DEVELOPERS IN
ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY
FOR USE IN SPACE
EXPLORATION RECEIVE
2008 IEEE ROBOTICS
AND AUTOMATION
AWARD
Contributions to Autonomous
Robotic Operations Result in
Significant Data Collection
from Mars
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers) has named
Paul Backes, Eric T. Baumgartner, and
Larry Matthies recipients of its 2008
Robotics and Automation Award. The
three are being recognized for their
contributions to different robotics
technologies used in space flight
systems including the successful Mars
Exploration Rover (MER) mission
rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which
to this day are still functioning on
the surface of Mars. The IEEE is the
world’s leading professional
association for the advancement of
technology.
The award, sponsored by the
IEEE Robotics and Automation
Society, recognizes Backes,
Baumgartner, and Matthies for
contributions to robotics enabling
effective autonomous operations of
science investigations under extreme
conditions on the planet Mars. The
award was presented to the three
on May 23, 2008 at the IEEE
International Conference on Robotics
and Automation (ICRA) in
Pasadena, CA.
The works of Backes (distributed
and remote operations),
Baumgartner (manipulator control),
and Matthies (navigation systems)
have advanced robotic technology,
particularly rover operations, and
made possible the scientific
exploration of Mars. MER is the first
long-term mobile autonomous
robotic exploration in an unknown
space environment.
An IEEE member, Backes is the
technical group supervisor of the
Mobility and Manipulation group in
the Mobility and Robotic Systems
section at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory of the California Institute
24 SERVO 07.2008
of Technology in Pasadena. He
conceived and led the development
of an interface system to allow
scientists and engineers to
collaborate in generating activity
sequences, which was used as the
primary science planning tool in the
2003 MER mission. The interface also
enables the public to view mission
data and simulate their own activity
sequences. Backes holds seven
patents, has won several awards,
and has published numerous book
chapters, articles, and papers. He
was associate editor of the IEEE
Robotics and Automation Society
Magazine from 1993 to 1998.
Baumgartner contributed to
the MER project as the lead systems,
test, and operations engineer for
the MER Instrument Positioning
System. This system was responsible
for the robotic deployment and
placement of four in-situ — meaning
“in place” — instruments onto the
Martian surface through the use
of a five degree-of-freedom robotic
arm. Presently, Baumgartner is the
dean of the T. J. Smull College of
Engineering at Ohio Northern
University in Ada. He has published
numerous papers in the area of
mobile robotics and vision-guided
manipulation and has received
several awards for his efforts on the
MER project.
Matthies’ work on autonomous
navigation of robotic ground and
air vehicles led to the development
of algorithms for descent motion
estimation, visual odometry, and
real-time 3D perception with stereo
vision. These capabilities were
incorporated into the MER mission,
providing landers with the ability to
estimate horizontal velocity and
rovers with the ability to detect
obstacles and measure slip. His
work can be found in terrestrial
applications including off-road
autonomous navigation and robotic
vision systems. An associate member
of the IEEE, Matthies is an adjunct
professor at the University of
Southern California and a member
of the editorial boards of the
Autonomous Robots Journal and the
Journal of Field Robotics. He has
received several awards, holds two
patents, and is widely published.
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