Zero Robotics Tournaments
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Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software and STEM Education using SPHERES Zero Robotics by Sreeja Nag B.S. Exploration Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 2009 M.S. Exploration Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 2009 Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Master of Science in Technology and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology June 2012 © 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved Signature of Author ____________________________________________________________________ Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Division May 11, 2012 Certified by __________________________________________________________________________ Jeffrey A. Hoffman Professor of Practice in Aeronautics and Astronautics Thesis Supervisor Certified by __________________________________________________________________________ Olivier L. de Weck Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Thesis Supervisor Accepted by __________________________________________________________________________ Eytan H. Modiano Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chair, Graduate Program Committee Accepted by __________________________________________________________________________ Joel P. Clark Professor of Materials Systems and Engineering Systems Acting Director, Technology and Policy Program 1 2 Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software and STEM Education using SPHERES Zero Robotics by Sreeja Nag Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division On May 11, 2012 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Master of Science in Technology and Policy ABSTRACT Crowdsourcing is being researched as a technique to develop small-scale spaceflight software by issuing open calls for solutions to large crowds of people with the incentive of prizes. There is widespread investment of resources in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education to improve STEM interests and skills. This thesis tackles the dual objectives of building crowdsourcing cluster flight software and educating students using collaborative gaming and competition, both in virtual simulation environments and on real hardware in space. The concept is demonstrated using the SPHERES Zero Robotics Program which is a robotics programming competition. The robots are nanosatellites called SPHERES – an experimental testbed to test navigation, formation flight and control algorithms - onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Zero Robotics allows students to access SPHERES through a web-based interface and the robust programs run on the hardware in microgravity, supervised by astronauts. The apparatus to investigate the influence of collaboration was developed by (1) building new web infrastructure and an Integrated Development Environment where intensive inter- participant collaboration is possible, (2) designing and programming a game to solve a relevant formation flight problem, collaborative in nature - and (3) structuring a tournament such that inter-team collaboration is mandated. The web infrastructure was built using crowdsourcing competitions too, to demonstrate feasibility of building software end-to-end through crowdsourcing. The multi-objective design of experiments had three types of collaborations as variables – within matches (to achieve game objectives), inter-team alliances and unstructured communication on online forums. The data used to evaluate objective achievement were simulation competition scores, website usage statistics, post- competition surveys and satellite telemetry from ISS hardware demonstrations. All types of collaboration showed positive influence on the quality of solutions achieved. Educationally, they showed mixed results and lessons on improving their process of implementation for more impact have been documented. Overall, this thesis ratifies the applicability of the developed framework for crowdsourcing spaceflight software and educating students and maps the utility of collaboration in this framework. A systems dynamics model for generalizing the framework into other programs for simultaneous crowdsourcing and education outreach has been proposed and management policy concerns highlighted. Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey A. Hoffman Title: Professor of Practice of Aeronautics and Astronautics Thesis Supervisor: Olivier L. de Weck Title: Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems 3 4 Everything I am and ever hope to be, I owe to my mother. 5 6 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank my MIT advisors, Prof. Olivier de Weck and Prof. Jeffrey Hoffman for consistent belief in my capabilities and for their guidance. I am particularly grateful to them for going out of their way on many occasions to provide unwavering support of my pursuit of unexpected opportunities and ever-evolving interests. Their dedication to their students is admirable and very deeply appreciated. I particularly acknowledge Jacob Katz and Alvar Saenz-Otero from the Zero Robotics (ZR) team, without whose leadership and creative, hard work, this program would have reached even close to the heights it is at today. Alvar and Prof. Dave Miller inducted me into the SSL and to the SPHERES ZR team and gave me an opportunity in the awesomeness called “space” - an experience I can never be grateful enough for. In the last two years, I have learned more from Jake on a day-to- day basis than I have from any other person at MIT, be it on technology, programming or the American professional culture. ZR would be incomplete without the consistent support of our collaborators. As student lead of the program for over a year, I identify with the program and my cohort has grown to identify the program with me. I would like to acknowledge Ira Heffan and Jason Crusan for helping with the program and indirectly my thesis. Last but not least, the data and conclusions mentioned here would be incomplete without the hundreds of students and mentors who have participated in, provided feedback and helped improve ZR. Very deep thanks to Alan Natapoff for helping with my statistical analysis. Social science research was a new field and books could teach me only so much in the short period, his input was timely and very helpful. A part of Chapter 3 in this thesis has been read through and improved by Dave Scott from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as part of a review board for my IEEE Aerospace 2012 paper, thank you. A special thanks to the Technology and Policy Program (TPP) family. It is one of the most international programs at MIT and an incredible opportunity to meet and absorb cultures from all over the world. TPP is not just about the classroom; but so much more through culture nights, iAmbassador lunches, leadership retreats, personal guidance from Ed, Sydney and Krista and the always-active OS mailing lists! When I first saw the program’s flyer the summer of 2007 and googled 7 it, I felt an instant connection. And the program has been everything I had imagined and more. My summer internship of 2010 was an especially rewarding experience, thanks to Leopold Summerer for supervising my first work experience in Europe and allowing a ton of travel along with. Generous funding for my work and study at MIT has come from the MITEI-Total Energy Fellowship, NASA Headquarters, DARPA InSPIRE and the MIT Gordon Leadership Program. Work can never be satisfying through content alone. Colleagues have played an integral part of my educational experience. Thank you, Daniel for support whenever I called for it, Zoe and Danielle who have helped me navigate the internship arena outside MIT very successfully, Sydney for being the last man standing with me when the sun sets on the SSL cluster, Farah for spearheading the Quals movement and introducing me to Aero/Astro-related social events, Alessandra for being my advice-offering sounding board, Gireeja for helping me formulate my ZR crowdsourcing ideas in the larger context of the field and many other SSLers and SERGers for making my association with the two groups a very memorable one. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends for being my rock through the turbulent sea of excitement and the directionless free-fall called Grad School. A special mention for Diviya for being my Cambridge family, for Nihit, Harshad, Siddharth, Shamel, Aditya, Arun, William, DC, Srinath, Abhijit, Deepak, Amrit, Sohail, Rachel, Grace, Sheekha, Sharmistha, Farrah and Sayamindu for being fun company as well as friends in need. My world would be incomplete without my parents, grandparents and Arish, I owe the contented solace behind my energy and passion to them. 8 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................ 7 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... 13 List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................................