Robotic Systems Laboratory

formerly known as the Santa Clara Remote and Extreme Environments Mechanisms (SCREEM) Laboratory

Robots Expeditions & Operations Robotic Control Network Technology
  
Specializing in the design, control, and teleoperation of highly capable robotic systems for scientific discovery, technology validation, and engineering education.

Spring Marine Operations Course

For information on our Spring ENGR 180 Marine Operations course, see [here].  We will be conducting a multi-day mission in Lake Tahoe with scientists from the US Geological Survey and UN Reno.  The trip will include ENGR 180 students, senior capstone students evaluating their systems, graduate thesis students demonstrating new control techniques, etc.  ENGR 180 students will satisfy their course requirements with a single 2-3 hr shift on the boat, but they are welcome to stay longer and participate in other activities as well.

Kayak Fleet Operations

Graduate work on demonstrating new multi-robot navigation and collaboration techniques has been active during the past six months, with work being conducted primarily in Stevens Creek Reservoir and Lake Tahoe. 
 
Significant work has been done by a team led by Thomas Adamek, focusing on a new multi-robot adaptive sampling technique that performs gradient-based navigation.  This technique has been demonstrated experimentally with great success, and an article on results is currently being prepared for the IEEE Trans on Mechatronics.

Coming soon from the multi-robot research group: multi-robot object manipulation, bi-dynamic object tracking (as opposed to bi-static), and new multi-ROV and multi-quadrotor testbeds! 

Three RSL kayaks sailing in formation while detecting a near-shore temperature gradient in Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe CA.

Mission Control Update

NASA O/OREOS spacecraft

RSL students continue to conduct mission operations for O/OREOS for  scientists and engineers at NASA Ames Research Center.  O/OREOS was launched in November 2010 from Kodiak Alaska.  O/OREOS is a triple cube 

spacecraft about the size of a loaf of bread, and it is performing two astrobiological tests during its 1-year mission.  Updates are on the O/OREOS Mission Dashboard.  Three journal articles, co-authored by SCU faculty/staff/students, have been published or are in press and discuss results of the mission.

In other satellite operations news:

  • The NASA NanoSail-D spacecraft de-orbited in Fall 2011, and the NASA PharmaSat spacecraft  de-orbited in late Summer 2012;

  • The two UT Austin FASTRAC spacecraft, which have SCU avionics on board, were launched in November 2010 are are still operational.

On the mission planning front, SCU is currently working with NASA Ames on the development of several new spacecraft missions, due for launch in 2013 and 2014:

  • The SporeSat mission, which is another peer-reviewed astrobiological mission, successfully passed PDR in August 2012 and has its CDR in March 2013.

  • The EDSN multi-satellite mission will present its CDR in March/April 2013.

  • The EcAMSat astrobiological tech demo spacecraft has resumed its design cycle after a funding hiatus.
SeaWASP Bathymetric Operations 

Tthe SeaWASP autonomous SWATH boat is operational for shallow water bathymetric studies. During a Spring, Summer and Fall 2012 deployments, the vehicle was used to continue the mapping of Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe, in cooperation with geologists from UNR and USGS.  SeaWASP will continue this work in 2013.  A journal article on SeaWASP was recently published in the Journal of Field Robotics.
SeaWASP during a mission in Emerald Bay, CA
 
   

Graduate Thesis Archive

[Currently offline for server upgrade]
 

O/OREOS Mission Dashboard

 

Tahoe-Palooza

May 2013 - Lake Tahoe

Tahoe-Palooza 2013 should be a blast.  We're currently forecasting a multi-day mission for late May 2013.  Operations will include using the Triton ROV, the SeaWASP SWATH boat, and several roboticized kayaks.  A test of a new multi-ROV testbed may also be conducted.

Additional trips will most likely occur during the Summer and early Fall quarters.  The primary science focus of this work will be the continued geologic study of Emerald Bay with geologists from UN Reno and the USGS.
  

Spring 2013 Courses

Mech 142 Control Systems  (Kitts, 2 sections)
 
ENGR 180/181 Marine Operations (Adamek & Kirkwood)

ENGR 171 Opportunity Assessment (KEEN Course, Rogers)

ENGR 173 Intro to Business Fundamentals (KEEN Course, Batterton)

Other Graduate Courses Approved as Technical Electives in the Robotics/Mechatronics Depth Area: Modern Control II

Satellite Operations will NOT be taught this quarter.  Plan to take it in the Fall!
  

RSL In The News

2nd Place in ASME iShow!  Congratulations to the EDD Train Braking senior capstone group (Charles Franz, Greg Method, and Keegan Walsh) for placing 2nd in ASME's international iShow competition for engineering innovation and entrepreneurship!

Graduate Student Progress - Congratulations to recent MS graduates Rob Beetum (Thesis: Multi-Robot Object Tracking), Todd Berk (Capstone: Development of a Bio-Oil Reactor), Fritz Huizenga (Singularity Handling in Multi-Robot Cluster Control), Jeremy Ellis (Capstone: Development of a Parallel Satellite Antenna Pointing Mechanism), Naail Abeer (Thesis: Model Based Anomaly Management for Networked Systems), and Mark Sabugal (Capstone: Matlab-based Expert System for Satellite Analysis).

Grants - As part of a University Sustainability Grant, RSL students are applying the Lab's Cluster Space multi-robot control technique to applications such as adaptive sampling and oil skimming in marine environments. 

Over the summer, Dr. Kitts also received more than a half million dollars in funding in order to develop operation control systems and perform mission operations for 3 new NASA small spacecraft missions.

2012 Publications - New journal publications include a journal article by Ignacio Mas regarding Cluster Space Obstacle Avoidance (In Press, IEEE TMech) and an article by Paul Mahacek on Dynamic Multi-ASV Guarding of Marine Assets (2/12, IEEE TMech).  Dr. Kitts was also the Editor of a Special Issue on Advanced Marine Systems for the IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, which includes a review article by Dr. Kitts on the current state of technology in this field (2/12, IEEE TMech).  An article on the SWATH boat has also been accepted for publication in the Journal of Field Robotics.

Three new journal articles have or will soon be published on flight results for the NASA O/OREOS spacecraft, two in Astrobiology - on SEVO and SESLO experimental results, and one in Acta Astronautica.  RSL co-authors include Rasay, Young, Neumann and Kitts.