Human Exploration Telerobotics Project Conducts Communications Test Between ISS and Ames Marscape
The Human Exploration Surface Telerobotics project conducted a communications test between a laptop onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and a K10 rover in the Marscape at NASA Ames Research ...
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NASA Headquarters Open House Talk on Inauguration Day Features Autonomous Missions Operations Project
In an Inauguration Day talk at the NASA Headquarters Open House, astronaut Lee Morin described how experiments are done onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The talk featured the Autonomous ...
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Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies Project Hosts Technical Interchange Meeting
The Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies (VSST) project hosted a one-day meeting at NASA Ames Research Center on December 18, 2012, with participation from NASA Ames researchers, the FAA, the Army ...
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Dr. David Smith Gives Invited Talk at First Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems
Dr. David Smith gave an invited talk at the First Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems, held in Palo Alto, Dec 6-8, 2012. The talk was entitled "Progressive Planning," ...
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Intelligent Systems Division Personnel and Colleagues Participate in First Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems
The First Annual Conference on Advances in Cognitive Systems was held in Palo Alto, Dec. 6-8, 2012. Dr. David E. Smith (TI/ASR) presented an invited talk on Progressive Planning. Dr. ...
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Human Exploration Telerobotics Project Demonstrates Remote Operation of “Smart Spheres” on Space Station
The Human Exploration Telerobotics (HET) project demonstrated remote operation of the “smart Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites” (smart SPHERES) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) on December 12, ...
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V. Stepanyan and K. Krisnakumar Publish Chapter in “Advances in Intelligent and Autonomous Aerospace Systems”
A chapter titled “Modified Reference Model MRAC (M-MRAC): An Application to a Generic Transport Aircraft,” by Vahram Stepanyan and Kalmanje Krishnakumar, was published in the book Advances in Intelligent and ...
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U.S. Adaptive Control Patent Awarded to NASA Scientists
On October 9, 2012, the patent “Aircraft System Modeling Error and Control Error” (US Patent No. 8,285,659 B1) was granted to three NASA Scientists belonging to the Intelligent Systems Division. ...
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Jeremy Frank Gives Speaks at University of Miami Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Jeremy Frank visited the University of Miami Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and gave a talk titled “Embedded Systems: A NASA Perspective.” The talk described NASA applications of ...
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Habitat Automation Software Successfully Demonstrated During JSC Deep Space Habitat Mission Operations Test
Throughout the two-week Mission Operations Test (MOT) in the Deep Space Habitat (DSH) at Johnson Space Center (JSC), September 10-21, software provided by the Autonomous Systems Project ran twenty four ...
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Power Planning and Analysis Tool Certified for JSC Mission Control Ops
The Ames Power Planning and Analysis Tool (PLATO) successfully completed the process for certification for deployment at JSC Mission Control. PLATO is a preflight planning and real-time analysis console tool ...
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MSLICE Planning and Scheduling Software Keeps Curiosity on Track
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is supported by the Ensemble tool, MSLICE (Mars Science Laboratory InterfaCE, pronounced “em-slice”), which provides the mission with science data visualization and analysis, roundtrip ...
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Intelligent Robotics Group Provides Key Science Operations Software for In-Situ Resource Utilization Field Test
The Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) provided key science tools to the operations team for the Regolith and Environment Science, Oxygen, and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) hardware In Situ Resource Utilization ...
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NASA/Boeing Meeting on Elastic Aircraft Flight Control Research
On June 22nd, 2012, NASA Ames subject matter experts participated in a meeting at Boeing Seal Beach to discuss the current research status of the Elastic Aircraft Flight Control task ...
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Intelligent Robotics Group Performs Smartphone Test Onboard ISS
On July 2, 2012, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) conducted a successful communication test between the Mission Control Center (MCC) and a smartphone onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The ...
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Nhan Nguyen Chairs AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference
HIGHLIGHT: Nhan Nguyen hosted the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference as the Conference General Chair. The conference took place on June 19–21, 2012, in Garden Grove, CA. The AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference is ...
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Ashok Srivastava Selected as AIAA Journal Editor in Chief
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected Ashok N. Srivastava, Ph.D., to replace Dr. Michael Hinchey as the Editor in Chief of its Journal of Aerospace Computing, ...
