David Wettergreen (at right)

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Brief Biography

In Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon

I am an associate research professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. My research focuses on robotic exploration: underwater, on the surface, and in air and space, and in the necessary ingredients of perception, planning, learning and control for robot autonomy.

My work spans conceptual and algorithm design through to field experimentation and results in mobile robots that explore the difficult, dangerous, and usually dirty places on Earth, in the service of scientific and technical investigations. Much of this work is relevant to ongoing and future space activities.

I am currently leading projects in robotic exploration using robots to investigate the geology and biology of the Atacama Desert in Chile using the rover Zoe, and to sample micro-organisms living in the Antarctic ice sheet with Nomad.

I am contributing to Mars rover technology developments through research and experimentation in autonomous long-range rover navigation and rough-terrain surface navigation. I recently led research in sun-synchronous navigation, conducting field experiments well above the Arctic Circle on Devon Island in Canada. Our rover Hyperion executed 24-hour long traverses tracking the everpresent sun as it explored. I have coinvestigated inflatable rover technologies and autonomous airships, and conducted studies of planetary circumnavigation and of future exploration techologies in recent years.

Research and development of mobile robotic systems involves complex systems engineering and is aided by effective software engineering practice. In a useful parallel, I teach Real-Time Software and Systems Engineering. I have occassionally organized a reading group in Space and Robotics.

In Australia at the ANU

I was a research fellow at the Australian National University working at the Robotic Systems Laboratory. The university is located in Canberra, the capital of Australia.  I led research in underwater robotics and developed Kambara, an autonomous submersible robot, and to continue research on visual servoing of mobile robots.

In California at NASA

I was an NRC postdoctoral research associate at the NASA Ames Research Center working with the intelligent robotics group. In the intelligent robotics group, we developed technologies for robotic exploration, which involved building robots, control architectures, and interfaces: virtual, telepresent, or othersuch.

We collaborated with the Robotics Institute for the Nomad project. Nomad [Image] trekked across the Atacama Desert of Chile, where it traveled 220 kilometers and performed a number of science experiments.  

I also continued work on an architecture for autonomous exploration for the Marsokhod based on visually-guided navigation. We completed testing in the Painted Desert of Arizona but continue working on refinements.

In my spare time, I lead research in dexterous locomotion--exploring architectures, control methods, and mechanisms for stable legged locomotion in very rough terrain.

In Pennsylvania at Carnegie Mellon

I completed my doctorate in Robotics at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. There I began my affiliation with the Field Robotics Center. I also began my work on walking robots, developing planning anc control algorithms for the Ambler, a large six-legged walking robot. I helped establish the work in science rovers by instigating the Dante projects. Dante is a robot designed to explore volcanic craters and collect information about their physical properties and activity. Dante's expeditions have taken it (and me) to Mount Erebus, Antarctica and to Mount Spurr, Alaska (which has recently become active!).