Author: w.steve.wilson

I had thought I’d return to the subject of Robots this week. But I can’t let China’s successful landing of a rover on Mars go by without comment. In a previous post (March 29th – Engineering Feats Post), I remarked on how difficult it was just to navigate to the Red Planet, let alone land on it. Congratulations to the Chinese Team for achieving both on the first try.

What a remarkable achievement. Until now, the United States had been the only country to successfully land and operate a rover on Mars. That brings the current number of operational rovers to 3 and 1 active lander. The place is filling up.

This success comes on the heels of Perseverance landing and the successful flights of Ingenuity. But there’s actually been quite a bit of activity over the last 50 years on and around Mars. In fact, the Perseverance mission is augmented by MAVEN, the MRO, and the whole Mars Relay Network, as I discussed in that same prior post.

Since the Viking program, there have been 17 attempts to put a lander or a rover on Mars. Seven of those attempts were not successful missions. But ten were successful and operational from anywhere from a few months to several years (14 years for Opportunity). A good summary of the missions with a map of their landing sites and some great rollover features can be found on Wikipedia at Mars Landings.

The skies over Mars are a pretty busy place as well. There are currently eight operational orbiters, managed by six space agencies circling Mars. (Check out the summary at Mars Orbiters) It’s hard to believe, but the 2001 Mars Odyssey, operated by the US, has been in orbit for almost 20 years.

With continuing missions and advances in technology, the Earth’s space-faring nations are building up capabilities that will someday, I hope, get us to Mars to stay. As we go, we’re developing an infrastructure of data gathering, communications and navigation assets that will enable future missions.

My only concern is how the locals will feel about us dropping in unannounced. Enjoy a cautionary tale at Unwarranted Surveillance.

Thanks for dropping by. Leave a comment and let me know if you’re excited about us going to Mars? Would you go? To stay?

A Note about the blog posts from the future [CE 2224]: In January of 2021, with Perseverance due to land on Mars the next month, NASA activated their experimental Quantum Transmitter. The transmitter was designed to communicate with Perseverance, without regard to location and at faster than light speeds—near real-time. Unfortunately, they lost the connection after the initialization routine was completed. However, as an unintended consequence, NASA connected with a specific locus in the space-time continuum located on the Moon in 2224. That locus was the storage device of the quantum computer of a popular blog site. It is from that blog site that these blog entries are extracted. I hope you enjoy a peek into our future, and hopefully, I’m not violating some temporal directive. So far, no visit from the time cops.

Guest Author: Vivian Ndereba, Chairperson, Lunar Cities Consortium Olympic Committee (LCCOC)

Posted: Monday, May 10, 2224 (Earth Standard Calendar)

It’s almost summertime, and the Games will begin before we know it. It’s always an exciting time, and I’m particularly pleased this year to be Chairing the Lunar Cities committee as the Games expand and add more events on Luna.

This cycle, we are thrilled that the 83^rd Olympiad – Olympia LXXXIII – will expand the events on Luna to include swimming, field hockey, softball and baseball, and Gaming preliminaries and semi-finals for the Lunar teams.

The Lunar Cities are justly proud of the stadia and gaming infrastructure they’ve constructed for the games. And for the first time, the gaming finals will be held in space in the newly assembled gravity environment for the Pointe, the manufacturing facility at Lagrange 1. Space Systems Technologies has graciously agreed to delay expanding their crew accommodations and re-purpose the new gravity wheel for the Olympic competition, housing teams from Earth and Luna. We’re thankful for SST’s continued sponsorship and support of the LCCOC.

However, the continuing application of provincial Earth regulations on Luna’s Olympic participation has long been a topic of discussion between the LCCOC and the IOC. Talks continue over the IOC’s refusal to host track and field events on Luna, even though the 160-year tradition of a distributed games allows for participation by the Lunar Cities. The straight-out banning of Luna weight lifting and gymnastics contestants without a 2-year Earth acclimation period is simply unacceptable, and we continue to protest.

This year, those restrictions risk casting a pall over the introduction of the first pure Luna event – the Super Marathon. For this Olympiad, the run will be an exhibition sport, and runners from Earth and Luna will gather to challenge the 125-kilometer perimeter course at Plinius. There are rumors of a team from Mars joining, but that’s still provisional.

Here’s the point, though—the IOC has banned the use of the new bio-mechanical tight-suits the Luna runners use. The IOC insists that these new suits provide Luna runners with an unfair weight and responsiveness advantage over the established exoskeleton technology. SST engineers have certified that the new suits with a bio-engineered myelin-myocyte layer provide no more mechanical assist than the exo-skeletons. SST has even offered to supply all runners with a standard suit.

