Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!cat.cis.Brown.EDU!agate!ames!kronos.arc.nasa.gov!doctor
From: doctor@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Terry Fong)
Subject: Dante II - Mt. Spurr Expedition Status (16-Jul-94)
Message-ID: <1994Jul31.075902.27369@ptolemy-ethernet.arc.nasa.gov>
Summary: status information on CMU/NASA volcano robot explorer
Keywords: Dante, teleoperations, volcano, Alaska
Sender: usenet@ptolemy-ethernet.arc.nasa.gov (usenet@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov)
Nntp-Posting-Host: tardis.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA Ames Intelligent Mechanisms Group
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 07:59:02 GMT
Lines: 107

The following is a status update on the Dante II project. Dante II is
an eight-legged robot (developed by the CMU Robotics Institute with
sponsorship from NASA) which is currently descending into the active
crater of Mt. Spurr, an Alaskan volcano 80 miles west of Anchorage,
Alaska. The primary objective of the Dante II project is to develop and
evaluate new techniques and technologies which can be applied to space
and planetary exploration. 

Throughout the Mt. Spurr expedition, Dante II is being remotely
operated from a base station in Anchorage using control station
software developed at CMU and NASA Ames. Live video coverage is
periodically available via NASA Select. Full mission details including
current status, real-time images/video, and technical data is available
via a WorldWideWeb server provided by the NASA Ames Intelligent
Mechanisms Group. This site can be accessed on the Internet using
information browsers such as NCSA Mosaic and the URL:

	http://maas-neotek.arc.nasa.gov/dante

Questions regarding the Dante II project may be addressed to me via email 
(terry@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov). Reponse time may be slow.

Terry Fong
NASA Ames Research Center

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Daily Report (16-Jul-1994)

Today's activities continued to focus on preparing Dante for the final
field test, currently scheduled to begin Monday (July 18).  This
included making final adjustments to the hardware configuration and
calibration, verifying the communications pathways, and completing the
final software elements from the "must do" list of actions.

To start off the day, the daily breakfast/status meeting was filmed by
the media pool camera crew.  This gave each of us the opportunity to
be recorded with spinach stuck to our teeth from the breakfast omelet,
and to enjoy our respective opportunities to become video stars (Tim
Hegadorn deserves praise for performing the duties of breakfast chef
for the day and deserves recognition for providing an outstanding meal
prepared under adverse conditions).

Non-mealtime activities included the completion of the wiper control
for the pan and tilt camera unit.  This camera unit is suspended from
the top of the sensor arch above the robot, and contains a standard
monocular camera as well as a stereo pair of cameras for 3-D imaging.
The unit is sealed to prevent contamination of the cameras, and has a
lexan window for viewing.  To prevent accumulation of dust, steam and
fumerole vapor, a remotely-controlled wiper (scavenged from a wrecked
Volvo) had been installed to clean the window.  The operator control
software for the wiper was installed, tested and validated.

Also, the modification to the configuration of Dante's legs was
finished.  This involved replacing the foot on each leg with a new
foot of harder plastic than previously used, and adjusting the
location of the snowshoes.  Each leg of the robot is fitted with a
circular rubber snowshoe, approximately 16 inches in diameter, which
will support the weight of the leg in the event that it penetrates the
surface when walking on soft snow or soil in the crater (the descent
path identified by the recon team on Thursday will require crossing
over 300 feet of terrain covered by an unknown depth of snow).  The
snowshoe is mounted approximately one foot above the bottom of the
leg.  The snowshoes were tested in deep snow by the deployment team
shortly after their arrival in Anchorage, on a mockup leg testbed and
it was found that the snowshoes would easily support the expected
400-pound per leg loading by Dante, even in cases of severe surface
penetration by the foot.

The communications configuration to support remote operations
continues to come together.  Terrain maps generated by the laser
scanner were successfully passed over the NASA Science Internet
connection from Anchorage to Ames Research Center (ARC), where they
were imported into a local copy of the VEVI system and manipulated.
This validated the ability of the system to collect surface
measurements from the laser scanner, generate terrains, and distribute
the resulting maps to remote locations for viewing.  This capability
will be demonstrated in real time at the workstation in the National
Air and Space Museum during the crater operations.

The two remote site codecs were received at ARC, and one was installed
at ARC (the second will be hand-carried to Washington tomorrow, and
installed on Monday morning).  These codecs are the last elements
needed in the video communications configuration which will permit the
transmission of compressed video from the robot through the Anchorage
control station to the remote operations workstations at ARC and NASM.
Although the ARC codec was installed, the compressed video could not
be received due to an interruption in the fiber optic service in the
San Francisco area.  GCI is working on this problem, and it is
expected to be corrected by tomorrow.

By the end of the day, following the completion of the final
adjustments to the software configuration, the Anchorage control
station hardware had been moved from the UAA staging area to the
permanent control station site at the Frontier Building.  The first
activity tomorrow will be to re-cable the control station in the new
location and bring it back on line.  Other activities will include
conducting remote operations tests with the relocated control station
and Dante, and completing the logistics planning and preparation for
the final field test and full deployment.

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-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
 "Every once in a while declare        Terry Fong <terry@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>
  peace. It confuses the hell out      NASA Ames, M/S 269-3, Moffett Field, CA
  of your enemies" -- Rule of Acq. #76      (415) 604-6063, (415) 604-6081 lab
