Increasing the Performance of Autonomous Planetary Robots Through Environmental Manipulations

ProtoInnovations, LLC and Carnegie Mellon University propose to research, design, develop, and test software tools and hardware that will greatly increase the performance of planetary robots by manipulating the environment around them. We are specifically interested in developing new planning algorithms and non-prehensile manipulation techniques and simple robotic tools that will allow rovers to alter the environment around them for the purposes of creating feasible navigation routes, accessing interesting scientific targets, or doing some basic terraforming. A robot could be endowed with dedicated hardware to enable this terrain manipulation. Six or seven degree-of-freedom manipulator arms are commonly used for moving objects around a robot's environment. However adding such specialized, high torque, environmentally-toughened hardware adds significant costs in terms of fabrication, flight weight, and power requirements. Instead, in this proposal we will take advantage of the existing affordances of the platform in order to rearrange the terrain with no, or little, added hardware.

The proposed research is expected to lead to significant enhancements in performance of autonomous planetary robots. During Phase 2 of this work, we will demonstrate our planning and non-prehensile manipulation techniques to cognizant managers and engineers at NASA centers, with the aim of identifying potential future missions for transition of this technology. We expect that the 2020 Mars rover mission is an example of a wheeled rover mission that could directly benefit from the algorithms manipulation techniques developed under this STTR project. We will actively seek post-Phase 2 support to further develop, mature, and integrate our control technology into future NASA missions.

Beyond NASA, there is a large and growing application space for autonomous mobile manipulation and innovative approaches to automation of work in applications such as defense and security, mining and forestry, and infrastructure monitoring and inspection. Many of these systems are tasked with performing manipulation tasks in challenging or complex environments. The proposers will aim to transition the technology developed under this project beyond NASA, to dual-use applications in these various sectors.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.