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Hyperion Rover, 1 km On One Command
An anonymous reader writes "Carnegie Mellon's next generation robot just finished its Chilean expedition and achieved a new planetary exploration benchmark, including being the first autonomous rover to cover 1 km on a single command. The other milestones from the Atacama Desert, Chile--the driest place on the planet--centered on over-the-horizon stereo navigation, sun-tracking for efficient solar panel pointing, and fault recovery. CMU shows pictures
of the robot, called Hyperion, in action. One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade, by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."
One of it's primary goals is to avoid shady paths by knowing the location of everything in the solar system?
I mean, I've heard of over-engineered. But really folks? : ) That's Scalability.
I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
It all depends, however, on whether it really was on purpose....
...
Excellent stuff Asian people, excellent stuff.
No honestly, this new state of efficiency is kind of neccessary for future rovers- although I think two were recently just launched, so it will be awhile for these proven methods to make it there.
Usually man power is wasted alligning panels for optimal power and this is just Real Ultimate Power.
"...by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."
Even...Uranus?
Hyperion Rover, 1 km On One Command
Posted by Hemos on Monday July 28, @10:56AM
from the planning-ahead dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Carnegie Mellon's next generation robot just finished its Chilean expedition and achieved a new planetary exploration benchmark, including being the first autonomous rover to cover 1 km on a single command. The other milestones from the Atacama Desert, Chile--the driest place on the planet--centered on over-the-horizon stereo navigation, sun-tracking for efficient solar panel pointing, and fault recovery. CMU shows pictures of the robot, called Hyperion, in action. One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade, by finding the position of virtually everything in the solar system."
Shouldn't that be kilometerstones?
If it were guided by the sun then if it landed on a certain portion of a planet or moon then it would go in circles because think of earth. The sun rises on one side and sets on the other, day after day it would go back and forth and not cover much ground. I do understand that it can be switched on and off but it just seems a little odd to me how that can be used for directional purposes.
Park a boat off of someplace deep. Have your AIBO walk the plank. Depending on where you try this, you should be able to get much more than 1km on a single command.
Can it find a decent pan-galactic gargle blaster?
This 'new' model doesn't even have a "Photon" Cannon!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
It is a widely held misconception that the Atacam desert in Chile is the driest place on Earth, in fact the driest place on Earth is in the center of Antartica where there has been no percipitation in over 10,000 years.
This is really cool... but other than that the general state of robotics is more and more hampered by legalities, such as liability insurance for the 'owner/operator' of any kind of robot.
It's funny how if you look back at the turn of the century there was no legal barrier to try out new technological stuff, but just try to imagine the then inventors of automobiles selling their first rickety inventions in todays unbelievably hostile legal climate. The whole technological and transportation revolution would simply not have happened
That's why we see robots for use on other planets, but we'll probably not see them on this one (unless of course we ship all the lawyers to some other planet first).
MP3 Search Engine
Think this thing has some phatty hydrolics?
o t/ 03Robot-Pages/Image2.html
http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/atacama/gallery/03Rob
-- taking over the world, we are.
Robotic considerations in addition to instrument integration include platform configuration, planetary-relevant localization, complex obstacle negotiation, over-the-horizon navigation, and power-cognizant activity planning.
We're looking for a manager at the moment with a lot of those skills.
But seriously, folks. This is quite cool. Its capabilities at the moment seem to surpass by far those of the mars bots that are currently wending their way through space. Am I missing something, though, or have most of those experiments nothing to do with astrobiology? Not a cavil, just wondering.
But the problem being it begins to raise questions about the future, if we model a machine after ourselves so much will it be our demise? Science fiction has a way of blowing things out of proportion. When we first started seeing atomic weapons there was a fear we'd destroy the world over and over again, but we haven't yet.
I think the more we learn to understand ourselves the closer we are to advancing the human race to the next level of existance.
"Forget about exploring space, we still don't have the slightest clue about our own bodies".
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
could be "drive 1km using the following 500000 waypoints: ..."
After looking at all those pictures, I can certainly see how difficult it would have been for this 'bot to avoid shade. Sheesh.
>>CMU shows pictures of the robot, called Hyperion, in action.
Colin McRae eat your heart out.
Actually tracking the position of the sun, moons and the planet it's on and it's own position on the planet (or moon) can be very usefull. If that data is interpreted intelligently, the rover could identify locations that have permanent shade and avoid those. Likewise it could figure out if a location is currently shaded, but won't be in a couple of hours, and decide to venture into that shaded environment. Or it could not go into a location currently under a blistering(sp?) sun knowing that this location will soon be shaded voor several days.
