Remote Interaction With Machines

Page
1

Remote Interaction With Machines

Principal Investigator: Vincenzo Liberatore

Task Number: NAG3
-
2578


Case Western Reserve University

September 18, 2002

NASA Space

Communications Symposium


Page
2

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Start date:
March 2001

Team members:

Prof. Vincenzo Liberatore (PI),

Prof. Wyatt Newman (co
-
PI), David Rosas, Adam Covitch


Page
3

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Description:

•
Communication between humans and intelligent systems
(e.g., robots)

•
Software support over IP


Challenges:


Decouple control from


Precise environment modeling


Long
-
haul network delays


Lack of Quality
-
of
-
Service provisioning


Software


Remote programming


Adaptive and evolvable


Security and safety


Page
4

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Virtual Attractors

A “gentle” robot informs its
supervisor that it can be
controlled by specifying the
motion of a virtual, soft attractor
(illustrated conceptually at right).
This interface is low bandwidth
and tolerant of variable
-
quality
communications.

Attractor

Platform

origin

Tool tip

External force

Orientational springs

and dampers

Translational springs

and dampers


Page
5

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Distributed Control: Agents


IP networks


Supervisory control


Agent
-
based: distributed, mobile, adaptive, secure


Evolvable software


Page
6

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Distributed Control: Agents



Page
7

Remote Interaction with Machines

Project Overview

Please Use Arial Font
throughout the
presentation


Page
8

Remote Interaction with Machines

Enterprise Relevance and Impact

Enterprise Relevance:

At higher TRL, the project will support
multiple Nasa missions and
the rapid evolution and retargeting of robots available in space
:

-
Use the space environment as a lab to test the fundamental
principles of physics, chemistry, and biology
. E.g., communication
with intelligent systems at IIS experimental facility.

-
Biological and Physical Research
. E.g., communication with small
autonomous spacecrafts for biological and physical research.

-
Commerce
. E.g., “rent” IIS equipment time to Earth
-
bound labs.

-
Outreach
. E.g., selective tele
-
presence in space.

-
Support Human Space Flight
. E.g., specimen collection.

-
Explore the Space Frontier.
E.g., human
-
robotic missions:
communication human
-
robot.

-
Space Science Technology.
E.g., human
-
robotic inhabitation of
Mars.

-
Improve the Human Condition on Earth
.

E.g., space power plants



Page
9

Remote Interaction with Machines

Enterprise Relevance and Impact

Impact:
Improves on current technology in that it supports

•
Supervisory control:
Beyond tele
-
operation and autonomy

•
Cross
-
mission

communication technology for the interaction
between human and intelligent systems

•
Dynamic reconfiguration

(creation of new collections of sensors,
actuators, transmitters, computers, robots, vehicles, instruments, …,
into coordinated, task
-
oriented teams)

•
Rapid
re
-
programmability

(addition of new functionality after
hardware deployment)

•
Extensibility
(growth through modular incorporation of additional
assets)

•
Survivability
(automatic reallocation of communications software in
response to component failures or aging)

•
Fault tolerance

(insensitive to unpredictable communications delays,
jitter, drop
-
outs)


Page
10

Remote Interaction with Machines

Milestones
-

Technical Accomplishments and Schedules

Due Date

Milestone Description

Tech Accomplishments

1

September 2002

Remote control of the Paradex
robot to open valves, turn
cranks, and manipulate
switches through direct tele
-
operation, straight IP
connectivity, and long
-
delay
emulation.

Prototype of a distributed
agent
-
based system for the
remote interaction of human
experts with intelligent
systems.

Schedule Status

Schedule Deviation

Completed on schedule

NONE

Wide
-
area

Emulator

(e.g., 200ms

delay)


Page
11

Remote Interaction with Machines

Funding Issues

NONE





Page
12

Task Title Placed Here

Future Plans

Event

Goals

1

Porting to advanced off
-
the
-
shelf agent platform (e.g.,
Aglets) (December 2002)

The capabilities of the current prototype are
implemented over Aglets/Java or similar agent
support middleware. The benefits of this
agent
-
support platform are identified and
reported.


Page
13

Task Title Placed Here

Papers and Awards

[1] M. L. Ngai, V. Liberatore, and W. S. Newman. An Experiment in
Remote Robotics.
2002 IEEE International Conference on
Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2002),

2190
-
2195.

[2] V. Liberatore. Scheduling of Network Access for Feedback
-
based
Embedded Systems.
Quality of Service over Next
-
Generation
Internet, SPIE ITCom 2002
, 73
-
82.

[3] D. Rosas.
Multi
-
Agent Supervision of Generic Robots.

M.S.
Thesis, Case Western Reserve University, 2002. (Advisors: V.
Liberatore and W. S. Newman).

[4] D. Rosas, A. Covitch, M. Kose, V. Liberatore, W. S. Newman.
Compliant Control and Software Agents for Internet Robotics.
(Submitted).