Author: Ethan Nowery, Email nowery@unlv.nevada.edu
Date Last Modified: 06/24/2024

Here is a video of one of the trials that we ran with SPOT. This is a 35-degree ramp, with both a high friction (seen in video, green turf) and low friction (not seen in video, plain OSB particle board) surface. We were testing different variables, such as the ramp degree (45, 35, 30), high vs low friction, SPOT's height setting (crouching, normal, tall walking), and SPOT's speed (slow, medium, fast), in order to chart and be able to understand the limitations of this ground system when it comes to traversing different terrain. (The settings that we used for this run are stated at the beginning of the video).

This week, I did not meet anyone new. Instead, I hung out with the same interns I have been. We went to D.C. and the Smithsonian and also a BBQ Food Festival.

Much like DASL, there are many different projects going on at the same time. Some are brought to the foreground while some have to be sidelined for the sake of deadlines or what is more important. What that means to me is that there is always something to be working on, and the same goes for DASL. There is always a project to do, research to study, or the lab itself to improve. So, in that regard I don't get a lot of down time when I'm back home. Here at NIST, I am physically restricted to work during business hours due to my access card being shut off outside of those hours. Working virtually is also literally impossible unless I take a work computer to my hotel (which is not a good idea and probably involves some form of thievery).

This week I have learned, or actually relearned, to enjoy life again. Not that this has anything to do with DASL, but more so Vegas in general I get stuck in the comfortability of just plugging away at life (work, school, lab, etc.) and forget to enjoy the little things.

My project for the summer will be to evaluate the SPOT quadruped ground robot's traversal throughout difficult and rigorous terrain. We have set up and adapted courses here at the Robot Test Facility in order to accommodate a ground robot and to give it difficult tasks to do. I am told that some applications of these courses will include the Capital Police Bomb Squad and some other organizations in D.C.