Transcript Slide 1
SPHERES
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What is SPHERES?
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A Facility of the ISS National Laboratory with three nano-satellites designed by MIT
to research estimation, control, and autonomy algorithms
By working aboard
ISS under crew
supervision, it provides
a risk-tolerant
environment
The satellites can be
reused
– Replenishable
consumables
– Multiple test sessions
assigned per year
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If anything goes wrong,
reset and try again!
If you can’t bring the space environment to the laboratory,
take the laboratory to space!
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What is SPHERES for?
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In the future we expect multiple satellites to work together to accomplish tasks that
are not currently possible
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Formation Flight
– Many satellites aligned to
create giant space telescopes
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Docking
– Autonomously create large
spacecraft for interplanetary
travel
– Repair and resupply old
spacecraft
– Reuse parts of old spacecraft
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Close proximity operations
– Inspect broken satellites and
other space objects
Many minds are better than one,
but they are harder to control (literally)!
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What is Zero Robotics
• A competition designed to allow
Middle- and High-school students
unprecedented access to the
International Space Station
through SPHERES
• Teams of students work to
program the SPHERES satellite to
win an MIT-designed game
• The teams go through multiple
elimination rounds; the top teams
see their code tested aboard the
ISS
If SPHERES is so “risk tolerant”, why can’t grade-school students use it? … they can!
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What is Zero Robotics…
from space!
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History of the Zero Robotics Competition
Zero Robotics
Pilot Program
2009
•Two high school teams
•12-09-09 ISS finals
Zero Robotics
Summer of
Innovation
2010
•200 middle school students
•5 week curriculum
•ISS finals Aug. 2010
High-School Level
Middle-School Level
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Zero Robotics
SPHERES
Challenge
2010
•First nationwide tournament
•200 High School students
•24 pilot teams from 19 states
•ISS finals 12-16-10
Zero Robotics
Middle School
Competition
2011
•First nationwide Middle
School Tournament
•ISS finals Aug. 2011
Zero Robotics
SPHERES
Challenge
2011
•2nd nationwide tournament
•1st European tournament
•1000 High School students
•Teams from 30 states
•ISS finals 1-23-12
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The parts of Zero Robotics
• All Zero Robotics Competitions have:
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Several elimination rounds
Finalists’ code is tested aboard the ISS
• High School (grades 9-12) Tournament
National open competition
Runs through the Fall (Sep to Dec)
Middle School (6-8) Summer Program
Five week summer program
2012 “Special” Algorithm Challenge:
Autonomous Space Capture
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General public access (age 13+; any
location)
Game designed so that participants
help create an algorithm for
SPHERES (e.g. docking)
Four week program with weekly
milestones
Objective:
• Dock with a space object that
may be tumbling
Starts March 28!
Programming and physics/math curriculum
Currently requires substantial help to summer-school teachers
Mentors assigned to each participating school
Centered regionally around locations which can provide the necessary support.
Two programs: High-school and Middle School
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Middle-School Overview
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5-week summer program
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Usually part of an afterschool / community organization program
In past geared towards under-represented & low-income students
Designed to work as a stand-alone program or part of a larger summer camp
Official “summer school teachers” are not required to be in the engineering/match/science areas
Basic programming skills
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Goal is to teach strategy (algorithm) techniques
Limited programming - developed “visual” interface
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Current implementation assigns one “SPHERES Expert” mentor to each team
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Attempted C programming with limited success in 2011
An MIT undergraduate learns to use SPHERES and program the game in the early summer
Goes to help the official teacher in “daily attendance” during the 5 weeks of the program
Mentors the students on programming, like a “coach”
Working on a complete curriculum (printed & online materials) to not need a mentor
Schedule
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Spring: game planning/programming
June: Mentor training
July/Aug: 5 week Program
August: ISS Finals
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5 Week Summer Program with
strict selection and mentor support
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High-School Overview
• Fall Semester Tournament
– A complementary “software” competition to the FIRST “hardware” spring event
– Mostly an “afterschool club”
• Mentors are the Science/Math/Computer teachers and local engineer volunteers
• Assumed that Mentors can teach programming
• Full programming experience
– Both graphical and text programming available
• One way transfer from graphical to text (not back, at least for now)
– ZR provides basic online tutorials and depends on mentors to teach
• ZR Team supports online only
– MIT undergraduates support online (e-mail, forums)
– Forums allow team to support each other
Semester-long open national program with online support
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HS Tournament Schedule
April - Sep
Registration
September
2D Simulation Competition
2D Ground Demonstration
October
3D Simulation Elimination
November
Alliance creation
3D Alliance Semi-Finals
December
ISS Finals!
Virtual
Finals
Note: Due to ISS availability, the 2011 ISS Finals may take place in January
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HS Application Process
• Application window: mid April 2012 thru first code deadline (Sep)
• Step 1: Create personal accounts
– Teachers and any students who will program create their own account
– Can start using the website as soon as account is created!
• Step 2: Primary Team Mentor registers the team
– They provide their students with the code to join the team
• Application contents will include:
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Contact information for the team including the primary team mentor
Names, availability and credentials of mentors
Student written application essay
Demographics and background of the team (aggregated; not individual)
Commitment by primary mentor to provide support and infrastructure to the team
• All teams with ability to support the team will be accepted
Apply starting mid April; can start using the website as soon as account is created!
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Resources
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Website: http://www.zerorobotics.org
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Tournaments: a list of upcoming tournaments and links to registration forms.
