Note for the tour guide: as today (31/03/98) the only machine to show is nomad, plus some of the displays of the Atacama desert trek. All other machines have been removed to have more work space. The main activity going on is the preparation of Nomad for the upcoming antarctic season.
The Workhorse: This was one of the first robots built by the Institute. It was designed for cleaning up contaminated environments -- chemical or radioactive contamination. Several similar CMU robots, the Remote Reconnaissance Vehicle (RRV), the Remote Core Sampler (RCS), and the Remote Work Vehicle (RWV) were sent into 3-mile Island in the middle 80's. These remotely controlled robots were used for general utility work, e.g. knocking down walls, washing contaminated surfaces, transporting materials, etc. As well they were also for collecting radiation samples and radiation mapping.
Ambler: The Ambler represents an integrated, self sufficient system that was used to provide NASA mission managers with the confidence that legged vehicles are a realistic alternative to wheeled rovers for lunar and martian exploration. The aluminum Ambler has two sets of stacked legs, with three legs per stack. These legs separately lift, advance and circulate to their original positions, much like an egg beater. The martian explorer prototype was a legged platform. It was big and heavy, but demonstrated the ability of a walking machine on difficult terrain.
Dante II: Dante II, a tethered walking robot developed by the CMU Field Robotics Center (FRC), made news in July 1994, when it descended into Mt. Spurr, a volcano on the Aleutian Range in Alaska. High temperature, fumarole gas samples are prized by volcanic science, yet their sampling poses significant challenge. In 1993, eight volcanologists were killed in two separate events while sampling and monitoring volcanoes. The use of robotic explorers, such as Dante II, opens a new era in field techniques by enabling scientists to remotely conduct research and exploration.
links:
Nomad
Nomad (in Spanish)
Atacama Desert Trek
Meteorite Robotics Antarctic Search (1997, 98 and 99): Carnegie Mellon University in cooperation with NASA, the ANSMET, the Chilean Antarctic Institute, and others will perform a series of robotic and science experiments in Western Antarctica in the upcoming expedition season. The team will validate sensors for identification of meteorites located in a blue ice field in the Patriot Hills area. In 1998, Nomad will perform autonomous searches for meteorites on ice fields designated by field experts based on high resolution aerial imagery. The robot will demonstrate identification and in-situ characterization of meteorites using learning based classification in addition to the other techniques. Equipped with radar sensors the robot will also search for subsurface meteorites. Once a meteorite is detected, onboard computers will record meteorite position, size, geometry, and depth, and provide the information to the human experts for subsequent retrieval. For this purpose, Nomad is being winterized, and prepared to endure the harsh Antarctic environment. In the 1999 expedition season a team of two robots will demonstrate cooperative search for meteorites. The robots will search for submerged meteorites and meteorites deposited into areas not covered by human search, e.g. ice fields near crevasses. The robotic search will be under shared control by the expedition team and remote scientists in the continental US. Using a synthesis of surface perception, subsurface sensing, and autonomous searching techniques these robots will become invaluable tools to the ANSMET teams.
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Created: Henry Schneiderman 6/97
Revised: Alex Foessel 4/98