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Code TI Hosts Marie Curie Fellow
Dr. Thomas Lombaerts of the German Aerospace Center DLR (German for the Center for Aviation and Space Flight) was awarded a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship to conduct research at Ames ...
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Solar Array Constraint Engine Passes Critical Design Review
The Solar Array Constraint Engine (SACE) project completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) at Johnson Space Center (JSC). The review included two days of presentations and a broad discussion of ...
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Autonomous Systems and Avionics Project Receives NASA Space Act Award
The Integrated Modeling Development Environment (IMDE) was recently selected as the winner of a NASA Space Act Award. The award includes a $500 prize to the development team. BACKGROUND: The ...
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Technical Overview of Optimal Rotorcraft Trajectories Work Presented to Langley’s Aeroacoustics Branch
On Feb 14, 2012, the Autonomous Systems and Robotics Planning and Scheduling Group presented a technical overview and summary of recent experimental results on designing optimal rotorcraft trajectories for noise ...
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IEEE Posts Human Exploration Telerobotics Overview Video on Blog
IEEE has posted a piece entitled, “Robots Aboard the International Space Station” on their blog on automation. The story features the Human Exploration Telerobotics overview video put together by Ames ...
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Active Wing-Shaping Flight Control for Drag Reduction Cited in Aviation Week Magazine
Active wing-shaping flight control technology for next-generation aircraft, currently being developed by the Intelligent Systems Division in collaboration with The Boeing Company in St. Louis, MO, and Seal Beach, CA, ...
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Dr. Jeremy Frank Gives Invited Talk at NASA Quantum Future Technologies Conference
Dr. Jeremy Frank gave an invited talk at the NASA Quantum Future Technologies Conference, which took place at NASA Ames Research Center, January 17-21, 2012. Dr. Frank’s presentation was titled, ...
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First Release Of ADCO Planning Exchange Tool Delivered To JSC
The first delivery of the International Space Station (ISS) Attitude Determination and Control Officer (ADCO) Planning Exchange (APEX) Tool was made in December 2011. This first release of seven includes ...
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Intelligent Robotics Group Releases High-Resolution Lunar Maps Generated by New Computer Vision Algorithms
The Intelligent Robotics Group has released new high-resolution maps of the lunar surface that were created from over 4,000 images taken by the Apollo Metric (Mapping) Camera, which flew aboard ...
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Autonomous Mission Operations Project Featured in JSC Roundup Magazine
The Autonomous Mission Operations (AMO) project, under the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program, was the subject of a story in the November issue of Johnson Space Center’s Roundup magazine. When ...
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Successful Test of SPHERES With Smartphone Controller Onboard the ISS
On November 1, 2011 a successful test was conducted onboard the International Space Station (ISS) of the new Smartphone Controller for the “Synchronized Position, Hold, Engage, and Reorient Experimental Satellites” ...
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First Smartphone Certified to Fly on ISS
The Intelligent Robotics Group certified the first smartphone to fly on the International Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle. The Smartphone is a modified Samsung Nexus S with an Android ...
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PLATO Team Receives NASA Honor Award
The Power Planning and Analysis Tool (PLATO) Team has received a NASA Honor Award. NASA Honor Awards are presented to groups and individuals who have distinguished themselves by making outstanding ...
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Advanced Planning Technology Knowledge Engineering Tools Presentations
Mission planning is central to space mission operations and has benefited from advances in model-based planning software, but developing a planning model still remains a difficult task. Mission planning constraints ...
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Gigapan Voyage Remotely Captures First Underwater Panorama
The Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) remotely captured its first underwater panorama in Key Largo, Florida, in support of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) project. The panorama was captured ...
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Jeremy Frank Gives Invited Presentation at Space Ops 2011
Mathematicians and computer scientists have developed numerous technologies for planning and scheduling, several of which have been applied to space mission operations. Among these technologies are numerous languages used to ...
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AIAA Publishes Control Allocation Paper
The paper “Control Allocation to Recover from Pilot-Induced Oscillations” (CAPIO) has been published in the July-August 2011 issue of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. The Cruise-Efficient, Short ...
