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

1145718该项目支持宾夕法尼亚州匹兹堡卡内基梅隆大学的Howard Choset博士与埃及亚历山大市最高文物委员会(SCA)的Mohamed Abd El-Maguid博士开展的合作研究项目。该项目将建立双方的长期合作，使用机器人来检查考古名胜区域，这些区域对人们来说太危险了。特别令人感兴趣的地区是埃及的Mersa/Wadi Gawasis地区，那里有许多用于储存古代船只碎片的人造洞穴。这一地区现已引起埃及考古学家的极大兴趣。波士顿大学的Kathryn Bard博士和那不勒斯大学“L东方”的Rodolfo Fattovich博士一直活跃在这一领域，Abd El-Maguid博士与他们一起协助挖掘和确定历史意义。他是埃及水下考古专家。巴德和法托维奇博士已经确定了两个特定的洞穴，其中包含了人们非常感兴趣的文物，他们正在寻找另一个地点作为人工储存设施。所有这些区域对人们进入都不安全。PI开发了被称为蛇机器人的机器人，因为它们在杂乱的空间中发音并进行机动，与生物蛇的方式非常相似。智力优势：这项研究将与埃及科学家合作，探索使用蛇机器人来识别并可能从这些洞穴中取回物品。这笔赠款将支持一支探险队，用机器人检查洞穴入口处，以定位对埃及历史、埃及海军历史能力以及埃及与邦特市关系深具兴趣的文物。布罗德影响：少年派和他的埃及合作者认为，机器人在盖瓦西的使用只是个开始，这项工作将带来机器人考古学的新领域。在这个新的机器人领域，考古学家可以将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，这是人们进入此类地点时经常发生的情况。在探索这些区域时，机器人能够构建该地点的地图，然后其他人可以查看该地图。这张地图将提供该地点的三维视图，允许任何人，包括考古学家和非专业人员，远程和虚拟地访问具有重大国家利益的地点。这项拟议的工作还将有助于培养中学生的科学和工程兴趣的教育。特别是，PI将访问匹兹堡周围的学校，讨论机器人技术，利用考古学的应用作为主题。考古学和机器人技术在考古学中的应用很可能会促使各个年龄段的学生对历史、科学和工程产生兴趣。美国PI还将为本科生机器人学开发实验室模块，主题是在难以谈判的环境中寻找隐藏的文物。

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.