Paper Info
Title
Centaur: NASA's Mobile Humanoid Designed for Field Work
Abstract
NASA's future lunar and martian missions will require a suite of advanced robotic systems to complete tasks during precursor visits and to assist humans while present on the surface. The Centaur is a new mobile, dexterous manipulation system designed with this future role in mind. Centaur combines the sophisticated upper body dexterity of NASA's humanoid, Robonaut, with a rugged and versatile four-wheeled base. This combination allows for robotic use of human tools and interfaces in remote locations by incorporating design improvements to the existing Robonaut that target the challenges of planetary field work: rough terrain, a varied environment (temperature, dust, wind, etc.), and distance from human operators. An overview of Centaur's design is presented focusing on the features that serve to mitigate the above risks and allow the robot to perform human-like tasks in unstructured environments. The success of this design is also demonstrated by the results of a recent coordinated field demonstration in which Centaur, under both teleoperated and autonomous control, cooperated with other NASA robots.
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1109/ROBOT.2007.363916
Roma
Keywords
Field
DocType
aerospace robotics,humanoid robots,manipulators,mobile robots,telerobotics,Centaur,Robonaut,autonomous control,lunar missions,martian missions,mobile dexterous manipulation system,mobile humanoid robot,planetary field work,teleoperation,Robonaut,dexterous,field work,humanoid,mobile manipulation
Teleoperation,Systems engineering,Robonaut,Simulation,Robot kinematics,Control engineering,Engineering,NASA robots,Robot,Telerobotics,Mobile robot,Humanoid robot
Conference
Volume
Issue
ISSN
2007
1
1050-4729 E-ISBN : 1-4244-0602-1
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
1-4244-0602-1
12
1.14
References 
Authors
7
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Joshua Mehling122212.55
Philip Strawser2121.48
Lyndon Bridgwater3131.51
W. K. Verdeyen4121.14
Roger Rovekamp5121.14