Carnegie-mellon University
Who it subcontracts to
EVALUATION OF LATCHING STRATEGIES, PROTOTYPE AND EVALUATION OF LATCHING MECHANISMS. FABRICATE OF BRANCH SCISSOR MECHANISM. WORK WITH CMU ON VALIDATION OF SIMULATION THROUGH SIMPLE HARDWARE EXPERIMENTS AND ON OPTIMIZATION OF CANDIDATE DESIGNS IN SIMULATION.
VERIFY, VALIDATE AND DEVELOP SOFTWARE TOWARD FLIGHT, INCLUDING PARTICIPATION IN REQUIREMENTS DEVELOPMENT AND CODE REVIEWS AS NEEDED
Who it works for
CO-INVESTIGATOR DAVID WETTERGREEN WILL DEVELOP HYPOTHESIS MAPPING METHODS AND ALGORITHMS (THEME 4, TASK 2) AND AUTOMATED SAMPLE IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION TECHNIQUES (THEME 4, TASK 3) FOR ROVER SCIENCE OPERATIONS. HE WILL LEAD THE PLANNING, INTEGRATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF ROBOTIC SYSTEMS AND INSTRUMENTS DURING FIELD EXPERIMENTS. EFFORT IS SUPPORTED DURING FORMULATION AND ANALYSIS (2.61 % YRL AND 2.26% YRS) AND DEVELOPING SYSTEMS AND MANAGING FIELD EXPERIMENTATION (5.42%YR2, 6.47%YR3, 5.98%YR4). A GRADUATE STUDENT, ADVISED BY DR. WETTERGREEN, WILL RESEARCH RELATED AND BACKGROUND WORK IN SCIENCE AUTONOMY, AND ADAPT, IMPLEMENT, AND TEST CONCEPTS AND ALGORITHMS FOR HYPOTHESES MAPPING AND AUTOMATED SAMPLE SELECTION. THE STUDENT WILL BE SUPPORTED AT 25% EFFORT. A FIELD ROBOTICS SPECIALIST WILL MANAGE PREPARATION OF THE ROBOTIC SYSTEM FOR FIELD EXPERIMENTATION, INCLUDING ALL ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS FOR INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENT. EFFORT IS SUPPORTED AT ONE ( 1) MONTH OF ACTIVITY IN YR3 AND YR4. A SENIOR RESEARCH ENGINEER IS REQUIRED TO MODIFY THE ROVER TO ACCOMMODATE INSTRUMENTATION AND TO INTEGRATE POWER AND COMPUTING COMPONENTS. THIS PERSON WILL DIRECT MECHANICAL MODIFICATIONS, BUT THE PRIMARY EMPHASIS IS ON ELECTRONICS MODIFICATION FOR POWER AND SIGNAL DISTRIBUTION (YR3). THE ENGINEER WILL ALSO ASSIST DEPLOYMENT AND OPERATIONS IN THE FIELD. EFFORT IS SUPPORTED AT 2 MONTHS YR3 AND 1 MONTH YR4. A SENIOR RESEARCH PROGRAMMER (EMBEDDED SYSTEMS) WILL DEVELOP LOW-LEVEL SOFTWARE, INCLUDING INSTRUMENT COMMAND, DATA DRIVERS, AND INTERFACE TO ROBOT COMMAND AND COMMUNICATIONS. THIS PROGRAMMER WILL ASSIST IN INSTRUMENT DATA COLLECTION IN THE FIELD. EFFORT IS SUPPORTED AT 2 MONTHS YR3 AND 1 MONTH YR4. A SENIOR RESEARCH PROGRAMMER (ROVER SOFTWARE) WILL DEVELOP HIGH-LEVEL SOFTWARE FOR HIGH-PRECISION NAVIGATION AND TARGET LOCALIZATION. THIS PROGRAMMER WILL IMPLEMENT SCIENCE AUTONOMY SOFTWARE ON THE ROBOT FOR UTILIZATION AND TESTING DURING FIELD EXPERIMENTATION; AND WILL ALSO DEVELOP INTERFACES APPROPRIATE TO THE DIFFERENT OPERATING SCENARIOS EMPLOYED IN FIELD EXPERIMENTS. EFFORT IS SUPPORTED AT 3 MONTHS YR3 AND 2 MONTHS YR4.
