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[DPRG] offroad robot exercises
Subject: [DPRG] offroad robot exercises
From: David P. Anderson
dpa at io.isem.smu.edu
Date: Mon Oct 30 13:06:19 CST 2006
Hi
John wrote:
> Regarding remote kill: Even on an entirely autonomous robot, it
> seems that the remote kill is not a command as such, but the lack
> of a Run signal. That is, if the robot loses the Run signal (be
> it RF or IR or whatever), the drive batteries should be
> open-circuited.
Good question. I know that the Magellan NASA probe (robot) back in 1989
when it arrived at Venus, it lost its commnunication link and was not
heard from for 3 days. Lots of glum faces at JPL and here in the
Planetary group at SMU, who had been workin on the project for more than
a decade.
However, the robot made contact 3 days later and it had dutifully put itself
in a low power mode and was backing up all data to tape (nothing lost) and had
been scanning for the earth signal until it found it.
So it seems like a REALLY autonomous robot would need to figure out what to
do on its own if it lost its "run" signal, rather than just shutting itself
down.
best
dpa
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