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 (23-Jul-94)
Message-ID: <1994Jul31.081138.28030@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 08:11:38 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 (23-Jul-1994)

Following a reconnaissance flight to Mt. Spurr by an Alaska National
Guard (ANG) helicopter this morning to determine weather conditions on
the mountain, members of the Dante team flew 60 miles from Anchorage
to the Beluga airfield to catch up with the robot and perform a series
of checks on the status of the robot mechanism and electronics.  This
was to inspect for any damage which may have occurred during the barge
and truck transport on Thursday night.  The test consisted of powering
up the robot, connecting a local workstation, and exercising each of
the actuator and sensor subsystems on the machine.  Each of the tests
concluded successfully and it was determined that the robot was ready
for the final leg of the deployment logistics, the 30 mile flight from
the Beluga airfield to the rim of the Mt. Spurr crater.

The ANG provided airlift support for this operation, in the form of an
ANG Blackhawk helicopter.  The Blackhawk would make two flights to
move the equipment to the volcano crater; the first to carry Dante and
the satellite ground station, and the second to move the power
generator and the rim station electronics.  They were preceded to the
crater site by an ANG Huey carrying a video crew to record the
placement of the equipment on the volcano.

Once at the crater rim, the Huey crew reported that the flying
conditions on the mountain were marginal, with a heavy cloud ceiling
right at the level of the 7,575-foot crater peak and ongoing snowfall
inside the crater.  By the time the Blackhawk arrived on site 30
minutes later the ceiling had descended several hundred feet, and the
weather conditions worsened enough to prevent an attempt at landing on
the crater rim.  Instead Dante was taken to the alternate landing
site, an unnamed dirt airstrip located about two miles south of the
crater at an altitude of 2,500 feet, while a second Huey circled the
area scouting for bears.  The Blackhawk returned to Beluga and then
transported the remainder of the equipment to the dirt airstrip.

During this time the Huey and video crew were prevented from leaving
the volcano crater by the inclement weather.  The Blackhawk and second
Huey remained at the dirt airstrip awaiting a break in the cloud cover
to allow the crater rim team to depart.  After nearly five hours at
the rim, a small opening in the clouds offered an opportunity for the
Huey to depart and descend to the dirt airstrip.  Had this opportunity
not occurred, the video crew and Huey flight crew would have had to
leave the helicopter and descend from the rim to the dirt airstrip on
foot, as they had insufficient cold weather and survival gear to stay
at the crater rim for the night.

It was determined that there would be no further chances for moving Dante the 
last two miles from the dirt airstrip to the crater rim.  Tim Hegadorn (Dante 
project logistics officer) and Jim Gove (expeditioner and local guide) elected 
to camp at the airstrip to protect the equipment until a crater rim attempt 
could be made, while the rest of the team members returned to Anchorage.

The next attempt will not happen before Monday, July 25.  The ANG
Blackhawk, required to lift Dante the last two miles to the crater
rim, is not available for flight operations on Sunday.  Due to the
flight availability restrictions on Sunday, the team will stand down
tomorrow and await Monday's flight opportunities.  No tasks for either
software, hardware or logistics remains to be done until Dante reaches
the rim.

In the mean time, the software team back at the command center in
Anchorage had also been working to improve the VEVI virtual reality
display.  In the current version, the VEVI software would only display
the results of one laser scan at a time.  This limited the display of
the high-resolution imagery of the crater interior to a single scan
patch.  Jay West, project software architect, completed improvements
to the dead reckoning/position estimation software which now allow
"quilting" of successive laser scans onto the display.  As a result,
the entire collection of laser scan results can be displayed at once,
showing a highly detailed terrain map of the areas over which Dante
has walked.  This software will be copied to the remote workstations
at the Ames Research Center and the National Air & Space Museum as
soon as possible.

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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
