{"id":29,"date":"2025-10-21T04:32:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/?page_id=29"},"modified":"2025-10-21T04:32:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T04:32:57","slug":"usc-summer-undergraduate-research-experience-sure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/?page_id=29","title":{"rendered":"USC Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-layout-grid wp-container-core-group-is-layout-58d222ce wp-block-group-is-layout-grid\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The RoboLAND lab investigates the feasibility of using robots to investigate planetary bodies by developing sensing-while-moving gait patterns at Martian and Lunar analogue sites<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Objective: Create visualization tool that displays interpolated regolith strength (ground stiffness) between the footsteps of Spirit, the lab\u2019s 12-DOF quadruped robot, as it traverses across Martian and Lunar analogue sites<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Key requirements\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Process GPS data and robot positional data to match up footsteps with regolith strength measurements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Find interpolation process that suits the needs of both the engineering team of RoboLAND and geoscientist collaborators at NASA and peer institutions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Display interpolated regolith strength map in an intuitive manner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Project management approach: Weekly meetings with post-doc mentor and PI of lab<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Challenges encountered\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Limited data \u2013 more indoor trials were conducted<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Difficult situation to correctly model due to kernel (initial parameters) specifications<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Model interpolated differently with GPS data vs positional data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Outcomes:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Successfully built visualization that was customizable with initial parameters based on Spirit\u2019s gait length.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Visualization ran in real-time at NASA Ames demonstration and interpolated well against the ground truth<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coauthor of <a href=\"https:\/\/ui.adsabs.harvard.edu\/abs\/2025LPICo3090.2615L\/abstract\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/ui.adsabs.harvard.edu\/abs\/2025LPICo3090.2615L\/abstract\">2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) abstract.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"584\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1-584x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-53\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1-584x1024.png 584w, https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1-171x300.png 171w, https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1-768x1347.png 768w, https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1-876x1536.png 876w, https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Untitled-1.png 1132w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-right is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-49613cd2 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary>Figure description<\/summary>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Liu, S. et al: &#8220;Online regolith strength mapping and exploration planning. (A) Experimental setup: A legged scouting<br>robot proprioceptively measures ground reaction forces and estimates regolith strength as it walks across the LHS-1<br>testbed at NASA Ames Research Center. (B) A custom-designed GUI for visualizing robot-measured terrain forces<br>and regolith penetration resistance as the scouting robot makes every step. (C) Prepared regolith strength pattern in the<br>testbed. Red regions were tamped sand with high strength; purple regions were raked sand with medium strength, and<br>blue region were sifted sand with low strength. (D) Robot-reconstructed regolith strength map. Black circles represent<br>sampled locations by robot walking. High transparency represents large uncertainty. Yellow curve represents an<br>illustrated example of planned scouting robot path based on current uncertainty. Green curve represents an illustrated<br>example of planned safe exploration path for the rover.&#8221; <\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-29","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/29\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ngcavallo.digitalscholarship.brown.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}