However, the IOC claims that the Lunar runners are more familiar with the suits and would be unfairly favored. The LCCOC has offered to house athletes that want to train with the new suits in advance of the competition. The IOC has not agreed, but we will continue to negotiate and push forward with our proposal to let the runners decide.

Finally, we’re hoping that with the completion of the independence effort that will establish the Lunar Cities as a sovereign nation and a full member of the IOC, we can effectively resist these efforts of Earth to dictate the rules. Rest assured your Chairperson and the LCCOC will continue to promote change in the best interest of Luna’s athletes and, by extension, promote a fair and level playing field for all Olympiads.

We’ll keep you posted and on to the Games of the 83^rd Olympiad.

Posted By: W. Steve Wilson

Posted: May 10, 2021

For some, it was an anxious weekend. We just didn’t know where that Chinese rocket was going to end up. I was hoping maybe a small piece of debris might land in my backyard and provide a cool garden statue. That didn’t happen, and our worst fears were for naught—no one was injured, and it ended up in the ocean.

That got me wondering—just how much of that stuff is up there. Various space experts did interviews and talked about all the thousands and thousands of pieces of junk that are orbiting the Earth. For the most part, they don’t cause harm—space is a big place. But they’ve moved the International Space Station to avoid a collision. The latest Crew Dragon launch took some precautions, and rocket launches have been re-scheduled (India’s launch). But it’s getting worse—orbits are becoming filled with working satellites, non-working satellites, spent boosters, trash ejected from the ISS, and junk from sixty years of space exploration. (ESA Summary)

Much was said over the weekend about who’s responsible, how we can address the problem, how we need treaties, etc. But what about the economic opportunity? As late as March of this year, it was reported that there might be as many as 129 million pieces of junk, 34,000 larger than 10cm (about 4 inches). That’s 9,200 tons of debris whizzing around the Earth in various orbits and of a myriad of materials. (IET Article)

Let’s for a moment assume we could launch that mass at close to what SpaceX is running per kilogram to the ISS, ~$2,500/kilogram. At that rate, it would cost approximately $21 billion to launch that much material. Even at the declining costs of launches, it could be $15 billion.

 Imagine if you could capture all that junk and remanufacture it into useful materials or products. What if you could build something in space from the trash? To quote Scotty from The Voyage Home – “So, is that worth something to ye, laddie? Or should I just punch up ‘clear’?”

And people are working on it. To quote from the IET Article: Speaking ahead of the launch, UK Science Minister Amanda Solloway said: “The removal of hazardous space debris is not only environmentally important but is also a huge commercial opportunity for the UK, with companies like Astroscale leading the way in demonstrating how we can make space safer for everyone.”

So that might just be the next big commercial opportunity in space. Should we focus on capturing the junk for recycling? Or just clean up the garbage? Who owns all that junk, and would salvage rules apply if someone could find a way to use it? Or is there money to be made by being paid to clean it up—like a landfill that needs to be reclaimed?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by.

For as long as I’ve been watching Sci-Fi movies, filmmakers have endowed robots with some form of personality. Sometimes they are evil, sometimes kind, sometimes neither. Occasionally they even evolve. In any case, the artists have used speech, expressions, size and form, actions, etc., to induce an emotional response in their viewers.

One of my favorites is HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not exactly a robot, but even in ordinary conversation, I must admit, HAL creeps me out. Check it out here in a clip from the movie: HAL Conversation. I know I might be influenced by what happens in the film, but HAL’s speech stays consistent and creepy.

But other times, even-keeled robot speech isn’t so creepy. Sonny in iRobot doesn’t seem so creepy but still uses that even-toned speech pattern. Take a listen: Sonny Conversation. You may have a different take on it, but at least give the nod to some excellent voice work from Alan Tudyk (IMDB Page).

OK, so this could go on and on. Maybe I’ll write a BLOG on all my favorite robots, but for today, I’d like to consider how robot designers are using form, speech, and expression to elicit feelings when interacting with their creations.

A few years ago, a complex, social robot named Sophia was introduced to the world. She could mimic facial expressions, body English and gestures and answer complex, subjective questions. At one point, she was “interviewed” at the UN: Sophia’s Speech. The creation of Sophia is, of course, an impressive technological feat and a milestone in the creation of human-like robots. Still, though—there is a creepiness factor. I’m not sure meeting her in person would engender any warm fuzzy feelings. I’d be impressed and just a bit uncomfortable—particularly if she knew my secrets. One question I’d like to ask—were they striving towards duplicating human likeness and intentionally eschewing forcing Sophia to be explicitly likable?