Knowing the state of the environment and the ability to make predictions in regards to that state are usefull for autonomous machines. (stating the obvious, yes I know)
"over-the-horizon stereo navigation"
That's like when you can hear boy racers in their Escorts before you can see them, right?
Left;Forward 2m;Right;Forward 10m;Left;Forward 10m;left;For.......
Choose your allies carefully, it is highly unlikely you will be held accountable for the actions of your enemies
FD 1000
Must be pretty easy to do that in a wide open desert.
Why did they have to go all the way to Chile to test this? Couldn't they do it in Death Valley? I just wonder if they really needed to go there or if they just wanted an excuse to go to the driest place on earth?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Shrike Rover, 1k Slaughtered On One Command
Can it find my remote control?
I don't quite understand all the fuss about beeing able to drive for a km without anyone to drive it. Automatic farm equipment is already in existance, and I think it is way harder to run a tractor in a wet, muddy field than drivin this bot on a relatively flat and dry surface.
:)
The developers probably have fun, though
My lego mindstorms have been running around in my appartment for a while now, and I haven't given it an instruction for weeks (besides changing batteries and turning it on)
A while back there was a story on Slashdot about a $1M prize to the first group who could design a robot to autonomously travel from LA to Las Vegas... From the sounds of it, this might be a good candidate for the challenge!
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
was that it was trying to avid solar occlusions by other planets and moons!
"Response from Hyperion: Cannot execute command, busy navigating 4000km to east to avoid total solar eclipse in 2004".
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
was "GOTO 1km that way" :)
Fwd 1000 Go
For a little flare, have it fire once halfway there.
And I don't even need to avoid shadows!
Of course, I am limited to I-70 in Kansas and the thing keeps getting squashed by semi-trucks. That's the only reason they beat me to the record.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
- Fly to Chile
- Go to the Atacama desert
- Hide behind a dune (bring water)
- Wait for rover to trundle by
- Take the rover and run
- Possession is
.9 of the law
I call this the "Sandpeople Technique."rocks
Atacama Desert, Chile--the driest place on the planet
Dry Valleys, Antarctica, probably beat it by several hundreds of thousands years without any kind of water. (be it snow, ground water or air humidity)
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Judging by those pictures it sure does look like a daunting task accross that COMPLETELY FLAT, DESOLATE TERRAIN UNLIKE MARS IN AN WAY
they're using bicycle tires geez
MOV A EA 03
I tried this but it kept running away from my shadow. Then it miss-took my head for the moon and turned south.
*Only does 0.4km per command in urban areas. Your mileage may vary.
If you outlaw the law, only criminals will have laws
"over-the-horizon stereo navigation"? I can do this any time I want... just listen for my daughter's stereo and I can tell where home is from miles away.
Ha! I knew it...I wonder if Sting is involved. Maybe Kyle MacLachlan...He's not been up to much lately...
The SPICE acronym comes from:
S - Spacecraft
P - Planet
I - Instrument
C - "C-matrix"
E - Events
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. - HST
Any _HUMAN_ would try to MAXIMIZE his use of shade in trying to find a path!
I've got a $5M prize for anyone to build a robot that can track down and destroy those other robots before the cross the finish line!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
is a readlly bad SciFi movie just waiting to be created. "Dayrunners", you could call it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Autonomous ground vehicles have traversed more than a kilometer on a single command before. Several of CMU's Navlab vehicles have done that. The military "Demo III" robot vehicles have done that. In rougher terrain, too.
Hyperion is a neat little machine, but it's not that exotic. It doesn't do "over the horizon stereo navigation". Its stereo system has a useful range of about seven meters. They do much of their path planning based on aerial photography, but that's not on the robot itself. The novel feature of Hyperion is that it operates over considerable distances on very low power, using solar power. Previous solar powered rovers have been short-range devices.
We have to do a lot better than Hyperion did. 300km, not one. And faster.
We're looking for a few good people. Hard work, no pay, some risk, a chance for a fraction of the prize. See our current openings.
We're in Silicon Valley. We have funding, a shop in an industrial park in Redwood City, a vehicle under construction, and six people. We need about six more.
"One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade"
Um, to my knowledge there isn't a single tree in that desert. How do they know it was successful? I am sure they will claim a 100% success, just as I can claim a 100% success when testing my coffee cup's new "don't move" feature. Yep, it worked. It's right where I left it.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
...the drug smuggling industry!
consider this: outfit an old boat with enough fuel for a journey from amsterdam to england, a computer controlled engine/rudder and a GPS system.
load up with you're preffered narcotic, aim for home and wait a few days.
i need a boat and £5000!
