's aeronautics program, and NASA's new authorization. NASA's FY04 budget request is $15.47 billion, less than 1% more than FY03. The aeronautics program budget request for FY04 is $959 million, a decrease of 8.5% from FY03. Congress is working to introduce a multiyear authorization for NASA during the 108th session.     

Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Education and Public Outreach Program

The Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program serves as a pipeline of activities to inspire and educate a broad audience about Heliophysics and the Sun-Earth system, specifically the Van Allen Radiation Belts. The program is comprised of a variety of formal, informal and public outreach activities that all align with the NASA Education Portfolio Strategic Framework outcomes. These include lesson plans and curriculum for use in the classroom, teacher workshops, internship opportunities, activities that target underserved populations, collaboration with science centers and NASA visitors’ centers and partnerships with experts in the Heliophysics and education disciplines. This paper will detail the activities that make up the RBSP E/PO program, their intended audiences, and an explanation as to how they align with the NASA education outcomes. Additionally, discussions on why these activities are necessary as part of a NASA mission are included. Finally, examples of how the RBSP E/PO team has carried out some of these activities will be discussed throughout.     

Space robotics in the '90s

This article describes the use of robots to perform work in space. In particular, telerobotics, which uses human operators to control the movement and operation of the robots, are explored. The relationship between the human operator and the robot is very complex but these systems are being used to explore planetary surfaces and will also be used in the construction of the space station. Research being conducted at NASA facilities is described, providing a picture of the future of space robotics.     

Accessing NASA technology with the World Wide Web

NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) began using the World Wide Web (WWW) in the summer of 1993, becoming the first NASA installation to provide a center-wide home page. This coincided with a reorganization of LaRC to provide a more concentrated focus on technology transfer to both aerospace and non-aerospace industry. Use of WWW and NCSA Mosaic not only provides automated information dissemination, but also allows for the implementation, evolution and integration of many technology transfer and technology awareness applications. This paper describes several of these innovative applications, including the on-line presentation of the entire Technology Opportunities Showcase (TOPS), an industrial partnering showcase that exists on the Web long after the actual 3-day event ended. The NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) provides uniform access to many logically similar, yet physically distributed NASA report servers. WWW is also the foundation of the Langley Software Server (LSS), an experimental software distribution system which will distribute LaRC-developed software. In addition to the more formal technology distribution projects, WWW has been successful in connecting people with technologies and people with other people     

ATS-6 Experiment Summary

The ATS-6 is the most advanced experimental satellite that has evolved from the Application Technology Satellite Program conducted and implemented by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC). This project utilizes a state-of-the-art spacecraft and ground terminal network to perform advance studies and to conduct technological demonstrations in a large number of scientific areas. The design and implementation of this unique spacecraft permitted multiple experimentation simultaneously. The control of the spacecraft is performed at ATS Operational Control Center (ATSOCC) located at NASA/GSFC. Experimentation which was performed covered a wide spectrum of communications, technological, meterorological, and scientific subjects. Three principal ground terminals are utilized to assist the experimenters to acquire data. Data reduction and analysis are performed by the many facilities at NASA/GSFC in support of the experimenters.     

IBEX Education and Public Outreach

The IBEX mission includes a comprehensive Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program that develops programs and products in exciting themes from astronomy and space physics. With the active involvement of the Principal Investigator and several science team partners, it is overseen and implemented by the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum. The program includes an internationally distributed planetarium show with accompanying informal education materials that are also accessible to individuals with special needs; a national Space Science Core Curriculum for grades 6–8 in collaboration with other NASA missions; a professional development program for teachers; and workshops that engage Hispanic and Native American students. Materials are made available for download or for order via the IBEX website: http://www.ibex.swri.edu/. Our program is developed, implemented and monitored for effectiveness by organizations with proven capabilities and experience in their respective areas of E/PO. This paper describes these program elements in detail and includes the rationale and design process for this E/PO program.     

Applying automation to spacecraft mission operations

This study was initially undertaken to understand how commonalities among the application of proven automation processes such as aircraft control, nuclear power generation, auto manufacturing, etc. could be applied to spacecraft operations at NASA. These industries applied automation to reduce human repetitive task and mitigate risk, rather than create complete "lights out" operations as was the goal at NASA.     

ASPS-American suborbital passenger system 2005

With the evaporation of funding support for the National Aero Space Plane (NASP), realization of a single stage to orbit night system has been deferred. With the resource down sizing of the NASP management and technical team, development of the NASP concept appears to be delayed beyond the year 2030. To fill this gap for shorter flight times to remote destinations over 8,000 km, it is now proposed to convert the existing NASA shuttle to a passenger configuration and air launch horizontally from a Boeing 747 aircraft as the first stage carrier after climb to launch altitude. This US Shuttle concept may permit the transport of 100 passengers to destinations 10,000 km distant during a flight duration of 90 minutes, and during flight durations of about 120 minutes to any commercial destination on the planet Earth. This long distance system takes advantage of the existing shuttle and Boeing 747 airframe and propulsion technology, and can be implemented within the next decade     

UAVSAR: New NASA Airborne SAR System for Research

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is currently building a reconfigurable, polarimetric L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), specifically designed to acquire airborne repeat track SAR data for differential interferometric measurements. Differential interferometry can provide key deformation measurements, important for studies of earthquakes, volcanoes, and other dynamically changing phenomena. Using precision real-time GPS and a sensor controlled flight management system, the system will be able to fly pre-defined paths with great precision. The expected performance of the flight control system will constrain the flight path to be within a 10 m diameter tube about the desired flight track. The radar will be designed to be operable on a Unpiloted Arial Vehicle (UAV) but will initially be demonstrated on a NASA Gulfstream III. The radar will be fully polarimetric, with a range bandwidth of 80 MHz (2 m range resolution), and will support a 16 km range swath. The antenna will be electronically steered along track to assure that the antenna beam can be directed independently, regardless of the wind direction and speed. Other features supported by the antenna include elevation monopulse and pulse-to-pulse re-steering capabilities that will enable some novel modes of operation. The system will nominally operate at 45,000 feet (13,800 m). The program began as an Instrument Incubator Project (IIP) funded by NASA Earth Science and Technology Office (ESTO).     

Aircraft traffic management on the airport surface using VHF datalink for CNS

Aircraft traffic management on the airport surface will require the effective utilization of communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS). This paper describes an experiment which provides a glimpse of future automation. The experiment combines precision surface radar, high-accuracy differential GPS (DGPS) position determination, automatic dependent surveillance (ADS), and ground and airborne automation systems able to intercommunicate via a VHF data link. In particular, this paper describes the air/ground communications provided by the VHF Data Link. Two classes of messages are processed: continual and ad hoc. The former include DGPS corrections, ADS messages and target data. The latter include graphical taxi clearances and hold bar set-reset information. The work described in this paper is the result of a cooperative venture among NASA, Westinghouse-Norden Systems and ARINC     

High data rate applications of ACTS technology

The NASA Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) program will conduct high-data-rate experiments that will be applicable to the emerging broadband services of the telephony market. The existing broadband integrated services digital network (BISDN) services and delivery method as defined by the International Consultative Committee for Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT) and satellites' role in provisioning those services are discussed. The ACTS experimental efforts are summarized