Robot Simulation Platform for Source Search and Mapping

To help NASA achieve there current and future space explorationnbsp;goals, Geisel Software and University of Nevada, Las Vegas are proposing a solution that will allow for collaborative mobility and manipulation in a heterogeneous robotic environment. This includes the ability for robots to handle problem solving on their own, as well as both high-level and direct control from humans, when desired. Our open system not only solves these problems, but it allows NASA to use their existing robots, future robots and those of other vendors in a fully collaborative environment. This system increases the efficiency of space exploration while decreasing the risk to human explorers. It also adds the resiliency and redundancy necessary for the harsh environments in space and other planetary bodies.Realistic, high-quality graphics simulation of the autonomous ground and aerial vehicles in space exploration is an essential tool due to difficulties in experimentation under extreme space environments. A well-designed robot simulator makes it possible to rapidly test algorithms and design autonomous vehicles based on more realistic scenarios. This is the first step in achieving a system that is collaborative, autonomous and seamlessly controllable by humans as necessary.This proposal is for a realistic simulator and algorithms for simulating with the capability of embedding physical data and a mechanism for solving the compute complexity issues inherent in swarming applications.