| | | Areas of Interest |
| · | robot hardware and software design and fabrication |
| · | mechanisms, sensors, and actuators |
| · | software tools and user-interfaces for science and engineering |
| · | applied geometry, geometric reasoning, geometric design systems |
| · | embedded and real-time systems software and hardware |
| · | high-performance Java application development |
| · | Linux, open source software development |
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| | | Education |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology · 1999-2001, 2003- |
| · | Currently Pursuing Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with Professor Daniela Rus, a 2002 MacArthur Fellow |
| · | Completed M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in June 2001 with Professor David Trumper: novel techniques in precision laser metrology |
| · | NSF Graduate Research Fellow 1999-2004 |
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| Dartmouth College · 1995-1999 |
| · | B.A. June 1999, Phi Beta Kappa, double major in Computer Science and Engineering |
| · | Honors Thesis research with Professor Daniela Rus: new self-reconfigurable robots |
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| Clinton Central High School · 1991-1995 |
| · | Graduated Valedictorian, National Merit Scholar |
|
| | | Experience |
| NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · 2001-2003 |
| · | Designed/implemented/documented/tested major portions of the Science Activity Planner, a ~200k line class-A mission-critical custom Java application for high-performance visualization of large 2D and 3D datasets and for rover activity planning and resource analysis, in use by the Mars Exploration Rover mission science team |
| · | received the 2004 NASA Software of the Year award, a Duke's Choice Award from Sun Microsystems, and was called 'coolest Java(TM) app ever' by James Gosling |
| · | Over 80,000 downloads of public outreach version Maestro |
| · | Major areas of responsibility included |
| | · high-performance interactive 3D visualization of large terrain datasets with Java3D |
| | · robot kinematics algorithms, linear algebra, and quaternion math for simulating rover science activities |
| | · design/implementation/documentation of custom Java infrastructure components: generic GC-aware object cache, thread pool, dependency propagation graph, XML binding components |
| | · extensive Swing GUI development |
| | · build system, Sun J2SE dev. environment, Linux system administration |
| · | Software engineer for CLARAty (Coupled Layer Architecture for Robotic Autonomy), a C++ infrastructure for multi-platform robot algorithm R&D |
| · | Built a 3D mechanism visualization component for the Mars Exploration Rover Instrument Deployment Device (robot arm) simulator |
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| MIT Precision Motion Control Lab · 1999-2001 |
| · | Developed several novel techniques in precision metrology |
| · | Constructed mechanisms with Pro/ENGINEER, manual & CNC mills, lathes, water-jet cutter |
| · | Developed software in C (DSP bootloader, Windows GUI, real-time metrology code) for TI C40 DSP-based VMEbus embedded system |
| · | Designed hardware and software for high-speed communications link between embedded C40 and dSPACE 1103 PowerPC-based control system prototyping board |
| · | Simulated sensor system algorithms in MATLAB |
| · | Implemented C-coded S-functions for MATLAB/Simulink |
| · | Constructed experiments using Agilent laser interferometers and Professional Instruments air bearing |
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| Dartmouth College Robot Lab · 1996-1999 |
| · | Used Pro/ENGINEER to design the mechanics of two Unit Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robots |
| · | Developed embedded electronics & software for robot control based on Atmel AT89C2051 µC |
| · | Constructed robots using Stratasys FDM1600 rapid prototyper and standard machine tools |
| · | Developed robot simulator in C on IRIX with embedded simulation language and OpenGL-based interactive 3-D display |
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| Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering Optics Laboratory · June-September 1997 |
| · | Built high speed GPIB interface circuit for Analog Devices ADSP-2100 DSP |
