Ethan Nowery NIST Journal 4

Author: Ethan Nowery, Email nowery@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 06/28/2024

Pictured above is a maze course that I have spent this last week reconstructing from other test lanes that were here. The maze is now one continuous loop and gives a variety of obstacles for a robot to get over including (in order):

• Ramps positioned in different directions to make the terrain uneven and add a slip factor
• Loose gravel that is very slippery, a dead end that the robot will have to back out of, as well as 2 15-degree inclines, both facing opposite each other, to produce a step over
• A “search and rescue” room to perform some kind of task while traversing over an uneven terrain made of milk crates that a difficult for robots to step on.
• A hallway and room that have a large step over in the middle, as well as a dead end/ crawlspace that can be used for a search and rescue task under the stair's platform, or a way out if the ramp/stairs combo is too much to handle.
• A 45-degree incline set of stairs, an elevated platform, and an adjustable 30- to 45-degree ramp coming down with high friction astroturf surface.

This week, I have met several other interns during a social hour gathering that they are putting on for us on Thursday. One is named McCarthy and is studying Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder. He is actually from Maryland and lives not too far away.

Here at NIST, safety is engrained into us almost everyday. Yesterday, Thursday 06/27, was safety day. They prepared different activities for us to do all day. This included a fire extinguisher hands-on training, a seminar talk about safety in labs, and numerous emails about safety and how to make our labs more safe. This is obviously a practice we use at DASL at all times, but it was just interesting how much info and activities they had put together for us.

I feel as though this week I have finally settled into my schedule working a 9-5 Mon-Fri job. This means having the nights and weekends completely off from work. I have learned to leave work at work and have that separation. It is odd not being able to work on things whenever I want, which I feel can lead to lack in progress. But it is what it is.

Continuing on with terrain traversal for ground systems robots and as mentioned in the caption for the picture, we have created a maze-like course for SPOT to walk through. We are also changing another course that we have here at this facility to be a more rigorous environment for the continuing evolution of ground systems.