{"332281":{"#nid":"332281","#data":{"type":"news","title":"$700,000 NSF Robotics Initiative grant comes to GT-AE","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA three-year, $700,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) \u0026nbsp;Robotics Initiative grant will enable two GT-AE researchers to tackle an issue that is critical to missions in Earth orbit and beyond: integrated sensing and planning under uncertain conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Panagiotis Tsiotras and Assistant Prof. Evangelos Theodorou were informed that their proposal, \u201cInformation-Theoretic Trajectory Optimization for Motion Planning and Control with Applications to Space Proximity Operations\u201d was funded by the NSF late last month.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis research seeks to develop the theory and algorithms that will enable active exploration using robust, reliable sensing and planning of a free-flying space robot near either a man-made or natural body\u0026nbsp; -- a spacecraft or asteroid.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research shows enormous potential in space missions, where satellite servicing and refueling, space station resupply, the removal of space debris, and in-space vehicle inspections require a combination of robotic and human reliability.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETsiotras and Theodorou anticipate that the same techniques will also be employed in all other problems where an intelligent agent needs to navigate autonomously in an uncertain and dynamically changing environment.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Satellite and servicing and refueling in orbit is long-overdue. Technical challenges have delayed progress, but recently several efforts, spearheaded primarily by DARPA and NASA, have exerted a renewed interest in this area,\u201d said Tsiotras, the PI for the project. \u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cDARPA\u0027s Phoenix program, for example, seeks to extend the satellite\u2019s lifetime via robotic servicing and repair in orbit. In fact, just this week DARPA announced a request for information for a new program focusing specifically on robotic servicing of satellites in GEO and the transition of this technology to servicing telecommunication satellites in orbit. Needless to say, the commercialization potential in this area is huge, and Georgia Tech is at the forefront of developing the required technology.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheodorou is also excited about working on the project, which he says represents a departure from traditional space robotics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Traditionally, we would look at one way -- the most direct way -- of getting from A to B, but this is under the assumption that we operate in a deterministic world\u0022, said Theodorou. \u0022 With this project we look at different ways to get from A to B, that take into account sensor\u0026nbsp;ambiguity and uncertainty.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ae.gatech.edu\/node\/1485\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ETo read more...\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A three-year, $700,000 National Science Foundation (NSF)  Robotics Initiative grant will enable two GT-AE researchers to tackle an issue that is critical to missions in Earth orbit and beyond: integrated sensing and planning under uncertain condition"}],"uid":"27257","created_gmt":"2014-10-08 13:55:40","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:11","author":"Cynthia Pendley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-10-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"282661","name":"Center for Space Technology and Research (CSTAR)"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}