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1995-03-07
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OS/2 HELPS RESEARCHERS AT NASA
At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA researchers are using OS/2
to lay the groundwork for future space-based autonomous robots.
Known affectionately as "SodaPup," an OS/2 2.1-based robot is being used
to test Artificial Intelligence concepts in real world situations.
Unlike the robots who work on assembly lines in factories, SodaPup
wanders about in an office environment, interacts with humans, picks up
and delivers packages, and explores unknown areas. These tasks include
path planning, computer vision, voice recognition, natural language
understanding, and reactive control.
In its test mode, SodaPup is currently wandering some hallways in
NASA's Houston offices. As it approaches an office, it may stop to
drop-off a package that it picked up at another location. At the same
time, it also communicates with a NASA researcher whose OS/2 PC has a
wireless ethernet connection to the robot. When SodaPup stumbles or
behaves inappropriately, researchers can debug and correct the system
using both test data collected in real-time and software simulations of
the SodaPup robot.
OS/2 2.1 was chosen as SodaPup's multitasking operating system because
it is designed to handle many different things at the same time --
sort of like the human brain. Several applications must run
simultaneously, keeping SodaPup alert to whatever it encounters, yet
determined to perform its assigned task. In addition, OS/2's
multithreading capabilities permit each application to handle several
internal operations at the same time, as well.
A motion executor application controls SodaPup's drive wheels and
maneuvers around any obstacles in its path. Full-motion video images
can be processed on-board and/or sent off-board to other workstations
for further analysis. SodaPup can also measure the distance to objects
in its sight via a laser-base range finder application. A barcode
reader application can also be used to help determine SodaPup's location
by scanning for strategically placed barcodes. Communication between
SodaPup and the researchers is managed by TELRIP, an ethernet based
message passing system.
Throughout it all, an OS/2 Presentation Manager program runs on SodaPup
and the NASA researcher's PC to provide a graphical "roadmap" of
SodaPup's location and destination. It also provides graphical
representations of various sensor readings, a text-based status/debug
message window, and pull-down menus for task selection and control.
With OS/2's memory management and multitasking capabilities, all the
applications can operate concurrently and do not prevent SodaPup from
"thinking" about one thing while doing another. The OS/2 memory relief
is especially critical to the video processor which often needs to
handle several 1/4MB images simultaneously.
For more information about SodaPup and NASA's OS/2 solution,
contact Robert Goode at NASA - Johnson Space Center, 713-483-2047.
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OS/2 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
Corporation.