>> Hi. Welcome to Mission Control Houston.
Today we're talking with Chris Provencher
who is the project manager for the SPHERES satellite project
that is been on the space station for a while.
Long and storied history, I guess.
So, actually, Chris, if you could just start
by maybe giving us a little bit of a history of the program.
>> Well, my robotics group
at NASA Ames Research Center is investigating the use of robots
to work in human exploration missions.
So we're not looking to replace humans on their missions.
We're looking to enhance their missions
and provide more value to them.
So specifically, we're looking at the use
of robotic free-flyers;
so anything that can float in space.
And we recognize that the SPHERES platform is a great
opportunity for us to do some pre-flighting robotic testing.
So the SPHERES is a free-flying satellite.
It's got, you know, structure, it's a got a propulsion system,
has some limited processing, and can operate
within a limited space on Space Station,
so it doesn't have everything to become a robotic free-flier,
but it is a great opportunity for us to do our testing.
>> Where did the idea to use this
on the Space Station come from?
>> Well, the SPHERES predates my projects.
The SPHERES is a pillared facility
that involves many different payload users.
Whoever has a need to do some type of zero-G testing
on a free-flying satellite can apply
to do their testing with it.
So that's run by the SPHERES program.
So I'm with the Smart SPHERES project, so we're one
of many users of that payload facility.
>> Okay. So Smart SPHERES, that's the ones
that use the smart phones.
How did that come about?
What's the point of that?
>> Right. So the SPHERES, though it does have propulsion
and some processing and navigation system,
it doesn't do much other than fly around.
And for it to be a robot,
it needs to provide some useful tasks to the Space Station.
So to do that, we need to communicate with it,
we need some more processing, we need to be able to control it,
and then it needs appropriate sensors
for doing different types of tasks,
like cameras or other things.
So everything I just described is what you'd find
in a smart phone.
So that was really a real low-cost approach
for our project to upgrade the satellite from SPHERES
to Smart SPHERES without having to invest
in a lot of developments so.
>> Okay. You'll have had that up there for a while.
Right? But now it's time for an upgrade?
>> Yeah. So we did amass a smart phone in 2011,
and we've been able to control that robot from the ground
and have the ISS crew control in,
and it's been very successful.
But this new smart phone we have is actually quite impressive.
So --
>> Great. Show and tell.
>> Yeah, show and tell.
So I did mention that the SPHERES is constrained
to a very limited operating environment
on the Space Station.
It's only like a two-meter by two-meter
by two-meter cube that it works in.
This smart phone is called Project Tango.
Google just announced this as a prototype release.
>> Project Tango?
>> Project Tango.
>> Okay.
>> So it's not available yet in stores, but it's available
to some Android developers.
>> Okay.
>> What's really impressive about this is
that it's got an IR projector, so it's similar to some games
that can see you, your body moving.
This phone has that as well.
So it has an IR projector, and then an IR camera
that can see that projection.
So basically, this phone can see in 3D.
>> Wow.
>> Also, it has a wide angle lens, and, then,
a processor dedicated to visual odometry.
So this camera can see things --
edges, corners, just anything that's not really plain
background -- and then it tracks all of the features
that it sees from frame to frame.
And as the phone is moving, those features change position
in each frame, and they can calculate how far it has moved.
So with the 3D mapping and the visual odometry,
this smart phone is capable of vision-based navigation.
>> So I'm sorry.
What part is the smart phone here?
Is it this or --
>> Right.
>> -- all of it?
>> So, actually, the white frame is what the regular smart phone
would look like.
>> Okay.
>> So we've modified this to operate on ISS.
We basically butterflied this phone open
so that all the things that are typically on the back
of your phone are on the same side as the touch screen
so that they're all facing out and away from SPHERES.
>> Okay.
>> And then we built this bracket as well
to mate it to SPHERES.
>> I see. Okay.
And it seems like the main -- the main thing you're wanting
to get out of this is the 3D camera, is that right?
>> It's the navigation.
>> The navigation, okay.
>> Right. Which uses the 3D camera.
>> And why is that special?
>> Well, if you want a robotic free-flyer to do useful work
on ISS, it needs to pretty much fly anywhere
on the Space Station.
And so to do that, it needs a very robust navigation system,
and we think this might be it.
>> Okay. Well, I guess you -- if I understand correctly,
you've actually already tried this in zero-gravity
on an airplane flight here in Houston.
And I think we actually have some video
of that that we can show.
But how did that go?
What did you do?
>> Right. So this phone was actually was built
to work on Earth.
>> Okay.
>> And it actually relies on a gravity vector.
So we've had to do some -- a lot of modifications to the software
to remove the gravity from the equation.
So we're doing some zero-G parabolic flight testing
out at Ellington Field, and so far,
the tests are going real well.
We still have yet to analyze the data.
>> And I guess what we're seeing here is the smart phone attached
to one of the SPHERES satellites.
Right?
>> That's exactly what you're seeing.
And as we hit zero-G, we release it in the cabin of the aircraft
and let it try to localize itself in zero-G.
>> Okay. And you said it went well, huh?
>> Well, we're collecting the data.
We'll see how well it's working probably once we get back
to Ames.
>> Okay. Well, once you've had a chance to take a look at that,
assuming it went well, what's the next step?
When do you go to the Space Station?
>> Well, the next step is Space Station, and we are supposed
to launch on May 1 on Orbital 2,
and then this summer we'll have two activities with the ISS crew
to see how well it can navigate through the Space Station.
>> Okay. Well, we look forward to seeing that in space.
And thanks so much for visiting us and telling us about this.
It sounds like a great project.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you. ------------------------------6840caeba8f9--