This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jonas Dino
April 30, 2003
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-5612 or 650/604-9000
E-mail: jonas.dino{at}nasa.gov

RELEASE: 03-32AR

NASA CHALLENGES STUDENTS TO DESIGN ROBOTIC HELPERS

NASA is helping make robot design a reality for students with the
Robotic Helper Design Challenge and Web cast.

On May 1, 2003 at 11:00 a.m. PDT, NASA Quest at NASA Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, Calif., will bring students and NASA experts
together in a live Web cast to review student designs intended to
help astronauts living and working on the International Space
Station. Students will have the opportunity to talk to the engineers
working on a robotic helper for astronauts, the Personal Satellite
Assistant (PSA).

"Both formal and informal education programs are very important to
NASA. This design challenge will help supplement the formal education
students receive in the classroom in math, science and technology,"
said Donald James, NASA Ames' education director. "Engaging students
and inspiring the next generation of explorers is an important NASA
priority."

The Robotic Helper Design Challenge is a two-month educational
activity sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Flight and the Office of
Aerospace Technology's Engineering for Complex Systems program,
designed to engage students with real-life engineering and
technology. The students participating in the challenge joined the
NASA Quest crew in a virtual tour of the International Space Station
(ISS) and learned about microgravity through earlier Web casts. NASA
experts also have responded to students' questions about their design
plans.

"It is important to do educational outreach to reach the students
when they are young," said Keith Nicewarner, chief software architect
for PSA. "Students are always interested in the cool space and
robotics technology. Participating in the challenge is one exciting
way I can help to inspire students."

An estimated 2,500 K-12 students in 100 classrooms will participate
in the final design challenge Web cast. The students are from 26
states and seven countries including India, Singapore, South Africa
and the West Indies.

"This Web cast culminates an activity in which students tackled real
world design problems faced by engineers at NASA Ames," said Linda
Conrad of the NASA Quest program. "As students interact with NASA
experts, they begin to realize that they too could become engineers
or scientists."

The inspiration for the design challenge is NASA's prototype Personal
Satellite Assistant. The PSA is an astronaut-support device designed
to move and operate autonomously or by remote control in the
microgravity environment of the space shuttle, the International
Space Station or a future space vehicle. The small, spherical robot
can monitor the environment, help maintain vehicle life support
systems, help an astronaut perform and record tasks, provide a
virtual presence for people on the ground, and serve as a
communication device with spacecraft systems, ground control and
other astronauts.

NASA Quest connects K-12 classrooms with NASA people, research and
science via mission-based challenges and explorations supported by
NASA scientists in live, interactive Web casts, chats, forums and
online publishing of student work. Quest also provides a resource of
numerous NASA career role models via a searchable database of
biographies and field journals collected over the last eight years.

NASA's Office of Space Flight (OSF) manages the enabling activates
and programs to establish a permanent human presence in Earth orbit.
OSF activities include launch and orbital services and management of
the space shuttle and the International Space Station programs.

NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology's Engineering for Complex
Systems program was created to help NASA achieve ultra-high levels of
safety and mission success by fundamentally advancing NASA's system
life-cycle approach through the infusion of advanced information
technologies.

For more information about NASA Quest and the Robot Helper Design
Challenge, visit:
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/space/robotdesign/

For more information about NASA's Personal Satellite Assistant,
visit:
http://ic.arc.nasa.gov/projects/psa/

For more information about NASA's Office of Space Flight, visit:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/

For more information about NASA Office of Aerospace Technology's
Engineering for Complex Systems program, visit:
http://ecs.arc.nasa.gov/

-end-

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---