The committee heard from several people in open data-gathering sessions over the course of its four meetings. Their presentations are summarized briefly below. Specific technologies mentioned are discussed in more detail in the relevant chapters of the report as indicated.
Charlie Walker, of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, provided an overview of the Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST) during meeting 2, including video of soldiers performing various tasks while wearing individual protection ensembles (IPEs). The MIST is discussed in more detail in Chapter 1.
Information provided by the speakers described in this section (who all presented during meeting 3) is also included in the discussion on current capabilities in Chapter 2.
Grant Bue, of Johnson Space Center, discussed National Aeronautics and Space Administration spacesuit technology testing (by telephone). Bue focused on approaches to under-suit cooling for astronauts, which was developed for space exploration. Descriptions of several feasible technologies applicable to PETMAN were discussed by Bue, including advanced heat pumps, a mini-vapor-compressor, “super ice,” and a vortex tube.
Rick Burke, of Measurement Technology Northwest (MTNW), spoke about thermal mannequins for human-physiology simulation. Burke dis-
Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 155
Appendix D
Open Session Presentation Summaries
The committee heard from several people in open data-gathering ses-
sions over the course of its four meetings. Their presentations are summa-
rized briefly below. Specific technologies mentioned are discussed in more
detail in the relevant chapters of the report as indicated.
INDIvIDuAL PROTECTION ENSEMbLES TESTINg
Charlie Walker, of the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, provided an
overview of the Man-in-Simulant Test (MIST) during meeting 2, including
video of soldiers performing various tasks while wearing individual protec-
tion ensembles (IPEs). The MIST is discussed in more detail in Chapter 1.
HuMAN SIMuLATION
Information provided by the speakers described in this section (who all
presented during meeting 3) is also included in the discussion on current
capabilities in Chapter 2.
grant bue, of Johnson Space Center, discussed National Aeronautics
and Space Administration spacesuit technology testing (by telephone). Bue
focused on approaches to under-suit cooling for astronauts, which was de-
veloped for space exploration. Descriptions of several feasible technologies
applicable to PETMAN were discussed by Bue, including advanced heat
pumps, a mini-vapor-compressor, “super ice,” and a vortex tube.
Rick burke, of Measurement Technology Northwest (MTNW), spoke
about thermal mannequins for human-physiology simulation. Burke dis-
OCR for page 155
APPENDIX D
cussed theory and applications of MTNW equipment and capabilities in-
cluding the Advanced Automotive Manikin (ADAM). He highlighted a few
major PETMAN challenges and recommendations: Internal space in the
50th percentile body form is likely to be insufficient for all his combined
systems, thermal management of the system will be necessary, simplification
of joints compromises the realism of body contours, internal battery power
and charging systems are large and cumbersome, the internal breathing and
humidification system is limited by the size of the mannequin head cavity,
and the internal fluid reservoir for sweating could be replaced with an ex-
ternal supply without affecting performance.
Carlos Moreno, of Medical Education Technologies, Inc. (METI), de-
scribed METI’s medical educational mannequins and human-physiology
simulation capabilities. METI provides integrated physiologic models with
the hardware to represent patient responses accurately. The main use of
the models is in evaluation of student performance. One model in particu-
lar—iStan—is completely self-contained, has skin made of thermoplastic
elastomer, has a realistic weight, and uses pressurized water to create sweat-
ing. Other features include an 8-hour operational mode and an area in the
belly that is empty to allow for additional simulation capabilities.
SENSINg CAPAbILITIES
Information provided by the speakers described in this section is in-
cluded in more detail as part of the discussion on current capabilities in
Chapter 3. Each of the technologies has the potential to be the chemical-
sensing component of a PETMAN system. However, these are just examples
of technologies that would be available within 2 years of development for
PETMAN. There are probably more technologies with similar potential
that are not included here.
H. James Harmon, of Oklahoma State University, spoke (by telephone)
at meeting 2 about the technology he has developed for real-time reagent-
less solid-state optical detection.
Committee member Zane Frund spoke with a representative of Sea-
coast Science, Inc., between meetings 2 and 3. Seacoast Science produces
chemicapacitor-based chemical sensors.
David Walt, of Tufts University, spoke at meeting 3 about his fluo-
rescence-based optical microsphere arrays and fiber-optics chemical-agent
sensing capabilities.
RObOTICS CAPAbILITIES
More detailed information provided by the speakers described in this
section, who all spoke during meeting 3, is included in the discussion on
OCR for page 155
APPENDIX D
state-of-the-art capabilities in Chapter 4. A number of other robot systems
are also discussed in Chapter 4.
Robert Ambrose, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administra-
tion (NASA) Johnson Space Center, provided an overview of Robonaut (by
telephone). Ambrose presented the history of NASA’s Robonaut, details on
the anatomy of the first-generation Robonaut R1, videos demonstrating
capabilities, and plans for development of the next-generation Robonaut
R2. Robonaut has human-like dexterity but moves much slower. Currently,
Robonaut features only a human-like upper body. The development of
Robonaut over the last decade cost about $25 million.
David Handelman, of American Android Corporation, spoke about
all-terrain biped technology, focusing on modeling capabilities.
Jun Ho Oh, of Hubo Lab, the Humanoid Robot Research Center in
the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology, provided an overview (which included many
detailed specifications) of human-like machines and types of actuators and
presented a case review of Hubo and comments and suggestions about
PETMAN. Oh summarized by saying that the performance requirements
for PETMAN are too severe and comprehensive. Oh suggested that move-
ment tests be conducted separately from static tests, pneumatic actuators
be used for the dynamic test, head and finger and foot tests be performed
separately, and power and air sources be external to the system.
Robert Playter, of Boston Dynamics, discussed its robotics capabili-
ties in relation to PETMAN requirements. Playter provided a company
overview. He also discussed control systems for human movement and
robot behaviors; power requirements for legged locomotion based on mea-
surements from “BigDog,” including energy and heat estimates; and sys-
tems-design issues. He highlighted four “tall poles” or major challenges
of PETMAN—power and heat, control systems, energy, and mechanical
design. Playter also discussed the various control options (electric, hydrau-
lic, and pneumatic) and said that he does not believe that PETMAN can be
built without a tether.
OCR for page 155