Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada

Agenda

Upcoming
- Continue testing of the perception and navigation system
- Install panoramic camera

Status and Progress
- Weather improved today for brief periods allowing some testing of the
perception and navigation systems. High winds in early evening forced
an end to testing. Von Braun Planitia remains too muddy to begin
long-distance experiments.

- Installed panoramic camera to enable safeguarded teleoperation.
Panoramic images looked good with sufficient resolution and color depth
see the terrain around Hyperion. A problem remains with grabbing images
off the firewire bus. The device driver does not use direct memory
access and occasionally losses correct framing of the images and must be
restarted. Otherwise display of images is clear and the ability to
teleoperate is working.

- Tuned stereo perception system. Hyperion is able to perceive and map
the terrain and detect rocks too large to surmount. The navigation
system checked out and is working well.

- Analyzed power data. Hyperion is using twice the power to drive as
was measured in testing prior to the field experiment. Performance
improves somewhat as the motors are driven. The problem is likely
attributable to low temperatures (5C versus 25C).

- Continuing to analyze terrainability problems. Motor current limits
(high torque) faults are occurring with greater frequency. This is
likely also related to low operating temperatures. This is causing some
difficulty in surmounting obstacles in the terrain. We continue to
investigate the cause in software for the faults and will increase the
maximum motor torque which is currently set with considerable margin for
the motors and harmonic drivetrains.

Upcoming
- Continue analysis of low-temperature motor performance
- Install solar panels and measure performance
- Plan sun-synchronous routes in Von Braun Planitia
- Move Hyperion to Von Braun Planitia to continue testing and increase distance/duration

Weather
Early: Overcast. 6C. Winds 30kph with gusts to 50kph.
Late: Overcast. 4C. Rain. Winds 10-20kph.

Quote of the Day
"It's something about wearing a hat all the time that makes you a little crazy."