WHAT:The seventh Luna Philosophie will have Vytas Sunspiral, of NASA Ames Research Center, at Yahoo Brickhouse in San Francisco. He will be discussing "Control Schemes for Complex Coordinated Human Motion."

Control Schemes for Complex Coordinated Human Motion

Vytas Sunspiral of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA Ames Research Center will be at the Yahoo Brickhouse for an evening of food, drink, and learning.

[Space is limited, so please RSVP as indicated at Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/403146/ ]

While we are seeing amazing strides in robotic mobility, the great potential benefit of robots will not be unlocked until they can reliably manipulate and physically interact with the natural environment. In order for robots to be safe and responsive in dynamic unstructured environments we must move beyond the current model of highly geared rigid mechanical structures. Biological systems, such as humans, offer a great source of inspiration for new ideas on the design and control of manipulation systems. The classical view of the human body, which focuses on the musculoskeletal system, is that the bones are structural load bearing members that articulate via the muscles; and this concept is reflected in the current design of most robots today. Drawing on concepts from diverse fields such as Robotic Manipulation, Human Anatomy, Machine Learning, Control Theory, Martial Arts, and Therapeutic Body Work, Vytas will outline a new approach to understanding the human body that focus on the system of connective tissue which creates a tensegrity structure within which our bones and muscles operate. Finally Vytas will describe preliminary ideas on how the brain and spine interact with each other to create a hybrid distributed/centralized control scheme that is computationally efficient, adaptive, and integrates input from a variety of sources such as the inner ear and eyes with the control of motion.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 from 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM
6:00-6:30 PM Socializing
6:30-7:00 PM Presentation by Vytas Sunspiral
7:00-7:30 PM Discussion
7:30-8:00 PM Socializing

WHERE: Yahoo Brickhouse, 500 3rd St, in San Francisco (http://upcoming.yahoo.com/venue/59350/)

WHO: All are welcome, from space professionals to those who are unsure what N-A-S-A stands for!

RSVP: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/403146/

CONTACT: Delia Santiago
(Delia.L.Santiago@nasa.gov) with any questions.

For more information on NASA CoLab, visit: http://colab.arc.nasa.gov

For more information on Luna Philosophie, visit: http://colab.arc.nasa.gov/luna