The 3D Visualization Project is within the Intelligent Robotics Group of the Autonomy and Robotics Area at NASA's Ames Research Center. Its mission is to develop and apply innovative technologies that improve the understanding of environments surrounding remote robotic platforms. The 3D Visualization Project is currently focused on providing tools and support for the Instrument Arm Placement task with the K9 Rover, the Mission Similation Facility (MSF) development team, and the science team members associated with the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover mission.

Viz 2.3.0 Delivered to MER Project

The second release of Viz for the MER Project has was completed on Monday, July 29, 2002. The distribution includes new functionality such as shadow casting and preliminary VISTA file format support, and will be used during the August FIDO field test at JPL. Read more about Viz 2.3.0.

Realtime K9 Telemetry Displayed by Viz

A demonstration of the K9 instrument arm placement system was conducted in July that utilized Viz for live telemetry visualization. The rover's control system was linked to Viz through a network socket connection (the Viz Client Library) and automatically loaded and controlled a simulated 3D environment generated from images acquired by the rover's cameras. A user at a Viz terminal could also enter target and waypoint information for commanding the rover's arm.

First Steps Completed Toward Integrating Viz into MSF

Work was completed this spring making Viz one of the first operational components of the Mission Simulation Facility (MSF). The MSF team successfully developed a shared-object Viz component that allows the software to communicate with their network-based HLA infrastructure. On going efforts will expand the interface, making more Viz functionality available to the MSF.

Mars Viking Lander Images Processed for 3D

The VR Class Library was adapted and expanded to process stereo images from the Mars Viking Landers (that operated on the surface of Mars in the late 1970's). Range and XYZ maps were successfully obtained from data acquired by both Viking Lander I and II, and presented at the 2002 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March. Read the LPSC abstract.