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IRG “Crater Detection” Challenge for NASA Tournament Lab
The Intelligent Robotics Group has created a “Crater Detection” challenge for the NASA Tournament Lab. This challenge focuses on detecting impact craters in orbital images and will run from June ...
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Dr. David Smith Invited Talk at International Workshop on Planning and Scheduling For Space
Dr. David Smith gave an invited talk on the Emergency Landing Planner (ELP) at the Seventh International Workshop on Planning and Scheduling for Space (IWPSS), held June 8-10 at the ...
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Aviation Week & Space Technology Highlights Elastic-Shaped Future Air Vehicle Work
Aviation Week & Space Technology, a reputed aerospace and defense industry weekly news magazine, recently published the online article, “Flying Greener, on the Wings of a Gull,” based on work ...
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NASA Tech Briefs Spotlights Chad Frost
Chad Frost, the Intelligent Systems Division's Technical Area Lead for Autonomous Systems and Robotics, is featured in the May 2011 NASA Tech Briefs issue's "Who's Who at NASA" column. The ...
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Adaptive Control Flight Tests on NASA F-18 Aircraft
A series of flight test experiments of new adaptive flight controllers has been successfully demonstrated at NASA Dryden onboard an F-18 aircraft (TN 853), also referred to as Full-scale Advanced ...
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Programming Challenges Created for NASA Tournament Lab
On December 3, 2010, the NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) met with organizers of the new NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) to create a variety of programming challenges. These challenges ...
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Pilot Tests for Emergency Landing Planner
An Automated Planning and Scheduling Group team has completed a series of tests of an Emergency Landing Planner (ELP) for damaged aircraft. When damage or failure occurs, pilots invoke the ...
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Constraint and Flight Rule Management 1.0 Delivered to JSC MOD
The Constraint and Flight Rule Management (ConFRM) System version 1.0 has been delivered to Johnson Space Center’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD). ConFRM 1.0 is the culmination of a one-year development ...
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Tri-ATHLETE Footfall Planning Demonstrated at Desert RATS
On September 14th, the Footfall Planning project successfully demonstrated multi-step walking over rocky terrain at the 2010 Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) field test at Black Point Lava Flow ...
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A4O Technology Tested at DRATS
ETDP Automation for Operations (A4O) technology was successfully tested as part of the 2010 D-RATS mission this year near the SP Mountain area outside of Flagstaff, AZ. The A4O software ...
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Intelligent Robotics Group Supports Desert RATS 2010
Code TI’s Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) sent five people to support Desert RATS 2010. Three members of IRG supported the hardware and software for two Gigipan cameras, one mounted on ...
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Preliminary Technology Shakedown For Cestol Aircraft Controls Research
The Fundamental Aeronautics Program’s Subsonic Fixed-Wing (SFW) Project and the Integrated Systems Research Program’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project conducted a preliminary technology shakedown in the Neuro-Engineering Lab (NEL) at ...
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Air Force Research Laboratory Visitors
Staff and contractors from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) visited NASA Ames’ Intelligent Systems Division for a two-day discussion of ongoing and potential collaborations between NASA and the AFRL ...
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IRG Deploys K10 Robots as Part of Haughton-Mars Project
Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) personnel were among the teams of international researchers exploring concepts and testing robots for future Moon and planetary exploration as part of the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP). ...
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NASA Teaches Kindergartners How to be Mars Robots
Dr. Jeremy Frank visited St. Paul's Child Development Center and talked about exploring Mars with kindergartners. The class talked about the planets, using both pictures on the classroom wall and ...
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Public Voting Website for 2010 Desert RATS Mission
Visit http://desertrats2010.arc.nasa.gov between now and August 8 to help NASA choose the site for a simulated lunar geology mission in Northern Arizona. The Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) has created a ...
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3D Stereo Reconstruction and Digital Elevation Models of Apollo 15 Zone
The Lunar Mapping and Modeling team in the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) has completed the 3D stereo reconstruction and digital elevation models (DEM) of the entire Apollo 15 zone from ...