On the other hand, what’s your reaction to this little guy? Meet Pepper. What’s not to like? Fun, non-threatening, likable. The designers found the triggers for our emotional responses.

So to some questions:

How should we react to features intentionally designed into a robot to make them likable or more human? Does this change as robots become more human-like? Is it any different from any other device designed to attract our attention and elicit engagement? [Screen time issues anybody?]

When do we stop seeing them as machines and have feelings towards them, even at the level of pets?

How would you react to a robot being intentionally damaged by their owner?

How do we feel about sending clever robots into dangerous situations?

When will robots become sophisticated enough that they’ll get to choose how they interact, if they want to be likable or not, and if they even want to obey our commands?

More to come on these topics and others in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

[Disclaimer: Please accept my apologies for any ads that pop up before the linked videos. They do not reflect my position, nor do I endorse any of the products – it’s just a YouTube thing I can’t get around.]

NASA, JPL, and the Ingenuity Team have done it again. A third successful flight of the Mars Helicopter is one for the history books.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, check it out here: Flight Three

Watching this video in real-time could have been nerve-wracking. When Ingenuity flies out of the frame to the right and then doesn’t come back for a while, I would have been on pins and needles. Knowing that Ingenuity returns safe and sound and successfully lands, ready for another jaunt, made all the difference. The team watching the data come in and learning the results must be overjoyed when the little helicopter returns to its starting point and lands.

According to NASA sources, “Ingenuity is intended to demonstrate technologies needed for flying in the Martian atmosphere. If successful, these technologies could enable other advanced robotic flying vehicles that might be included in future robotic and human missions to Mars. They could offer a unique viewpoint not provided by current orbiters high overhead or by rovers and landers on the ground, provide high-definition images and reconnaissance for robots or humans, and enable access to terrain that is difficult for rovers to reach.” You can stay updated on future planned flights by checking in with Ingenuity every so often at Ingenuity Flight Information.

This particular Mars helicopter does carry cameras for capturing views and navigation. (See some of the details here: Tech-Specs) Ingenuity is a demonstration craft, but I can imagine future versions having sensors, various types of cameras, maybe even carrying navigation beacons for plotting courses. When you consider the varied uses we’ve found for drones, you can envision swarms (well, perhaps not swarms – but flights anyway) of small aircraft navigating around Mars and enriching our knowledge of the Red Planet.

Thank you, again, to the Ingenuity team for your willingness to Dare Mighty Things and for letting us ride along.

A Note about the blog posts from the future [CE 2224]: In January of 2021, with Perseverance due to land on Mars the next month, NASA activated their experimental Quantum Transmitter. The transmitter was designed to communicate with Perseverance, without regard to location and at faster than light speeds—near real-time. Unfortunately, they lost the connection after the initialization routine was completed. However, as an unintended consequence, NASA connected with a specific locus in the space-time continuum located on the Moon in 2224. That locus was the storage device of the quantum computer of a popular blog site. It is from that blog site that these blog entries are extracted. I hope you enjoy a peek into our future, and hopefully, I’m not violating some temporal directive. So far, no visit from the time cops.

Guest Author: Dr. Khaled Al Otaiba, Director of Education Outreach, Space Systems Technologies (SST), Arsia Mons, Mars

Posted: Monday, April 19, 2224 (Earth Standard Calendar)

Again this year, Space Systems Technologies is a proud sponsor of Ingenuity Day here in the city. School projects and the STEM Education fair are featured on the university campus at various venues. Displays and demonstrations from  SST and other technology companies are showcased in the Central Plaza, and I hope everyone has a chance to visit the exhibitors throughout the week.

This year we have an exciting new contribution to the event. The university engineering students, funded by a grant from SST, have recreated the original Ingenuity for which this day is named. The Ingenuity II is not an exact replica, as the electronics and battery technology no longer exists, but they’ve built to the exact specifications and constraints. They’ve even converted the original flight management software to run on current processors. They hope to “fly” their version at the closing ceremonies on Friday. They hope it goes as well as the first flight of Ingenuity two hundred and three Earth years ago today.

Ever since that first flight, ingenuity has been the hallmark of Martian progress. SST has been a leader in this area and supports continuing development of Arsia Mons and the outlying settlements. Although founded on Luna over one hundred and fifty Earth years ago, it was on Mars where SST and others developed the ingenious solutions that allowed us to gain a permanent foothold on the Red Planet.

And it all began with that first helicopter flight on Mars this day, April 19^th in CE 2021.

Here’s some archive footage from the original NASA of that first historic flight – Ingenuity Flight.

Following that groundbreaking achievement, the early explorers deployed swarms of drones across the planet, expanding their detailed map, discovering resources, and scouting settlement locations. SST still uses drones to explore and plan settlements, manufacturing locations, and mag-lev routes.

