Report on Participation in the 2006 AIAA SARTC Meeting

The Orion CEV in orbit about the Moon. Concept model by Lockheed Martin.
Copyright 2006 by Aviation Week and Space Technology,
all rights reserved. Fair use for educational purposes.

Rick Wagner, chairman of the RAS Space Robotics TC, traveled to NASA Ames Research Center to participate in the meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Automation and Robotics Technical Committee (SARTC) held on Tuesday, September 19, 2006. He gave a presentation that included descriptions of some recent work in space robotics at Northrop Grumman Space Technology (NGST) as well as the founding of our new IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Space Robotics TC. Questions and answers followed his presentation. The SARTC members were interested in how our two technical committees related and how we could further cooperation. Points discussed included the following:

1. The IEEE is an international organization and the AIAA is national.

2. The SARTC includes space automation (docking, manufacturing, environmental control, etc.) and planetary rovers as well as microgravity robots, while our TC focuses exclusively on in-space (non-planetary) robotics.

3. Dr. Wagner observed that in his somewhat limited space robotics experience, it appears to him that the IEEE RAS is more algorithms oriented and the AIAA is more aerospace engineering oriented. However, robotics being the disciplinary crossroads that it is, there will be considerable overlap in approaches.

Dr. Wagner pledged to facilitate communication and synergy between our two TCs, and with some members on both TCs, it is expected that in the interest of promoting space robotics, our relations shall be cordial, productive, and mutually supportive.

The SARTC members were also curious about our upcoming space robotics workshop at ICRA '07, and members were encouraged to consider contributing. See the draft workshop call.

After the morning meeting session, Dr. Terry Fong led the attendees on a very impressive tour of robotics work at Ames. Dr. Fong's team's work, in particular, in machine vision for inspection and other purposes, is very promising for space applications.

Subsequent meeting discussions included the topic of an award for space automation and robotics research this year, to be possibly presented at the next AIAA Space Conference. Another topic was the establishment of a Web page for the SARTC. Dr. Wagner stated that when the Web page was established, the RAS Space Robotics TC Web site would provide a link to it.

RAS Space Robotics TC added a new member that day: Dr. Marcello Romano of the Naval Postgraduate school expressed his interest in joining, and is now listed on our membership page.