Simulation

Overview

The scientists and engineers working with Mars Exploration Rovers, or MERs, face many interesting problems. Since NASA scientists are very rare and very busy, we have created a simulation to investigate many of the problems faced by scientists on the MER mission.

The simulation is played by two people, one playing the role of the engineer and the other of the scientist. The simulation consists of two parts: a 15 minute planning phase and a 30 minute running phase. The goal is to collect points by driving a Personal Exploration Rover around a simulated Martian landscape collecting images of science targets.

 

Equipment

The players are given a Personal Exploration Rover, or PER, to control. A PER is a miniature battery operated rover designed to simulate the basic behaviors of a MER. It is capable of taking images with its "head" including panoramic images (360º panoramic photographs) similar to images taken by the MERs.

 

Environment Setup

The PER is placed in a separate room from the players so that the players cannot see it during the duration of the simulation. The PER is placed in a field of science targets that the players are supposed to command the rover to visit in order to collect points.

Targets

Each science target has a basic shape (triangle, circle, or x) on top and a number value on each of the four exposed vertical sides. Each target has exactly one of each number value: 1, 2, 4, and 8. The shapes on the top of the target represent different values used for scoring which only the scientist knows the value of, similarly to the way that only a NASA scientist would know the scientific value of certain martian rocks and soils.

Layout

There will be approximately 12 targets in a grid layout, with enough room between each target for the PER to navigate. The PER will initially be placed outside the field.

Targets will be placed randomly according to the shape they show. However, the orientation of the numeric values will be such that adjacent faces have the same multiplier value. This is similar to following a "path of science" where rocks that were similarly formed will be aligned next to each other similarly to how similar numbers are aligned here.

 

Players

The simulation has two players, one playing the role of a scientist and the other of an engineer. Each player is given slightly different goals in the simulation but must still work together to try and achieve the highest combined score.

The engineer will be the “driver” meaning (s)he will have control over the computer and have final say on which commands are sent to the rover. The scientist will have to communicate his/her goals through the engineer.

 

Simulation Information

  1. At the start of the session, players will be presented with an overhead map of the environment. Players will be able to resolve target locations and base shapes, but the vertical sides (the numbers) will not be visible. The initial position of the rover will also be made visible on this map.

    This is similar to how NASA scientists and engineers only learn the position of the rover based on a satellite image.

  2. After being presented with the overhead map, players will have a maximum of 15 minutes to plan how they will proceed with the rover during the running phase.

  3. When the 15 minutes are up (or when the players are done planning) the interactive rover control segment will begin. Players can “uplink” commands to the rover as often as they like. Every 2 minutes, the rover will “downlink” the data (images) that it has collected since the last downlink. Play will continue like this for 15 cycles (30 minutes).

    This is similar to the fact that NASA scientists and engineers typically only get to download data from the MER rovers once a day when planetary and satellite alignment is such that a data link can be made.

  4. At the end of the 30 minute play period, users will be scored based on how many points they were able to acquire. The player with the higher score will win the simulation (and receive monetary compensation). The combined score of the scientist and the engineer will be used for the team’s final score which will be compared with the scores from other teams to determine which team has won the competition (the members of the winning team will also receive monetary compensation).

 

Scoring

In order to score points, the players must command the rover to take images of various targets during the simulation. The image should show the shape at the top of the target as well as at least one numeric value located on the sides of the target. A score is given to each of the players for each image taken. Scoring is handled differently for the scientist and engineer.

Scientist

The scientist is given values for each of the three shapes that appear on the science targets (X, circle, and triangle). The number of points that the scientist is given for each target that is imaged is determined by the numeric value seen on the side of the target and the numeric value of the shape on the top of the target. The scientist will score (shape value) x (numeric value) for each target imaged.

Engineer

The engineer collects points based on the number of unique targets visited. The engineer collects 10 points per target visited regardless of the shape or numeric values on the target. It costs the engineer 3 points for each image acquired during the course of the mission. This is to simulate the fact that each picture a MER rover takes uses some of the rover's battery and it is the job of a NASA engineer to keep rover's battery level high enough that it can continue to function.

At the end of the simulation, half of the scientist's score will be added to the engineer's score, this is to encourage the engineer to help the scientist achieve his/her goals because NASA engineers still have the overall goal to gain scientific knowledge of Mars by trying to accomplish the scientists' goals.