Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

IVTT - notes
February 15, 2008

PEOPLE AT IVTT


Ms. Elena R. Messina is Acting Chief of the Intelligent Systems Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.   Recently, her work has focused on performance evaluation of robotic and autonomous systems .  She has chaired the Performance Metrics for Intelligent Systems workshop series since 2000, managed numerous efforts to develop test methods for measuring robot performance, and developed test arenas for international rescue robot competitions.  Ms. Messina has over 100 publications and is co-editor of the recently-published book  Intelligent Vehicle Systems:  A 4D/RCS Approach.  She has received two Department of Commerce Bronze Medals for Superior Performance and Technical Leadership.   Prior to joining NIST, Ms. Messina worked in private industry on computer-aided design software and industrial robots, where she received patents for her innovations in robotic arc welding and trajectory planning.

ROBOTS AT IVTT

One of about a half dozen robots I saw at NIST.  US Government photo.

The boxes are air conditioned and filled with electronics. This HMMWV serves as a test bed for a variety of robot systems and softwares that NIST, a division of the Department of Commerce, is trying to develop standards for.  They are working on developing IQ tests for robots, vision tests, etc. so that people who buy robot systems will have a standardized way of comparing performance and interoperability.  Such standards are essential to the economic development of any technology.   

Some of the testing standards developed so far and some of the things they have been testing are available on the net.  The game engine software that drives some of the robots is availble from http://amazon.com for $15.  The USARSim and MOAST software is available on http://www.sourceforge.net.    NIST publications are available online.  NIST is in the process of converting to a new bibliographic database, so their site is not completely up to date yet, watch for new robot info being added to:  http://www.isd.mel.nist.gov/documents/publist.htm .  NIST is also working in cooperation with industry and trade organizations, such as SAE, who are also developing tests and standards.


First Car, 1886 Benz Patent Motor Car single-cylinder four-stroke engine.

Dr. Robert Finkelstein, in his presentation, made the point that introduction of revolutionary technology changes things in dramatic ways.  Today the US armed forces have over 5,000 robots in the field and may have 100 time that number seven years from now.  You have not heard of military robots until just recently because their existance, and their successes, had been kept a secret.  Acknowledging their existance and their capability has created a demand for more robots and their application to a wider range of tasks.



GO ROBOTS !

Posted by Paul Grayson on February 15, 2008 | Comments (0)