Resources: provides several tools to get started
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Forums (Account Required): communicate with other teams
Support: submit problems or questions directly to the ZR team
Learn More:
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Tutorials to get started with programming and using the website
Looking for a team? and Looking for a Mentor? forum links
Manage team information
News articles about ZR
Meet the ZR team
Learn more about SPHERES
Contact [email protected] for additional assistance
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HS Kick-Off
• MIT hosts a live webcast
– Game kept secret at MIT until the day of the kick-off
– Unveiling of the season’s challenge and details of the tournament
– Game available online after the Kick-Off
• Game documentation
available online
– Game manual
– Game tutorials
• Live Q&A at end
• Example: the 2011
game
– NOT the 2012 game!
The game of the current year is unveiled at the Kick-Off in early September
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HS 2D Competition
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The game is initially restricted to 2D
– Several “standard players” will be released so participants can test their code
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All teams submit their projects by the code submission deadline to qualify for the
next part of the tournament
An automated round-robin competition is run
– Full round robin: each team against every other team that submits code
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Teams will be ranked at end of 2D round robin
– Top Teams will have their 2D code demonstrated in the SPHERES ground satellites at
the MIT SSL
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2D Ground Demonstration
– Shows to teams the differences between simulation and real hardware
– Does not count towards future rounds, only for demonstration purposes
– The ground demonstrations are recorded and posted online together with the simulation
visualizations
– Only the top teams can see their code; everyone can see the videos & simulations
The tournament starts with 2D competition Round Robin
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HS 3D Competition
• The 3D competition is an evolution of the 2D game into the 3D domain
– Extra code required to complete the game
– The game is expanded, it is not a completely new game
• The “Active Team Survey” will be part of the submission
• Automated full round robin in simulation
– 300-500 teams may result in over 100,000 simulations!
– All teams will be able to see all matches
• Team ranking:
– A weighted combination of 2D and 3D performance
– Exact equation TBA at Kick-Off
• This is the first elimination round
– Only the top teams will continue to the semi-finals
– The top teams (number TBA) will form alliances...
The first elimination occurs after the 3D Round Robin
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HS Alliances
• Space station time is hard-limited
in crew availability
– About 2 hours to run competition
= approximately 10-15 matches
54 Semi-Finalist Teams
• Objective: maximize number of
teams represented in Finals
– Each alliance sends one “player”
to ISS, increasing number of
teams represented aboard ISS
– Requires teams to collaborate in
creating the final “player”
– Additional round of competition
to select Alliances for ISS
Tier 1
chooses
Tier 2
chooses
Tier 3
Alliance Selection
18 Alliances
• Plan to have a “draft day” to form
alliances
Allowed 27 teams to participate aboard ISS in 2011 Finals!
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HS Semi-Finals
• Teams compete as part of alliances
– Each alliance programs one “player” and submits the code only for that one
player
– New tasks to program for the alliance
• The ZR Website is undergoing major upgrades to improve collaboration
– New IDE (Integrated Development Environment = programming interface)
features allow multiple people to work on the same project
– Upgraded forums and chat tools for real-time interaction between students
• Automated full round robin competition in simulation
• Alliances will be ranked by performance only in 3D Semi-Finals
– Top alliances (~10, TBR) will be selected as ISS finalists...
The semi-finals are the final elimination round to select
the ISS Finalists - all finalists are Alliances
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ISS Finals
• Finalist teams have about 2 weeks to refine their code
• Final code submission deadline to allow MIT to test integrated code and
send code to ISS
– There will be an upper limit on the code size - alliances must program efficiently
• Game strategies collected from each team and sent to NASA
– For public release
– To the ISS astronauts
• Final broadcast live direct to MIT and re-cast by MIT online
– All teams (finalists and other) invited to MIT for finals (at cost of teams)
– Special rules for the ISS Finals published in game manual
• Champions determined in real-time based on ISS results
• Survey will be collected from all teams after the finals
ISS Finals occur live at MIT with many special guests...
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2011 ISS Finals
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ZR Growth
• 2009
–2 schools
–13 students
–No elimination
rounds
• 2010
•2011
–24 schools
– >200 students
–Two elimination
rounds
– 122 teams
– >1000 students
–Two elimination
rounds
• European
Pilot
–21 teams
–Two
elimination
rounds
From 2 to over 140 schools in 3 years!
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HS Student Outcomes
• Inspiration to pursue careers in STEM fields
– Indicators: subsequent robotics and science fair participation, selection of
STEM field for college degree program
• Practical, hands-on application of HS Math and Physics
– Example: 3-D rotation about an arbitrary vector
• Implementation of programming techniques that are usually taught at
collegiate level
– One Primary mentor indicates his team went well beyond his AP Computer
Science curriculum
– “Strategically developed dynamic code designed to handle varying situations
while remaining under a [strict] size limit.”
• Collaborative management techniques
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Contact Information
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MIT Investigators
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MIT Science Team
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Javier de Luis
Jim Francis
Jaime Ramirez
John Merk
Ira Heffan
Mike Lydon
Ambi del Villar
NASA ARC
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Katie Magrane, Director
Top Coder
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Jacob Katz (PhD)
Sreeja Nag (MS)
Sonny Thai (MS)
Swati Mohan (PhD, alum)
AFS
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[email protected]
http://ssl.mit.edu/spheres
MAP
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Prof. David W. Miller, PI
Alvar Saenz Otero, Lead Scientist
Bruce Yost, Program Manager
Andres Martinez, Project Manager
Steve Ormsby, Operations Lead
Acknowledgements
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NASA HQ & Education Office
Dr. Lorna Finman
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff
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[email protected]
http://zerorobotics.mit.edu
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