Lunar awards as prime
| Award | Description | Period | Obligated |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80HQTR19C0034 | NIAC PHASE III TECHNOLOGIES ENABLING THE EXPLORATION OF LUNAR PITS. UNDER THIS FFP CONTRACT, THE CONTRACTOR IS TO DEVELOP SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE PROTOTYPES TO UTILIZE TO EXPLORE LUNAR PITS. | 2019-10-01 → 2022-06-30 | $1.7M |
| 80NSSC22K0767 | SUSTAINED HUMAN PRESENCE IN SPACE HAS BEEN A CORE GOAL OF NASA FOR DECADES. NASA S RECENT PLAN FOR SUSTAINED LUNAR EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT LAYS | 2022-04-01 → 2026-03-31 | $746K |
| 80NSSC25K7328 | THE ROSES FUNDING OPPORTUNITY GOALS ARE: EXECUTE A BALANCED SCIENCE PROGRAM BASED ON DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES ENGINEERING AND MEDICINE ADMINISTRATION PRIORITIES AND DIRECTION FROM CONGRESS. PARTICIPATE AS A KEY PARTNER AND ENABLER IN THE AGENCY S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE FOCUSING ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH OF ON AND FROM THE MOON LUNAR ORBIT MARS AND BEYOND. ADVANCE DISCOVERY IN EMERGING FIELDS BY IDENTIFYING AND EXPLOITING CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OPPORTUNITIES BETWEEN TRADITIONAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES DEVELOP A DIRECTORATE-WIDE TARGET-USER FOCUSED APPROACH TO APPLIED PROGRAMS INCLUDING EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATIONS SPACE WEATHER PLANETARY DEFENSE AND SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. | 2024-11-13 → 2027-11-12 | $670K |
| 2209796 | COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: FRAMEWORKS: SIMULATING AUTONOMOUS AGENTS AND THE HUMAN-AUTONOMOUS AGENT INTERACTION -THIS PROJECT AUGMENTS THE CHRONO COMPUTER SIMULATION PLATFORM IN TRANSFORMATIVE WAYS. CHRONO'S PURPOSE IS TO PREDICT THROUGH SIMULATION THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS, THE ENVIRONMENT THEY OPERATE IN, AND HUMANS WITH WHOM THEY MIGHT INTERACT. THE OPEN-SOURCE SIMULATION PLATFORM IS SLATED TO BECOME A COMMUNITY-SHARED VIRTUAL INVESTIGATION TOOL USED TO PROBE COMPETING ENGINEERING DESIGNS AND TEST HYPOTHESES THAT WOULD BE TOO DANGEROUS, DIFFICULT, OR COSTLY TO VERIFY THROUGH PHYSICAL EXPERIMENTS. CHRONO HAS BEEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE USED IN MULTIPLE FIELDS AND DISCIPLINES, E.G., TERRAMECHANICS, ASTROPHYSICS; SOFT MATTER PHYSICS; BIOMECHANICS; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; CIVIL ENGINEERING; INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING; AND COMPUTER SCIENCE. SPECIFICALLY, IT IS USED TO ENGINEER THE 2023 VIPER LUNAR ROVER; RELIED UPON BY US ARMY EXPERTS IN EVALUATING ITS WHEELED AND TRACKED VEHICLE DESIGNS; USED IN THE US AND GERMANY IN THE WIND TURBINE INDUSTRY; AND INVOLVED IN DESIGNING WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION SOLUTIONS IN EUROPE. UPON PROJECT COMPLETION, CHRONO WILL BECOME A SIMULATION ENGINE IN GAZEBO, WHICH IS WIDELY USED IN ROBOTICS RESEARCH; OPERATE ON THE LARGEST DRIVING SIMULATOR IN THE US; EMPOWER RESEARCH IN THE