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X1.01 Small Business Initiative Research Technical Interchange Meeting
Dr. Jeremy Frank hosted a Technical Interchange Meeting with SBIR Phase I and Phase II project leads with projects in the X1.01 topic area. Representatives attended from S&K Aerospace, Tietronix, ...
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ISS Utilization Proposal Reviews
Dr. Jeremy Frank participated in multiple reviews of ISS Utilization Proposals. Along with collaborators from Johnson Space Center’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD), Dr. Frank authored two proposals that were among ...
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Disaster Response Haiti Recovery Test
The Google-NASA Disaster Response (DR) project has provided several Android G1 cell phones for use by the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). These phones are equipped with GeoCam Mobile software ...
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Chad Frost UAV Interview
Chris Anderson (Editor-In-Chief, Wired magazine) and Tim Trueman (DIY Drones.com) interviewed Chad Frost, the Intelligent Systems Division’s Area Lead for Autonomous Systems and Robotics, for the Sunday, January 10th DIY ...
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Behind the Scenes Look at Robotics and Software Development
Two Intelligent Robotics team audio slideshows, which take a look behind the scenes at the research and development the team is doing in embedded systems, human-computer interaction, robotics, software development, ...
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Gigipan Epic Selected as a Top Technology of 2009
Editor Richard Taylor of the BBC’s flagship technology program, Click, has selected GigaPan Epic as his top technology of 2009. GigiPan Epic is a robotic camera that takes hundred of ...
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Power Planning and Analysis Tool (PLATO) Project Prototype Release
A prototype of the Power Planning and Analysis Tool (PLATO) was released to the Expedition Systems Division (DI) of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Operations Directorate as part of ...
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Web 2.0 and Crisis Response Roundtable Held at NASA Ames
On Nov 12, 2009, a “roundtable” discussion with FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate was held at NASA Ames to explore how government and private industry can leverage new technologies—from social networking ...
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GeoCam Deployed at Guiberson Fire in Ventura County
On Sep 25-26, 2009, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) issued seven GeoCam Mobile Android phones to firefighters at the Guiberson Fire, a major fire that mobilized over 1,800 firefighters and ...
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Piloted Simulation Evaluation of Adaptive Control Technologies
The Aviation Safety Program’s Integrated Resilient Aircraft Controls (IRAC) project is conducting a piloted simulation evaluation of six new adaptive control technologies on the motion-based Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator (ACFS). ...
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Constraints and Flight Rule Management Project Prototype Release for Evaluation
A prototype of the Constraints and Flight Rule Management (ConFRM) tool was released to the Space Transportation Systems Division (DS) of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) ...
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NASA, USGS, CMU, and Santa Clara DA’s Office Collaborate to Solve a 1991 Cold-Case Murder Investigation
The NASA Payload Directed Flight research team from the Intelligent Systems Division at Ames Research Center, in collaboration with the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park and Carnegie Mellon ...
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Gigapan Voyage Field Tested at 2009 “Desert Rats”
From August 27 to September 6, 2009, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) completed a “robotic recon” experiment as part of the 2009 Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) field test ...
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PLEXIL to Provide Intelligent Control at Unimodal
A Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement between NASA Ames and Unimodal Systems, LLC was approved and executed on August 7. Unimodal, a southern California based company with a development office in ...
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Automation for Operations Project Demonstration for JSC Habitat Demonstration Unit Lead
The Automation for Operations (A4O) project demonstrated advanced software for human spaceflight mission operations for Kriss Kennedy of Johnson Space Center, who leads the Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) project. The ...
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Automated Control of CRUX Robotic Planetary Prototype Drill Tested in Haughton Crater
On July 21–30, the Deployable Automation Technologies group, led by Brian Glass, tested automated control of the CRUX robotic planetary-prototype drill, in Haughton Crater on Devon Island in the Canadian ...
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S-Band Evolved Antenna Prototype Meets LADEE Mission Requirements
Using the Intelligent System Division’s Automated Design of Spacecraft Systems (ADSS) software system, an evolved S-band antenna design was developed that meets current Lunar Atmospheric and Dust Environment Experiment (LADEE) ...
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SPIFE Software Used for LCROSS Mission Operations
The LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) mission operations team is using the Ames-developed Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFE) to dramatically improve timeline situational awareness for flight. ...
