kmguru
Staff member
NEWS
** INNOVATION: Robots Play As A Team
Think it's tough to get a team of humans here on Earth to work
together effectively to complete a project? Try managing a team
of robots a planet away. That's the challenge faced by Paul
Schenker, supervisor of the mechanical and robotics
technologies group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif.
Two of the lab's robots, working outdoors in a test that
simulated the deployment of a solar-power station, recently
managed to autonomously approach, grip, and carry an 8-foot
container for more than 164 feet. Schenker says it's the first
time two highly agile robots cooperated and transported an
extended, coupled object over natural terrain.
His secret weapon is software dubbed CampOut (Control
Architecture for Multirobot Planetary Outposts), which lets a
team of robots jointly detect and track their progress toward a
goal and coordinate actions in uncertain environments. Schenker
and his team created CampOut, which lets any number of robots,
each armed with its own basic visual, motor, and
"intelligence" skills, detect and carry objects and work
together as a team. Networked robotics lets robots view each
other as extended resources, Schenker says. The software alerts
the robots if there's too much weight shift in one direction,
and they adjust accordingly.
The laboratory started the project in anticipation of the
potential challenges robots would face on Martian soil. "You
need a team of robots that are extensible and flexible,"
Schenker says. The robots communicate with wireless modems to
exchange information about their activities. The idea, Schenker
says, is to have each robot understand that it's carrying a
certain amount of weight, know which direction to take an
object, and see and adjust as a group to obstacles, such as a
change in terrain. The ultimate goal for the robots is to serve
as advance explorers on Mars. Schenker envisions teams of
robots going to places and establishing "sustained robotic
outposts." They also could act as a construction crew for a
space station. - George V. Hulme
** INNOVATION: Robots Play As A Team
Think it's tough to get a team of humans here on Earth to work
together effectively to complete a project? Try managing a team
of robots a planet away. That's the challenge faced by Paul
Schenker, supervisor of the mechanical and robotics
technologies group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif.
Two of the lab's robots, working outdoors in a test that
simulated the deployment of a solar-power station, recently
managed to autonomously approach, grip, and carry an 8-foot
container for more than 164 feet. Schenker says it's the first
time two highly agile robots cooperated and transported an
extended, coupled object over natural terrain.
His secret weapon is software dubbed CampOut (Control
Architecture for Multirobot Planetary Outposts), which lets a
team of robots jointly detect and track their progress toward a
goal and coordinate actions in uncertain environments. Schenker
and his team created CampOut, which lets any number of robots,
each armed with its own basic visual, motor, and
"intelligence" skills, detect and carry objects and work
together as a team. Networked robotics lets robots view each
other as extended resources, Schenker says. The software alerts
the robots if there's too much weight shift in one direction,
and they adjust accordingly.
The laboratory started the project in anticipation of the
potential challenges robots would face on Martian soil. "You
need a team of robots that are extensible and flexible,"
Schenker says. The robots communicate with wireless modems to
exchange information about their activities. The idea, Schenker
says, is to have each robot understand that it's carrying a
certain amount of weight, know which direction to take an
object, and see and adjust as a group to obstacles, such as a
change in terrain. The ultimate goal for the robots is to serve
as advance explorers on Mars. Schenker envisions teams of
robots going to places and establishing "sustained robotic
outposts." They also could act as a construction crew for a
space station. - George V. Hulme