Logan Farrell
2018-08-02
I work in Building 9N in Robotics and Intelligence for Human Spacecraft, previously known as the “Robonaut Group.” We recently rebranded because we're working on a lot more than just Robonaut. Our focus is on autonomy and robotics for human spacecraft with a new focus on Gateway. We are also supporting the R2 unit as a payload to the International Space Station so that it can return to orbit sometime next year, fixed, happy and ready for technology development.
In the lab, I am the lead software developer for mobility and manipulation. Basically, I'm writing software for our dexterous robots to be more capable, and with less human intervention. For instance, when I say “Go get the bag,” instead of having to command him to each waypoint for all of the motions necessary, we've made advancements so that he can autonomously walk across the handrails, identify the bag, un-restrain it and pull it out—all by himself.
In high school, I did the FIRST Robotics program. At first I wanted to be an architect. Then, by my senior year, I wanted to build robots—and that became my ultimate goal. I went to the University of Illinois, where I did as much of the robot stuff as I could, but I never actually wanted to work at NASA. (In high school, when we would do physics problems with less than 1G, I always thought it was useless, because I was never going to need that.) Now, here I am, working in zero-G! In my free time, I now mentor a FIRST Robotics team here at JSC. It’s nice to inspire those kids the same way that my mentors, when I was in high school, inspired me.
In the lab, I am the lead software developer for mobility and manipulation. Basically, I'm writing software for our dexterous robots to be more capable, and with less human intervention. For instance, when I say “Go get the bag,” instead of having to command him to each waypoint for all of the motions necessary, we've made advancements so that he can autonomously walk across the handrails, identify the bag, un-restrain it and pull it out—all by himself.
In high school, I did the FIRST Robotics program. At first I wanted to be an architect. Then, by my senior year, I wanted to build robots—and that became my ultimate goal. I went to the University of Illinois, where I did as much of the robot stuff as I could, but I never actually wanted to work at NASA. (In high school, when we would do physics problems with less than 1G, I always thought it was useless, because I was never going to need that.) Now, here I am, working in zero-G! In my free time, I now mentor a FIRST Robotics team here at JSC. It’s nice to inspire those kids the same way that my mentors, when I was in high school, inspired me.