US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Robotic Exploration of the Mersa/Wadi Gawasis

美埃合作研究：Mersa/Wadi Gawasis 的机器人探索

• 批准号: 1145718
• 负责人: Howard Choset
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Carnegie-Mellon University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-12-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1145718&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; Egypt; Cooperative; Research; Robotic

1145718 This project supports a cooperative research project by Dr. Howard Choset, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in collaboration with Dr. Mohamed Abd El-Maguid, Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA), Alexandria, Egypt. The project will establish a long-term collaboration between the two sides to use robots to inspect regions of archeological interest that are too dangerous for people to enter. The specific area of interest lies in the Mersa/Wadi Gawasis region of Egypt which contains many man-made caves that were used to store pieces of ancient ships. This region has now gained considerable interest by Egyptologists. Dr. Kathryn Bard of Boston University and Rodolfo Fattovich of the University of Naples "l'Orientale" have been active in this area, and Dr. Abd El-Maguid has joined with them to assist in excavations and in determining historical significance. He is an expert in underwater archeology in Egypt. Drs. Bard and Fattovich have identified two specific caves that contain artifacts of great interest and are looking at another location for a man-made storage facility. All of these areas are not safe for people to enter. The PI has developed robots, called snake robots, because they articulate and maneuver through cluttered spaces, much in the same ways biological snakes do. Intellectual merit: The research will explore the use snake robots to identify and perhaps retrieve items from these caves in collaboration with the Egyptian scientist. This grant would support an expedition to inspect the cave entrances with robots to locate artifacts of deep interest to the history of Egypt, its historical Naval capabilities, and its relationship with the city of Punt.Broader Impact: The PI and his Egyptian collaborator believe that the use of robots in the Gawasis is just the beginning, and that this work will lead to new area of robotics called Robotic Archeology. In this new field of robotics, archaeologists can use robots as tools to explore and investigate important archaeological sites without disturbing the surrounding areas, which often happens when people enter such locations. While exploring such regions, the robot is able to construct a map of the site, which in turn can be viewed by others. This map will provide a three-dimensional view of the location, allowing anyone, both archaeologist and non-specialist alike, to remotely and virtually visit a location of great national interest. The proposed work will also contribute to education aiming at engendering science and engineering interest in middle school students. In particular, the PI will visit schools around Pittsburgh and talk about robotics, drawing on the application of archeology for subject matter. It is quite likely that archeology and the application of robotics to it will compel students of all ages and raise interest in history, science and engineering. The US PI will also develop lab modules for the undergraduate robotics with the theme of looking for concealed artifacts in difficult-to-negotiate environments.

1145718 该项目支持宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡卡内基梅隆大学的霍华德·乔塞特博士与埃及亚历山大最高古文物理事会的Mohamed Abd El-Maguid博士合作开展的一个合作研究项目。 该项目将建立双方之间的长期合作，使用机器人来检查人类进入太危险的考古兴趣区域。特别感兴趣的地区位于埃及的Mersa/Wadi Gawasis地区，其中包含许多用于存储古代船只碎片的人造洞穴。这一地区现在已经引起了地质学家的极大兴趣。波士顿大学的Kathryn Bard博士和那不勒斯“l 'Orientale”大学的Rodolfo Fattovich博士一直在这一领域积极工作，Abd El-Maguid博士与他们一道协助挖掘和确定历史意义。他是埃及水下考古专家。巴德博士和法托维奇博士已经确定了两个特定的洞穴，其中包含了非常感兴趣的文物，并正在寻找另一个人造存储设施的位置。所有这些地区对人们来说都不安全。PI已经开发了机器人，称为蛇机器人，因为它们在杂乱的空间中表达和移动，与生物蛇的方式大致相同。智力优点：该研究将探索使用蛇机器人来识别并可能与埃及科学家合作从这些洞穴中取回物品。这项拨款将支持一个探险队，用机器人检查洞穴入口，以定位对埃及历史，其历史海军能力及其与庞特市的关系有深刻兴趣的文物。更广泛的影响：PI和他的埃及合作者认为，在Gawasis使用机器人只是一个开始，这项工作将导致机器人技术的新领域称为机器人考古学。在机器人这个新领域，考古学家可以使用机器人作为工具来探索和调查重要的考古遗址，而不会干扰周围地区，这在人们进入这些地点时经常发生。在探索这些地区时，机器人能够构建该地点的地图，其他人也可以查看该地图。这张地图将提供该地点的三维视图，允许任何人，无论是考古学家还是非专业人士，都可以远程、虚拟地访问具有重大国家利益的地点。拟议的工作也将有助于旨在培养中学生对科学和工程的兴趣的教育。特别是，PI将访问匹兹堡周围的学校，并谈论机器人技术，借鉴考古学的应用为主题。考古学和机器人技术的应用很可能会吸引所有年龄段的学生，并提高他们对历史、科学和工程的兴趣。美国PI还将为本科生机器人技术开发实验室模块，主题是在难以谈判的环境中寻找隐藏的文物。