BIO-ROBOTICS AND FIELD-ROBOTICS COMMUNITIES; AND ASSIST EFFORTS IN THE BROAD AREA OF AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH CARRIED OUT BY A CONSORTIUM OF UNIVERSITIES AND COMPANIES UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF THE AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH CENTER. THE EDUCATIONAL IMPACT OF THIS PROJECT IS THREEFOLD: TRAINING UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE, AND POST-DOCTORAL STUDENTS IN A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY FASHION THAT EMPHASIZES ADVANCED COMPUTING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT; ANCHORING TWO NEW COURSES IN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE CONTROL AND SIMULATION IN ROBOTICS; AND BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN COMPUTING THROUGH A RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM ON THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON THAT ENGAGES TEACHERS AND STUDENTS FROM RURAL HIGH-SCHOOLS. INNOVATION AND DISCOVERY ARE FUELED BY QUALITY DATA. AT ITS CORE, THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO INCREASE THE SHARE OF THIS DATA THAT HAS SIMULATION AS ITS PROVENANCE. IN THIS CONTEXT, A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM OF 40 RESEARCHERS AUGMENTS AND VALIDATES A PHYSICS-BASED SIMULATION FRAMEWORK THAT EMPOWERS RESEARCH IN AUTONOMOUS AGENTS (AAS). THE AAS OPERATE IN COMPLEX AND UNSTRUCTURED DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS AND MIGHT ENGAGE IN TWO-WAY INTERACTION WITH HUMANS OR OTHER AAS. THIS PROJECT ENABLES CHRONO TO GENERATE MACHINE LEARNING TRAINING DATA QUICKLY AND INEXPENSIVELY; FACILITATES COMPARISON OF COMPETING DESIGNS FOR ASSESSING TRADE-OFFS; AND GAUGES CANDIDATE DESIGN ROBUSTNESS VIA TESTING IN SIMULATION OF CORNER-CASE SCENARIOS. THESE TASKS ARE ACCOMPLISHED BY UPGRADING AND EXTENDING CHRONO TO LEVERAGE RECENT COMPUTATIONAL DYNAMICS INNOVATIONS, E.G., A FASTER INDEX 3 DIFFERENTIAL ALGEBRAIC EQUATIONS SOLVER; A NEW APPROACH TO SOLVING FRICTIONAL CONTACT PROBLEMS; A REAL-TIME SOLVER FOR HANDLING FLEXIBLE-BODY DYNAMICS IN SOFT ROBOTICS VIA NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS; A BEST-IN-CLASS SIMULATOR FOR TERRADYNAMICS APPLICATIONS; RELIANCE ON JUST-IN-TIME COMPILING FOR PRODUCING EXECUTABLES THAT ARE BOTH PROBLEM- AND HARDWARE-OPTIMIZED; A NOVEL WAY FOR USING MIXED DATA REPRESENTATIONS FOR PARSIMONIOUS STORING OF STATE INFORMATION; AND A SCALABLE MULTI-AGENT FRAMEWORK THAT ENABLES GEOGRAPHICALLY-DISTRIBUTED, OVER THE INTERNET, REAL-TIME SIMULATION OF HUMAN-AA INTERACTION. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA. | 2022-07-01 → 2025-06-30 | $100K |
| 80NSSC21K1275 | THE NEED FOR AUTONOMY CAPABLE OF NAVIGATING ROUGH TERRAIN IS PARAMOUNT AS NASA DEPLOYS ADDITIONAL ROVERS ON THE MOON AND MARS. | 2021-08-02 → 2023-08-01 | $79K |
| 80NSSC20K1215 | WITHIN THE PAST TWO DECADES THE DETECTION OF LAVA TUBES ON THE MOON AND MARS HAS REVEALED POTENTIAL LOCATIONS THAT COULD BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO LIFE BEYOND EARTH. | 2020-08-01 → ? | $66K |