Expanding possibilities to lunar exploration
April 8, 2010
Northeastern professor Marty Vona collaborated with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to design a software interface for a lunar robot. Photo by Lauren McFalls
Expanding possibilities to lunar exploration, experimental roboticist
Marty Vona won't be flying to the moon.
But his National Science Foundation-funded work on a robotic rover could
help astronauts explore the big rock in the sky on a lunar mission
within the next decade.
Vona, an assistant professor of computer and information science,
collaborated with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada
Flintridge, California to design a software interface for the research
and development center's ATHLETE, or All Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra
Terrestrial Explorer.
The six-legged vehicle can carry heavy payloads on its hexagonal
surface; dig trenches and pick up objects using tools that can attach to
its wheels; take stereoscopic video of its surroundings using cameras
imbedded in the face of the frame; and navigate rough terrain. A
half-sized prototype of the robot, which travels 10 kilometers per hour,
is more than 6 feet tall and 9 feet in diameter.
But as originally developed, the robot had its limitations. That's where
Vona came in. He used algorithms to virtually modify the robot by
adding joints and links to a graphical representation of the vehicle.
The joints function like elbows, while the links work like forearms.
Through Vona's computer interface, users can interconnect these "virtual
articulations" with a model of the actual robot, enabling it to execute
a variety of previously challenging coordinated motion tasks, as if the
virtual components actually existed- saving NASA time and money.
"Robots are large and expensive," said Vona, whose scholarship focuses
on robotics operations and control, "so you want to be sure you know how
they're going to perform under certain conditions."
In a perfect world, "astronauts and the lunar robot will be roving
around the moon as a team."
Before joining the Northeastern faculty, Vona spent two years at the Jet
Propulsion Lab, where he created the science operations software for
the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers. Vona earned the 2004 NASA
Software of the Year Award for his work.
He's had a passion for building robots for as long as he can remember.
At around age 6, he wrote a letter outlining his wishes for humankind.
"I wish that anyone could do anything if they tried," the note said.
"For example, anyone could make a robot to do all the housework . . .
life would be a lot easier."