Mary L. Sandy Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 21 , 1990 (Phone: 202/453-2754) Jim Doyle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (Phone: 818/354-5011) RELEASE: 90-85 NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY TESTS PLANETARY ROVER Scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have begun an extensive period of field testing of a semi-autonomous navigation system on a computer-operated robotic vehicle prototype for possible use in future planetary explorations. Brian Wilcox, supervisor of the Robotic Sensing and Perception Group, said the summer-long testing program would be carried out mostly in the Pasadena Arroyo, a dry river bed, adjacent to JPL. Developing new technologies, including a new generation of planetary rovers, is seen as critical to the success and cost effectiveness of the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) program announced by President Bush last July. The Planetary Rover project will develop systems for the manned and unmanned vehicles needed for surface transportation. Surface transportation systems required by SEI include unmanned rovers for outpost site survey and for regional robotic exploration and science, piloted rovers for transportation both locally and long range, and unmanned cargo handling, construction and mining. Increased traverse distance, longer life and autonomous operations are required for the unmanned roving vehicles for the program. Traverse distances of up to several kilometers per Earth day and a mission life from 1 to 5 years are desired for the next generation of robotic exploring vehicles. - more - - 2 - The operation of an autonomous unmanned rover in a location remote from the Earth, such as the surface of Mars, with round-trip communications time, at the speed of light, between 8 and 40 minutes, involves an entirely unproven technology. Two advanced forms of unmanned rover navigation are under development at JPL. They are computer-aided remote driving (CARD) and semi-autonomous navigation (SAN). The CARD technique allows a human operator to remotely drive a vehicle by planning and identifying an extended (10s of meters) obstacle-free path with a three dimensional display of images from stereo cameras aboard the vehicle. The path then is transmitted to the vehicle for atonomous execution. The SAN technique allows a human operator to determine a nominal extended route (10s of kilometers) for the vehicle, with the specific path taken by the vehicle around local obstacles determined automatically from the rover's sensor data and stored data base. JPL's prototype rover made its first, continuous semi-autonomous navigation (SAN) traverse, in rough natural terrain, on May 7, 1990. The navigation testbed is a six-wheeled, three-body, articulated vehicle the experimenters call Robby. It is about 13-feet long, 5-feet wide and more than 6.5-feet high. Its 35-inch diameter wheels and articulated body permit it to go over obstacles a meter high. The 2,500-pound vehicle contains two computer systems, one for perception and planning and one for control of the actuators in the wheel drive and arm control. The robotic arm has six links and 6 degrees of freedom with an additional pivot axis and gripper providing two more degrees of freedom. There are four cameras on the pan-tilt head capable of stereo correlation to provide three-dimensional images of objects. A motor generator provides 3,500 watts of power and batteries provide 24 volts. Other parts of the rover program include the development of advanced mission operation, mobility and power technology at JPL; the development of an innovative legged vehicle concept, as opposed to using wheels, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa.; mission operations research at the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.; and piloted rover technology at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. - end - - 3 - EDITORS NOTE: Available to the media only are two photographs of the planetary rover: Black and White: 90-H-471 Color: 90-HC-447 Material can be obtained by calling NASA Headquarters Audio-Visual Branch, 202/453-8375. A two-minute video clip to accompany this release will air on June 22 at 1 p.m. EDT on NASA Select television - SATCOM F2R, transponder 13, 72 degrees W. Longitude. This videoclip can also be obtained by contacting the NASA Headquarters Audio-Visual Branch. NASA news releases and other NASA information is available electronically on CompuServe and GEnie, the General Electric Network for Information Exchange. For information on CompuServe, call 1-800-848-8199 and ask for representative 176. For information on GEnie, call 1-800-638-9636. TO: MDS/PRA Group 1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20036 DATE & TIME: JUNE 21, 1990 ORDERED BY: Edward Campion NASA Headquarters/LMD 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20546 PHONE: 202/453-8400 PROJECT TITLE: Release No: 90-85 PRINT ORDER: 2272 PRINTING: Camera Ready, lst pg on NASA logo, other pages plain ENCLOSE & MAIL: Release of 3 pages MAIL DATE: JUNE 22, 1990 EXTRA COPIES: Deliver specified quanities to locations below: 50 copies 275 copies 75 copies -------------------- ------------------- ----------------- National Press Club NASA Mailroom NASA Newsroom 13th floor newsrack NASA Headquarters NASA Headquarters National Press Building 600 Independ. 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