If it's really so autonomous, then who was there taking the pictures? huh? huh?
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
But the opposite concept. Something that sought light instead and would go about any means to get it!
I suppose if Pitch Black can be good then "Dayseekers" could be good too (just changed the name to be a little more menacing".
It wouldn't have to be horror though. It might be fun to have a documentary on the poor "Dayseekers" and the contsant struggle to stay in light.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
forward 14.2m && left 23 degrees && forward 29.22m && right 12 degrees && forward 14.2m && left 16 degrees && forward 112m && left 12 degrees && forward 0.89m && left 16 degrees && forward 182m && right 50 degrees && forward 214.2m && left 90 degrees && forward 5m && right 90 degrees && forward 5m && right 90 degrees && forward 5m && left 90 degrees && forward 825m && stop;
Last post!
Something like this could find my missing socks while I am at work. Finally, something with direct earthly benefits from NASA. For a little extra maybe it will toss AOL disks and empty pizza containers for ya also.
Table-ized A.I.
And in other news; $500 million mission scrapped due to 4 broken spokes costing approxiamately 50 cents each.
One of its prime objectives was to plot courses that avoid shade
I hope they find it another way to navigate before they send it out to rescue lost hikers in Death Valley, etc..
- "Oh, thank God you found me, RoboSaviour!"
- "YES MY SECOND PRIME DIRECTIVE IS TO HELP HUMANKIND. DO NOT FEAR I WILL CARRY YOU TO A HOSPITAL ESTIMATED TIME TO ARRIVAL 62 HOURS"
- "Wait, second directive? And, uh, wouldn't it be safer for us to travel at night?"
- "HERE WE GO, SIR. ESTIMATED ARRIVAL CONDITION: TENDER, EXTRA-CRISPY"
There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
Soon enough, we will be bowing to the robot overlords! BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER!
Is is just me, or does this thing bear a strong resemblance to our good friend Johnny 5 from the movie Short Circuit?
Now I understand why such a thing would go as to track "the position of virtually everything in the solar system," input Stephanie!
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
In Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series, other planets in the solar system are settled after Mars and the Moon.
A single city is built on the surface of Mercury, and is mounted on rails that encircle the entire planet. The sheer force of the thermal expansion of the rails is enough to keep the city perpetually moving away from the light side.
And no, you DON'T want to be on the lit side of Mercury.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
Fry: Pine needles. Oh man, this is great! Hey as long as you don't make me smell Uranus!
[He laughs.]
Leela: I don't get it.
Farnsworth: I'm sorry Fry but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Farnsworth: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
[Fry chuckles.]
That product just came out and already they're adding ground effects.
o t/ 03Robot-Pages/Image2.html
http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/atacama/gallery/03Rob
Great shots of robot showing insides. Pretty sparse!
Speaking of sparse, few signs of any shock absorbers....
Hope the depth perception and navigation rules are taut.
I found out my driveway was only about 25 meters long. It was hard to explain to the neighbors why a hissing, flaming dumptruck was hiding under their shrubs.
if its is the driest place on the planet - why does it look like its been raining ?
This UID is 7651 digits too high to subjectively infer IQ from.
"get lost!"
Table-ized A.I.
let's not forget that we had TWO incidents of elderly men plowing into vegtable markets THIS WEEK! (Wassup wid dat?)
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I read the whole Mars series, and don't remember that at all... I seem to remember some otehr story about that, but can't remember the author.
However, I was talking about entities that were focused on seeking out light by any means. It's pretty diffrent than just putting something on a track so it will stay in the light and has no ability to really go anywhere. The independance is the exciting bit (to me).
Plus of course they have yet to make a movie from the fine Mars books.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Looking at the photos linked from above, I can't see any method of it rotating either the front or rear wheels for steering.
Image 6 shows what appears to be a linkage underneath the front axle in the center, but looking at the higher angle photos, it simply looks like a rigid bracket. If in fact that entire axle is pivoting around that point, it sure seems like a weak point.
Of course, it doesn't look like the frame in general is all that stout. Maybe I'm wrong.
And what the heck is that neon photo all about? I kept looking for the oversize exhaust to go with it, but with the solar cells, I guess it would have been even more ridiculous on this than it is on an Escort.
Man, that's way bigger than I thought it was... amazing what your brain can do when it has no near objects to compare something to.
Q.
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