IROS 2011

Tim and Chi are attending IROS 2011 in San Francisco:  http://www.iros2011.org/

Leaving the Nest

Yesterday both Andrew Lambert and Colin McManus gave their Departmental Masters Seminars, completing their requirements for their MASc degrees.  Also, Dr. Paul Furgale passed his Final Oral Examination for his PhD degree on September 7 with Prof. David Wettergreen (CMU) serving as the external examiner.  Congrats and thanks to all!

Another Field Season Comes to an End...

...well, not quite.  Most of our team made it out of Mistastin today and are relaxing in Goose Bay.  The crazy die-hard members stayed behind to help long-line the robot back to an airstrip by helicopter tomorrow (the winds were too high today) and will hopefully come out by Twin Otter tomorrow afternoon.  Job well done by everyone, especially given the bugs, cold, rain, and high winds over the last few weeks.  'Till the next time...

Pushing the Limits

Week 2 of testing has been going well so far. The rover has gone on 1-2 traverses per day to explore various sites of interest identified by the science backroom. Lots of gigapans, lidar scans, and core samples have been taken. The science team has really been pushing the limits of the rover’s capabilities in order to get an in-depth look at several intriguing locations near the original landing site, which has been very exciting to watch. Based on the data collected by the astronauts last week, the rover is continuing to build a geologic understanding of the rim of Mistastin Impact Structure.

Robotic Operations Continue at Mistastin

Today the second week of robotic operations began at Mistastin.  The astronaut team has left the ridge camp for a second location, leaving behind the rover team to do followup tasks for the next five days.  Today the rover traversed back to an outcrop on top of a ridge using its lidar vision sensor in order to conduct further scientific investigations.  Hopefully the backroom science team will command the robot to some new locations in the coming days.

"Mistastin" Means High Winds

The robotic operations in our first week at Mistastin impact crater concluded well.  Today we were supposed to move camp and exchange some personnel.  But, in classic Mistastin form, the winds are very strong and our helicopter isn't able to fly.  We're in waiting mode until the weather clears.  Update:  the winds got up to 104 km/h.  Most of the camp evacuated to some nearby cabins, but our rover team bunkered down in the rover tent to make sure all the equipment was safe.   It was quite a fun night in the end.