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University robotics team preps for NASA competition
February 25, 2016 | Kelsie Cleboski
Photo credit: Erin Willey
A joint team of University of Houston-Clear Lake and San Jacinto College students will show off their robotics prowess at the NASA Swarmathon competition in April. From left, San Jacinto College Professor of Mathematics Nathanial Wiggins; student teammates Charlie Kendrick, Melissa Bell, Travis Alvarez, Aya Fadel and Chris Huerta; and UHCL Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering Luong Nguyen form part of the joint team and its faculty advisers.
A joint team of University of Houston-Clear Lake and San Jacinto College students will show off their robotics prowess at the NASA Swarmathon competition in April. From left, San Jacinto College Professor of Mathematics Nathanial Wiggins; student teammates Charlie Kendrick, Melissa Bell, Travis Alvarez, Aya Fadel and Chris Huerta; and UHCL Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering Luong Nguyen form part of the joint team and its faculty advisers.
In the big dream of space exploration, it pays to think small. A joint team of University
of Houston-Clear Lake and San Jacinto College students are preparing to compete in
a national NASA robotics contest that relies on insect colony behavior to solve tricky
problems.
Teams from around the country will develop software algorithms based on “swarm intelligence” to direct a team of robots to locate and identify objects. NASA Swarmathon intends to mimic tasks that will be required of robots exploring Mars, asteroids or other celestial destinations.
“There will be a need to find resources when we explore another world,” said UH-Clear Lake Assistant Professor of Computer Engineering Luong Nguyen, one of the faculty leads for the team. “Resources such as water and minerals are very important to find.”
While an insect swarm consists of millions of individuals, the Swarmathon teams will have to worry about only a handful of robots. In the first round of the April competition, each team’s software will be uploaded to a trio of “Swarmie” robots, which will have 30 minutes to locate and identify resources (in this case, small barcodes distributed in the competition area). In the semifinal and final rounds, six Swarmies will have an hour to locate and identify resources.
“Here on Earth, we see how ants forage for food. In the kitchen, when we leave food out, they find it,” Nguyen said.
Another example is termites gathering soil and water to build structures much larger than an individual insect.
He added, “We’d like to learn how they did it and use it to our advantage.”
The joint team is comprised of students from a variety of majors, including computer engineering, computer science and mechanical engineering.
Kasey Clark, a UHCL student in computer engineering, said she relishes the challenge of applying her interests to a novel problem.
“I like robotics, I like computers, mechanics. Solving problems is always something I like to do,” she said.
Miguel Rosales, a UHCL computer science student, added, “It’s a good way of measuring your own skills against other people.”
One of the biggest challenges will be prompting the robots to correctly identify their target resources, said San Jacinto College Professor of Mathematics Nathanial Wiggins, who proposed the joint team. One of the biggest benefits is that students gain valuable experience that future employers will notice.
“These experiences really provide a pathway to get into industry,” he said.
The team will work with the Robot Operating System, a robotics software platform widely used in research and industry. While the system manages fundamental tasks, such as movement and navigation, the students will build on that foundation to develop software for their primary goal – locating and identifying resources.
This year marks the inaugural NASA Swarmathon, which is open to only Minority Serving Universities and Colleges. UHCL and San Jacinto College’s joint team is committed to competing for at least three years. During that time, Nguyen said he expects more nuances and advancements to the competition.
“As we have more robots, we will work on more advanced techniques,” said Nguyen.
The Swarmathon team is only one of a number of ways UHCL students work with robotics and the technology of the future within the School of Science and Computer Engineering. For more information on the school, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/sce or call 281-283-3711.