VALS Semester of Code is a program that offers students the chance to write code for open source projects.
The projects IMS is proposing relate to the development of the Command, Control and Communication (C3) System as part of the European MaRs Analog Station for Advanced Technologies Integration (ERAS) program, which IMS is currently spearheading.
ERAS’ main goal is to provide an effective test bed for fiaeld operation studies in preparation for human missions to Mars. We are currently finalizing the development of an immersive virtual reality simulation of the ERAS Station (See the corresponding Call for Volunteers).
This virtualization will be based on the Oculus Rift headset, on a omnidirectional treadmill and on Kinect for body tracking.
Virtual Reality based Telerobotics
We intend to extend the use of the developed virtual setup for the telerobotic operation of the Trevor rover, our robotic testing platform. Trevor has been recently equipped with Computer Vision capabilities (via a stereo camera) and will be soon equipped with robotic arms.
The main development will then focus on:
- Visualization of the video stream form the stereo camera into the Oculus Rift VR headset
- Control of the rover movements and of the robotic arms based on the body tracking
Expected results:
Run a successful field test were the Trevor rover is remotely controlled from a Virtual Reality station
Knowledge prerequisite:
Python. Knowledge of Robotics and Virtual Reality technologies will be of great advantage.
Skill level: High
Potential Mentors: Franco Carbognani, Yuval Brodsky
Addition of Gesture Control Gloves to V-ERAS Virtual Reality simulations
We intend to extend the V-ERAS capabilities with the addition of Gesture Control Gloves.
The main development will focus on:
- Selection of the most appropriate gloves available on the market providing the best cost/performances trade off
- Development of a dedicated Python Tango server for glove data publishing into Tango Software Bus
- V-ERAS virtual simulation are Morse / Blender Game Engine based. Some of the available Morse library components (such as the Human) will have to be modified/extended in order to support this additional interactive capability
Expected results:
Run a Virtual Reality scenario were the Gesture Control Gloves are effectively used for interacting with the surrounding environment.
Knowledge prerequisite:
Python. Knowledge of Robotics and Virtual Reality technologies will be of great advantage.
Skill level: High
Potential Mentors: Franco Carbognani, Yuval Brodsky
Links:
All the code developed so far is available on the ERAS software repository located at : https://bitbucket.org/italianmarssociety/eras.
The corresponding software documentation including our Software Engineering Practices Guidelines is available here: https://eras.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
If you want to get the feeling on how we have been working during the 2013/2014 GSoC and of the obtained results, take a look at our wiki page
