01 / Contract Profile

NNJ08HD09A Federal Contract Award

Agency code 8000

TELE-OPERATION AND SEMI-AUTONOMOUS GRADING WITH MULTI-TERRAIN LOADER AS A LUNAR OPERATIONS TESTBED. THIS EQUIPMENT WILL BE A PLATFORM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LUNAR SURFACE CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES TO ADDRESS OPERATIONS AND IN-SITU-RESOURCE UTILIZATION (ISRU) NEEDS OF THE EXPLORATION SYSTEMS MISSION DIRECTORATE. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL BE CENTERED ON THE RESEARCH, DEVELOPMNET AND DEMONSTRATION OF REMOTE SITE LEVELING AND GRADING FUNCTIONS. THESE FUNCTIONS WILL INVOLVE A REMOTE HUMAN OPERATOR SUPERVISING A WORK MACHINE THAT IS GRADING A SURFACE TO MATCH A PRE-PROGRAMMED SITE MAP. THE PROGRAM WILL DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE THESE FUNCTIONS USING A CATERPILLAR 287C MULTI-TERRAIN LOADER (MTL) OUTFITTED WITH SENSORS AND CONFIGURED UNDER ANOTHER CONTRACT FOR REMOTE OPERATIONS. THERE ARE THREE KEY STEPS IN THE PROPOSED PROJECT. THE FIRST WILL BE ADAPTATION, MODEL DEVELOPMENT, AND TUNING OF EXISTING CATERPILLAR INTELLECTURAL PROPERTY AND THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE TO RUN ON THE CURRENT MTL PLATFORMS DEVELOPED BY NASA. THE SECOND KEY STEP WILL BE TO SET-UP AND DEMONSTRATE THIS FUNCTIONALITY AT JSC. THE THIRD KEY STEP WILL BE THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUILDING BLOCK ALGORITHMS THAT COULD BE USED TO ADD ADDITIONAL AUTOMATED FEATURES IN A POTENTIAL FOLLOW-ON PROJECT. NASA HAS BEEN A LEADER IN THE APPLICATION OF ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR OVER 40 YEARS. FROM DISTANT OPERATIONS TO GROUND-BASED HANDLING OF DELICATE PAYLOADS, NASA S CORE MISSION HAS CRITICAL NEEDS FOR TECHNOLOGIES WHICH CAN OPERATE EFFECTIVELY IN REGIONS UNDESIRABLE OR DANGEROUS FOR HUMANS. A KEY CONTINUING NEED IS FOR SYSTEMS WHICH CAN SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATE AND MANIPULATE SENSORS AND/OR PAYLOADS IN COMPLEX AND UNSTRUCTURED ENVIRONMENTS. THE RESULT OF THIS COLLABORATION WILL BE A RELIABLE PLATFORM TO DEVELOP CONTROL ALGORITHMS FOR REMOTELY CONTROLLING CONSTRUCTION CLASS MACHINES FOR EARTH-MOVING AND REGOLITH-MOVING TASKS. CONSEQUENTLY, THE TEAMS DEVELOPING AND DESIGNING LUNAR MOBILITY AND CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT WILL BE ABLE TO INCORPORATE THE LESSONS-LEARNED FROM THE MACHINE TESTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM. LEVERAGING FROM PREVIOUS SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO DRIVE MACHINES REMOTELY, THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM S PRIMARY FOCUS AND CHALLENGE WILL BE HOW TO CONTROL THE MACHINE WHILE PERFORMING TASKS THAT INVOLVE INTERACTING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AND OTHER EQUIPMENT. THESE TASKS INCLUDE GRADING, LEVELING, BERMING, TRENCHING, STRIP-MINING, BORING, ASSET COVERING, HAUL-CARRY-DUMP, EXCAVATING, ASSET DEPLOYMENT AND RELOCATION, AND CONSTRUCTION. DOING THESE TASKS EFFICIENTLY BY TELEOPERATION, ESPECIALLY OVER A TIME DELAY, HAS YET TO BE CONQUERED BY THE CONSTRUCTION OR ROBOTIC COMMUNITY. THIS TECHNOLOGY HAS APPLICATIONS IN NUMEROUS NASA MISSIONS, AS WELL AS IN MANY SIGNIFICANT TERRESTRIAL SITUATIONS OF CURRENT CONCERN, INCLUDING MILITARY, INDUSTRIAL, AND HOMELAND SECURITY ENVIRONMENTS. ULTIMATELY, THIS PROJECT WILL INFLUENCE THE NATURE OF ROBOTICS THROUGHOUT GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY, AND EDUCATION.