Once again, let’s pause and commemorate the tremendous accomplishments of the original Ingenuity team and acknowledge our debt of gratitude for their pioneering spirit and willingness to Dare Mighty Things. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you get a chance to view the launch of Ingenuity II on Friday.

I had planned to comment on a topic in Robotics, in particular, human form robots.

But I can’t let the day pass without remarking on the unbelievable achievement of the Ingenuity team and their first successful powered flight on another planet. It boggles the mind to consider the complexities of being successful.

Consider the physical constraints of the environment: dust everywhere, bathed in radiation, thin air (to put it mildly), extreme cold—and no pilot to make real-time corrections. Imagine—the pilot sending the instructions for the flight, which are executed sometime in the future, and then waiting until after the flight is completed to see results.

Not to mention testing a helicopter that can’t actually be flown in a Mars environment here on Earth. The team could replicate the atmosphere, but gravity was another thing altogether. Using simulation and a tethering system that approximated Martian gravity got them close. The real test is flying it on Mars, and today we learned they got it right. I can’t imagine what that would be like. I remember sleepless nights before we were just putting a new application into production from my IT management days, and I could test every little thing. It is a testament to the genius of the team that this first flight was successful.

If you haven’t seen it, check out this historic flight – Ingenuity Flight.

It was all of about 25 seconds, just over twice as long as the Wright Brother’s first flight. But they’ve proved it can be done. It’s no longer a hypothetical possibility. And from the last reports, Ingenuity is in good shape. So—more flights, more practice, more data, and more to learn.

One last word, though—this is about robots, too. Quite a few robots, actually, just not human form robots. If you consider a robot a device that can autonomously carry out complex activities, then we’ve seen the collaboration of several robots: Ingenuity, Perseverance, MAVEN, the MRO, and the whole Mars Relay Network—while the human members of the team waited patiently(?) for the results.

Thank you to the Ingenuity team for your willingness to Dare Mighty Things and for letting us ride along.

Posted By: W. Steve Wilson

Posted: April 12, 2021

I want to start a series of short commentaries on Robotics, particularly human form robots continuing through self-aware robots, the AI and Robot convergence, human-like robots, and maybe artificial life. Now that Jean-Luc Picard is a synthetic lifeform, it seems only fitting.

From recent discussions with friends, it seems we might consider three reasons to create human form robots: Servants/Tools/Workers, Companionship, or the challenge of scientific advancement (to see if we can). The first of these has had extensive treatment in fiction—but there are always more stories to tell, so we’ll explore some of the history and where current technology might be going. The latter two—I’ll see where that takes us.

But this week, let’s consider a fourth purpose—a dance partner. Boston Dynamics has produced a fantastic video where they taught human-form robots to dance to the tune Do You Love Me. You need to see these Robots Dancing.

If you’d like to know how they did it, check out this article where Boston Dynamics discusses the choreography, the machine learning, etc., that it took.

How Boston Dynamics Taught Its Robots to Dance

One section I found particularly interesting was how the professional dancers’ abilities exceeded remarkably the robots’ abilities. The choreography needed to be adjusted to conform to the movement and strength capabilities of the robots. Maybe that is the fundamental question—what can and should robots do and what can and should humans do. Not an easy question—at the risk of an understatement.

We’ll take up that question and others over the next several weeks. I hope you come back and see where it takes us. In the meantime, consider—would you accept a robot as a caregiver? How about a household servant? When does the robot get to decide what it wants to do?

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment.

A Note about the blog posts from the future [CE 2224]: In January of 2021, with Perseverance due to land on Mars the next month, NASA activated their experimental Quantum Transmitter. The transmitter was designed to communicate with Perseverance, without regard to location and at faster than light speeds—near real-time. Unfortunately, they lost the connection after the initialization routine was completed. However, as an unintended consequence, NASA connected with a specific locus in the space-time continuum located on the Moon in 2224. That locus was the storage device of the quantum computer of a popular blog site. It is from that blog site that these blog entries are extracted. I hope you enjoy a peek into our future, and hopefully, I’m not violating some temporal directive. So far, no visit from the time cops.

Guest Author: Dr. Charles Campbell, Associate Professor of Political History, University of Luna (UofL)

Posted: Monday, April 5, 2224 (Earth Standard Calendar)

In my Political History course, The Politics of Lunar Colonization, we discuss the contributions of Scottish Prime Minister Robert G. MacDonald at great length. As students of Luna’s early history will recall, PM MacDonald shepherded Scotland through their separation from England during The Surge in the middle of the 21^st Century.

