From: doctor@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov (Terry Fong)
Subject: INDUSTRY: NASA Clarification (INDUSTRY: NASA develops 
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1992 18:19:53 GMT
Organization: NASA/Ames Research Center - Information Sciences Division



There seems to have been some confusion about the recent posting
'INDUSTRY: NASA develops "telepresence" for exploration' (originally
a press release from Drucella Andersen at NASA headquarters) which I
will try to clear up:

* Dr. Carol Stoker is a planetary scientist at NASA-Ames who is
  currently leading the Telepresence Science Working Group (TSWG). The
  objective of the group is to develop a system to conduct meaningful
  scientific research via telepresence.

* The TSWG is currently developing a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)
  for conducting underwater research in the frozen lakes of Antartica
  this fall.  The ROV, a Deep Ocean Engineering Phantom II, has been
  outfitted with a pan and tilt camera head. The head is currently
  monocular, but stereo cameras are planned. The operator/scientist will
  fly the ROV via hand-controllers and wear a head-mounted display. The
  ROV's camera head motion will be slaved to the operator's head motion.

* This year's goal is to provide a scientist in Antartica with the
  dexterity and visual acuity of a scuba diver via telepresence. One of
  the biggest concerns is whether or not an appropriate display system
  can be found or developed. Current head-mounted display systems (e.g.,
  VPL's EyePhone LCD system) do not provide enough resolution and
  performance to allow meaningful observations to be made via video.

* Dave Stampe <dstamp@watserv1.waterloo.edu> is correct when he writes
  "Even the 1.5 second delay between the Earth and Moon will cause
  problems in a lot of applications". Indeed, for control oriented
  applications, a latency of even 0.25 seconds is destabilizing.  Humans
  can cope somewhat with longer delays by adopting a move-and-wait
  strategy, though lenghty delays (i.e., greater than a few seconds) can
  be extremely disturbing and tiring to any operator.

* NASA's objective in developing telepresence is to provide systems
  for performing remote science in real-time. The assumption is that
  such systems will be used only when conditions allow for real-time
  operations (e.g., time delays less than a second). For example, the
  exploration of a planetary surface could be performed by researchers
  remotely operating devices from inside a surface base/habitat or from an
  orbiting station.

One should be aware, however, that real-time telepresent systems may
not be the only means of conducting remote research. Another effort at
NASA Ames is the "Virtual Planetary Exploration" project, led by Dr.
Mike McGreevy. This project is developing a virtual environment
display system for 3D rendering of planetary data. This objective is
to create a tool which allows researchers to explore a virtual
environment which has been created from stored sensor databases (e.g.,
topography, mineralogical surveys, etc.)  Such a system would allow remote
research when factors (e.g., time delays) prevent the use of
telepresence.  In this case, a researcher interested in studying the
Martian surface could conduct studies while remaining on Earth.

Sincerely,

Terry Fong
Intelligent Mechanisms Group
NASA Ames Research Center

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