K-10 robot

Key takeaways

K-10 robot belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect K-10 robot to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of K-10 robot from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

K10 are rovers used to explore planetary surfaces. Each third-generation K10 has four-wheel drive, all-wheel steering and a passive averaging suspension. This helps reduce the motion induced by travel over uneven ground. The K10 has mounting points on its front, back, and bottom that allows for antennas, sensors, and other scientific instruments to be attached. The K10 controller runs on a Linux laptop and communicates via 802.11g wireless, or a Tropos mesh wireless. 10 rovers are prototypical remote-controlled robots that are meant for planetary exploration and terrestrial surveillance. Lighter and more mobile than their Martian counterparts, they weigh about 175 pounds, have top speeds of about 5 miles per hour, but can carry and use up to 30 pounds of scientific instruments. They allow humans to stay out of the vacuum of space while surveying and exploring undiscovered planetary surfaces like Mars. For this reason alone, K10 rovers will be very valuable to the humans that will inhabit Mars eventually.

Mechanical Description Each third-generation K10 has four-wheel drive, all-wheel steering and a passive averaging suspension. This helps reduce the motion induced by travel over uneven ground. The K10 has mounting points on its front, back, and bottom that allows for antennas, sensors, and other scientific instruments to be attached. The K10 controller runs on a Linux laptop and communicates via 802.11g wireless, or a Tropos mesh wireless. These rovers are very different from the robotic exploration rovers now active on Mars, these robots were manufactured with robotic follow-up in mind. Robotic exploration and robotic follow-up are different in terms of mechanical constraints, as with robotic follow-up the robots are manufactured to complete human field work, while the robotic exploration rovers were built to explore a planetary surface, untouched by humans.

Scientific Instruments

Imagers Each K10 Rover has two science imagers: The panoramic imager, and a microscopic imager. Both imagers are used to provide contextual and targeted color imaging of sunlit locations. The panoramic imager, or Pan-Cam for short, is a consumer grade digital Canon PowerShot G9 camera. The microscopic imager (MI) is the same camera model as the Pan-Cam, although the MI is on a fixed mount pointed towards the ground.

3D Scanning Lidar The K10 has Optech's Intelligent Laser Ranging and Imaging System (ILRIS-3D) on its central mast, approximately 1 m off of the ground. The ILRIS-3D is mainly used for terrestrial survey, taking a 3D scan in about 20 minutes with the average accuracy at around 10 mm at 100 m range.

Ground Penetrating Radar The K10's ground penetrating radar (GPR) is the Mala X3M, a pulse repetition GPR that can map subsurfaces up to 4 m in depth.

XRF The Niton XL3T is an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer, used for the non-destructive chemical analysis of rocks, minerals, and sediments.

History The K10 was officially developed by the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. IRG used specially designed parts and off-the-shelf components when developing the K10. IRG was funded for this project by NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP), which develops and matures technologies to meet the demands of NASA's lunar exploration mission objectives. The K10 had two major test runs published. One of them was in 2010 in Haughton Crater, Canada (one of the most lunar-like surfaces on Earth), and the other run was where the K10 was created at the Ames Research Center. The 2010 research concluded that "Robotic follow up" is possible for future missions on the Moon or Mars by simulating a test mission, although remotely controlled from nearby. The 2013 experiment was a 100 minute real-time teleoperation of a K10 rover from the ISS, commandeered by astronaut Luca Parmitano. Considered a breakthrough in surface telerobotics, this experiment showed the true potential of executing a low-risk terrestrial survey mission from deep-space or in orbit. This test was the first time NASA's open-source Robot Application Programming Interface Delegate (RAPID) robot messaging system was used to control a robot from space. In addition to completing this, the test presents a potential future mission involving astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft traveling to the L2 Earth-Moon Lagrange point 65,000 km above the far side of the Moon. From such a location, astronauts could operate a robot remotely to perform surface science work, such as deploying a radio telescope.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with K-10 robot

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what K-10 robot claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to K-10 robot before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about K-10 robot ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of K-10 robot

In research: K-10 robot appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses K-10 robot in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: K-10 robot is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Planetary rovers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for K-10 robot outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study K-10 robot in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what K-10 robot means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain K-10 robot out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is K-10 robot in simple terms?

K10 are rovers used to explore planetary surfaces. Each third-generation K10 has four-wheel drive, all-wheel steering and a passive averaging suspension.

Why does K-10 robot matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study K-10 robot?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on K-10 robot.