The British exiting the European single market and customs union resulted in a growing majority of Scots favoring independence. As the effects of climate change worsened in the middle of the century and the Lunar Colonization surge ramped up, Scotland determined they would fare better with an independent relationship with Europe, the United States, and other countries around the world. PM MacDonald and his team crafted the independence accords that addressed national debt, property, citizenship, tax revenue, security, repatriation, foreign relations, etc. The smooth transition and peaceful transfer of power to a sovereign and independent Scottish parliament were a testament to the skill with which the accords were designed. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 22^nd Century and after the reunification of Ireland, a prosperous and culturally resurgent Scotland restored stronger ties to England and Wales while retaining political independence.

Those agreements and PM MacDonald’s work formed the basis of the independence accords that define the process of Lunar Independence. The Lunar Cities are steadily moving along the path defined by the UN agreement and, barring any unforeseen setbacks, are on schedule to achieve independence in the next two years. So for that, we owe PM MacDonald and the UN a debt of gratitude.

But—somebody took it too far. Honoring the Scottish Prime Minister is one thing; shoehorning a Scottish reference into the chartering documents is too much. If we don’t work for a change, we will forever suffer under the System Colonies of Terra Independence Accords (SCOTIA). Really? We need something that rolls off the tongue like The Magna Carta, The Constitution, The New Arbroath Declaration, etc.

We can do better. Please leave a comment on what you think should be the name of our Chartering Documents. Should it be grand? Should it be catchy? Should it reflect the values of this new world?

Let me know what you think. Thank you for your time in reading my post.

Posted By: W. Steve Wilson

Posted: April 5, 2021

The Biden Administration has released a plan to rebuild various components of the United States infrastructure. These components include, among other things, roads and bridges, ports and airports, the electrical grid and broadband, and—railroads.

Circulating on social media and the Internet are several maps showing expanded Amtrak routes and a hoped-for High-Speed Rail network –

[Credit: www.axios.com  Link: AmTrak Map]  

[Credit: www.businessinsider.com  Link: HSR Map]

It’s hard to say if either of these maps will become a reality, but it’s something to think about.

Riding the Rails

Although I’ve “ridden the rails” in the past, I must admit that I opt for driving or flying like many people. I wonder if a high-speed rail line would induce me to make a different choice. You might be considering a similar question.

One way to think about it would be to consider where I’d travel. I might go from my home in Chicago to St. Louis—a five-hour drive or a two-hour train ride (after I drive to the train station.) I’d likely drive. But to Orlando, 1200 miles? I’ve made that drive—never again. Flying gets me there in about two-and-a-half hours, high-speed rail in six—maybe, with no stops. If it’s comparable in price—I just might make the switch if the time spent at the train station is minimal.

Now let’s consider Los Angeles or Seattle, both about 2,000 miles. Flight times are four-and-a-half to five hours. High-speed rail would be about ten hours (assuming 200 mph) with no stops. I’d probably still fly. It looks like my choices are similar to passengers around the world. China and Europe’s results indicate high-speed rail works best in middle-distance, high volume markets—from 90 to 750 miles. Shorter distances, people drive for longer distances, they fly.

Hyperloop Travel

But there could be a third option—the Hyperloop. Hyperloop travel is via a pod, driven at high speed. Due to air friction, these pods would run in a vacuum in a tub or tunnel. Companies right now are working on proofs of concept and prototypes. The Smithsonian is launching an exhibition entitled Futures, running from November 2021 through July 2022. Virgin Hyperloop is a featured exhibitor with their groundbreaking vehicle, the Pegasus XP-2, the first vehicle to carry hyperloop passengers.

To get a feel for how hyperloop travel might be, check out this video from Virgin Hyperloop—The Passenger Experience

A hyperloop pod could travel theoretically at speeds approaching 750 miles per hour—Chicago to Los Angeles in three hours. Terminals could require smaller footprints—no runways, maybe even located in downtown urban locations. Passenger volume is adjustable, departure times flexible, and all powered by renewable energy. Now that would get me off an airplane.

Final Thought

Once we colonize the Moon and Mars, “rail” travel might be our only option. Without an appreciable atmosphere (yes, the Moon does have an extremely rarified atmosphere), air travel, as we conceive of it now, just won’t work. [Note: in an upcoming blog, I’ll talk about the Mars Helicopter]. Both environments, however, would be ideal for hyperloops as air friction would be inconsequential.

What combination of speed, convenience, and cost would convince you to take high-speed rail rather than drive or fly? Should we jump ahead and build a hyperloop on some routes? Would you travel 2000 miles in a vacuum tube to get to LA in three hours? Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts.

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