Carnegie Mellon Universty, Robotics Institute, Pittsburgh, PA; May 1996 – Present
Graduate Research Assistant

• Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search, with Dr. Red Whittaker (November 1996 - May 1997; March 1998 - present)
• Member of Antarctic expedition team for six weeks in December 1999 to February 2000, during which the Nomad robot successfully identified 5 meteorites autonomously
• Wrote, implemented and field tested software for robot’s navigational and mission planners, image processing algorithms for rock detection, telemetry logging, and communication between modules
• Mission planner evaluates tasks based on power and time considerations, and sequences required tasks when performing autonomous searches
• Navigational planner produces various coverage patterns, waypoint and maneuver plans
• Performed preliminary studies of the costs and benefits of multiple robotic configurations for the meteorite search
• Haughton-Mars Project, sponsored by NASA Ames Research Center (July 1999)
• Member of field team for two weeks during the summer of 1999 at Haughton Crater, in the Canadian Arctic
• Observed and worked with biologists and others to study possibilities for the use of robots as assistants in exploration of remote areas
• Research projects, with Dr. Howie Choset (August 1997 - March 1998)
• Study of the orbital mechanics involved in maneuvers between two bodies co-orbiting a third body
• Research in 3-dimensional coverage and path planning for a space robot
• Research in autonomous search techniques for meteorites and mines

 
• Lunar Optical Interferometer Telescope Project, with Dr. Eric Krotkov (May 1996 - November 1996)
• Set up equipment for a laser alignment procedure
• Developed image processing code for detecting targeted laser light
• Performed experimental trials to autonomously align laser with a retro reflector target
• Robotics Ph.D. program classes (August 1996 - May 1997)
• Analyzed lunar south pole environment and orbital dynamics of the Moon-Earth-Sun system, as part of a group to design a mobile robot to search for ice at the lunar south pole
• Researched kinematic and dynamic attributes of free-flying underwater and space robots
• Researched geometry involved in deploying a circular telescope array on a spherical surface such as the Moon

• Developed and implemented a 2-dimensional path planner for the air-bearing table version of AERCam, a free-flying robot for servicing the outside of space structures and vehicles
• Developed code for robot station-keeping with respect to an object

 

• Processed infrared images and did photometry of star forming regions, with Dr. Klaus Hodapp
• Processed optical images and did photometry of asteroids and comets, with Dr. David Jewitt

• Presented research in several topics for senior-level physics honors seminars (September 1991 - June 1992)
• Adaptive optics and new methods for constructing large optical and infrared telescopes
• Gamma ray emission from the galactic center
• Confinement and detection of single electrons in a Penning trap
• Studied ion formation in cirrus clouds to determine the effect cosmic rays have on the environment, with Dr. Ely (1991)
• Studied gravitational lensing in the galaxy, with Dr. Craig Hogan (1991 - 1992)

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