IEEE RAS Space Robotics TC

The Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Technical Committee (TC) on Space Robotics was formed in May, 2006. In October, 2006, the membership voted to broaden the scope of interest of our TC to include planetary robotics (rovers) along with our initial focus on in-space (orbital) robotics.

1.0 Overview

1.1 Orbital Robotics

Automated Walking Inspection and Maintenance Robot (AWIMR).

The space (orbital) environment (micro-gravity, radiation, contamination sensitivity, thermal extremes, etc.) poses unique challenges to robotics and robot algorithms. The space (non-planetary) robotics discipline will find increasing importance in coming years, particularly as the opportunities for human-robot and robot-robot cooperation arise in space exploration. Priority areas for this technical committee include:

Microgravity locomotion, including vehicle gripping techniques in microgravity. Space adapted grippers include sticky polymeric and electrostatic, as well as more conventional mechanical devices. Locomotion strategies also include leaping and free flying.
Command and control interfaces, including teleoperated modes.
Power sources and consumable recharging techniques.
Radiation hardening and effects on processing throughput.
Glare and glint effects on machine vision.
Thermal considerations in space robot design.

1.2 Planetary Rovers

Mars Science Laboratory.

The planetary environment also poses unique challenges. The distance to planetary surfaces precludes real-time teleoperation. Planetary rover technical topics include:

Natural terrain navigation.
Novel vehicle design concepts.
Terrain relative precision position estimation.
System design and software integration.
Command and control with limited bandwidth.
Field tests on Earth and Mars.

2.0 Upcoming Activities

Upcoming meetings, conferences, and other activities will be listed here.

2.1 RAS Chapter Guest Speaker

TC founding member Dr. Edward Tunstel will be the guest speaker for the RAS Washington Section Chapter on March 6, 2008 at the University of Maryland. His topic will be "Space Robotics for Science and Exploration on Planetary Surfaces."

From Dr. Tunstel's abstract:

This talk provides an overview of some of the robotics technologies receiving attention today to enable needed capabilities for current and future missions on the surfaces of other planets.

See the event flyer (linked below) for more information.

Event flyer PDF file

3.0 Past Activities

3.1 Space Robotics Workshop

Two follow-on Space Robotics Workshops were held at ICRA '08 (May 19 and 20, 2008), one on planetary rovers, organized by TC Co-Chair Rich Volpe, and one on orbital robotics, organized by TC Chairman Rick Wagner.

3.2 Space Robotics Presentation

Rick Wagner gave a presentation on the TC, space robotics in general, and lessons learned on the Northrop Grumman AWIMR project at the November 13, 2007 meeting of the Robotics, Computational Intelligence, and Cybernetics Chapter (RCICC) of the IEEE at the building S Forum at One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA, 70278, at 6:30 PM. Pizza was served and the interested public was invited. The presentation seemed to be well received by those in attendance.

3.3 Participation in IROS 2007

Chairman Rick Wagner attended IROS 2007 and wrote this report.

3.4 Space Robotics Workshop at ICRA 2007

Our Space Robotics Workshop at ICRA 2007 in Rome, Italy, 10-14 April, was well attended and received. Organized by TC founding Co-Chair Rich Volpe and founding Chairman Rick Wagner, the workshop combined both planetary robotics (rovers) with in-space (orbital) robotics topics, in keeping with our larger scope of interest for the TC. See our Web page ICRA '07 Space Robotics Workshop for more information and some photographs from the workshop.

3.5 AIAA SARTC

The RAS Space Robotics TC Chairman, Rick Wagner, presented a description of our TC to the AIAA SARTC meeting at NASA Ames Research Center on September 19, 2006. See his report on the meeting.

4.0 Background

Founding Date: May 19, 2006
Member Count:18
Fall 2006 Committee Chairs:
- Wagner, Rick, email: Rick dot Wagner at NGC dot com
- Dimi Apostolopoulos, Carnegie-Mellon University
- Hobson Lane, Northrop Grumman Corporation, email: Hobson dot Lane at NGC dot com
- Richard Volpe, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, email: volpe at jpl dot nasa dot gov

4.1 Membership

The Space Robotics TC now has 21 members. Please see our membership page for more information. To join, send an email to Rick Wagner (Rick dot Wagner at NGC dot com).

Also see the RAS Technical Committees list.

SpaceRoboticsTC.html, this file created August 22, 2006.
Last updated June 2, 2008, by Rick Wagner.