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A4O Presentation at Mission Operations Preliminary Design Review Checkpoint
Dr. Jeremy Frank presented a summary of the Automation for Operations (A4O) project to the Mission Operations Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Checkpoint. This meeting was a two-day event (6/16–6/17) to ...
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GeoCam Tested in Disaster Response Exercises at Google
On May 14 and 28, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) conducted two disaster response exercises at Google, Inc. During the exercises, which simulated volunteers responding to a large-scale natural disaster, ...
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Robotic Recon Experiment at Black Point Lava Flow
From June 14-27, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) will use a robot to scout portions of the Black Point Lava Flow in northern Arizona. The robot, called K10, will be ...
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Adaptive Control and Evolvable Systems Group at USGS Open House
On May 16 and 17, the Payload Directed Flight (PDF) research team from NASA Ames Research Center took part in the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 9th Triennial Open House ...
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Spacecraft Automation Technology Meetings With Air Force Research Laboratory
Dr. Jeremy Frank held two meetings with contractors and staff from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first meeting was ...
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Planetary Content Project Contributes to Google Mars Release
The most visible success of the Planetary Content project in 2008 was the development of the content for Google Mars 3D, which was released to the world on February 2, ...
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EUROPA in Use for Autonomous Robots Developed at Willow Garage
Willow Garage has developed an autonomous robot control architecture employing the Extensible Universal Remote Operations Planning Architecture (EUROPA). Recently, a PR2 robot navigated in a dynamic indoor environment autonomously for ...
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EUROPA and SPIFE Demos to JSC Mission Operations Directorate
NASA Ames staff demonstrated how the Extensible Universal Remote Operations Planning Architecture (EUROPA) and the Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration (SPIFE) would be used to manage operations plans for ...
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Robotic Recon Operational Readiness Test
From November 3-6, 2008, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) conducted an Operational Readiness Test (ORT) of a “robotic recon” system at NASA Ames. During the ORT, the K10 “Red” robot ...
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Space Mission Crew Planning Domain Model Used in International Planning Competition
The International Planning Competition (IPC) is a biennial event organized in the context of the International Conference on Planning and Scheduling. A main goal of the competition is to analyze ...
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Presentations at International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling
Jeremy Frank presented three papers at the 2008 International Conference on Automated Planning and Scheduling, September 14-18, 2008. The first paper, “Speeding Up the Resource Envelope Computation for Activities with ...
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Presentations at AIAA Space Conference
Jeremy Frank presented two posters at the 2008 AIAA Space Conference, held September 9–11, 2008. The first poster, “Automation for Operations,” describes the scope and accomplishments of the Automation for ...
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Solar Array Constraint Engine Demonstrations
Jeremy Frank demonstrated the Solar Array Constraints Engine (SACE) software at 2008 AIAA Space, which took place September 9–11, 2008. Frank also demonstrated SACE at the International Conference on Automated ...
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High School Students Visit Ames
Seventeen students from the “I Have a Dream” Foundation - San Francisco at Gateway High School visited NASA Ames and were hosted by Dr. Jeremy Frank. The students and their ...
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Intelligent Flight Controller Approved for Testing
The new Intelligent Flight Controller (IFC) Gen 2a/2b was cleared for flight test in recommendations resulting from the July 30, 2008 Airworthiness and Flight Safety Review Board (AFSRB) briefing. This ...
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PLEXIL and Universal Executive Software Released Open Source
The Plan Execution Interchange Language (PLEXIL) and the Universal Executive (UE) have been released as open source software, available at plexil.sourceforge.net. Included in the release are the PLEXIL language definition ...
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Human Spaceflight Planning Technical Interchange Meeting
Representatives from the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Payload Operations staff met with the Planning and Scheduling Group to discuss the ...
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2008 Moses Lake Sand Dunes Field Test
From June 1-14, 2008, the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) will participate in the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) Human-Robotic Systems (HRS) project field test at Moses Lake Sand Dunes. During ...
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Ensemble Planning Tool Used By Phoenix Science Team
Following the successful landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars on May 25, the Phoenix Science Team began using Ensemble’s Planning and Scheduling Interface (PSI) to plan Phoenix operations on ...
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