NASA STTR 2016 Solicitation

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Debra Schreckenghost
schreck@traclabs.com
16969 N. Texas Ave, Suite 300
Webster, TX 77598 - 4085
(281) 461-7886 Extension :706

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
David Kortenkamp
korten@traclabs.com
16969 N. Texas Ave, Suite 300
Webster, TX 77598 - 4085
(281) 461-7886 Extension :704

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Information Technologies for Intelligent and Adaptive Space Robotics is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Future human space flight missions will take astronauts deeper into space and require increased crew independence from Earth-based flight controllers (crew autonomy). Consequently, they will need to perform more tasks and a greater diversity of tasks. A critical resource for meeting these challenges is greater reliance on robots that can operate with more autonomously [NASA Roadmap TA4]. Greater robot autonomy will require astronauts to manage remote robots operating concurrently with humans. Such management requires the astronaut to plan the activities of one or more robots, direct the execution of the resulting task sequences, and adapt plans when problems or opportunities occur.

TRACLabs and CMU propose to develop software for visualizing and comparing exploration plan alternatives and change effects (xPACE) to help crew adapt robot plans quickly and effectively. This software will compute plan figures of merit that provide insight into the effectiveness and risks of plans. It will provide displays using these figures of merit to compare plans from different perspectives and reveal plan strengths and weaknesses. The software also will support modifying plan parameters to improve figures of merit. This software will be designed for evaluation with NASA technology for building robot plans, specifically the IRG Exploration Ground Data System planning software.

The proposed software has relevance to more immediate robotic missions operated remotely by humans, such as the Resource Prospector. It is expected that robot plans for tele-operations also will require adaptation during robot operations in response to discoveries or situational challenges. The xPACE software can improve the remote operator's ability to produce safer, more effective plans when re-planning during operations.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The proposed xPACE software has relevance to both near-term and long-term NASA human-robot missions. Near-term, the human operator will tele-operate the robot from a remote location, as proposed for the Resource Prospector mission. For such missions, xPACE improves the remote operator's ability to quickly produce safer, more effective plans when replanning during operations. Longer term, the crew will manage robots operating more autonomously. Such management requires the human operator to plan the activities of one or more robots, direct the execution of the resulting task sequences, and adapt plans when problems or opportunities arrive. For such missions, xPACE can help crew compare plans from different perspectives to reveal plan strengths and weaknesses. The software also will support modifying plan parameters to improve plan effectiveness and reduce plan risks.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Unmanned Vehicles (UVs; air, ground, and underwater) are used increasingly in military operations. As the number of vehicles and variety of missions increases, planning for the coordination of multiple remote robots becomes more important. TRACLabs is developing the Autonomy Management Platform to integrate autonomous planning technology with PRIDE electronic procedures for coordinating groups of UVs for the Navy. The proposed xPACE software would complement this effort by providing tools to help soldiers understand the effectiveness and risks of the plans produced by automated planners.

TRACLabs has a multi-year contract with an upstream oil and gas business to develop electronic procedures for drilling automation, with the goal of commercializing a suite of products for these industries. The proposed xPACE software could be integrated with PRIDE procedures to deliver a new product for building and revising procedures used to automate drilling operations. Longer term, this product line could be used with unmanned vehicles operating at offshore rigs, such as robot inspection and maintenance for the oil and natural gas drilling, extraction, and processing.