| · | Windows software for controlling experimental apparatus |
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| Dartmouth Medical School Interactive Media Laboratory · 1996-1997 |
| · | Implemented a multimedia doctor/patient educational simulation as an interactive web site |
| · | Created a Web-based bug report and tracking system with SQL database back end |
|
| | | Additional Projects |
| CNC · 2003- |
| · | CNC-converting a Sherline mini-mill using EMC and custom designed stepper motor drives |
| Furniture Construction · 2002- |
| · | Designed and constructed two large wooden lab benches and equipment hutch |
| · | Designed and constructed a compact all-aluminum computer desk with integral dual LCD monitors |
| · | Designed and constructed a novel aluminum floor-to-ceiling vertical multi-laptop compact workstation |
| Boogie Bass Hack · 2001 |
| · | Added a 20 second re-recordable message to Boogie Bass talking fish toy using Atmel AT89S8252 µC and ISD1420 voice record/playback chips |
| · | head/tail/mouth movements of the fish also re-recordable |
| · | significant media attention: Slashdotted, print article with photo in the New York Times, interviewed on NPR, over 100k website hits |
| Trig Widget: A Microcontroller Based Trigonometry Teaching Aid · 1998 |
| · | Worked in a group to design, implement, and test a prototype for a marketable product |
| · | Major responsibilities included microcontroller circuit design and control software implementation |
| PC-THERM: An ISA Bus Card for Processor Temperature Measurement · 1997 |
| · | Worked in a group to design and implement an ISA Bus card including LED bargraph display and processor fan control |
| · | Major contributions included ISA Bus interface logic design, microprogrammed state machine bargraph control, and Windows 95 user-interface software development |
|
| | | Theses |
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| | | Publications |
| · | Mars Exploration Rover Operations with the Science Activity Planner. (Jeffrey S. Norris, Mark W. Powell, Marsette A. Vona, Paul G. Backes, Justin V. Wick), In ICRA, 2005. |
| · | Scientific Visualization for the Mars Exploration Rovers. (Mark W. Powell, Jeffrey S. Norris, Marsette A. Vona, Paul G. Backes, Justin V. Wick), In ICRA, 2005. |
| · | Voronoi toolpaths for PCB mechanical etch: Simple and intuitive algorithms with the 3D GPU. (Marsette A. Vona, III, Daniela Rus), In ICRA, 2005. |
| · | Distributed Operations for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission with the Science Activity Planner. (Justin V. Wick, John L. Callas, Jeffrey S. Norris, Mark W. Powell, Marsette A. Vona, III), In Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace Conference , 2005. |
| · | Science Activity Planning for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. (P. Backes, J. Norris, M. Powell, M. Vona, R. Steinke, J. Wick ), In Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace Conference , 2003. |
| · | Visualization of Coregistered Imagery for Remote Surface Operations. (M. Powell, P. Backes, M. Vona, J. Norris), In Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace Conference , 2003. |
| · | Challenges in 3D Visualization for Mars Exploration Rover Mission Science Planning. (M. Vona, P. Backes, J. Norris, M. Powell), In Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace Conference , 2003. |
| · | Self-reconfiguring Robots. (D. Rus, Z. Butler, K. Kotay, M. Vona), In Communications of the ACM 45(3), 2002. |
| · | A Rotary-Linear Hybrid Machine Tool Axis. (M. Liebman, M. Vona, D. Trumper), In Proceedings of NSF Design, Manufacturing, and Industrial Innovation Research Conference , 2001. |
| · | Crystalline Robots: Self-reconfiguration with Compressible Unit Modules. (D. Rus, M. Vona), In Journal of Autonomous Robots, Vol. 10, Issue 1, January 2001. |
| · | Using Modular Self-reconfiguring Robots for Locomotion. (K. Kotay, D. Rus, M. Vona), In Proceedings of Experimental Robotics IV, 2000. |
| · | A Basis for Self-reconfiguring Robots using Crystal Modules. (D. Rus, M. Vona), In Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2000. |
| · | A Basis for Self-Repair Robots Using Self-Reconfiguring Crystal Modules. (R. Fitch, D. Rus, M. Vona), In Proceedings of Intelligent Autonomous Systems, 2000. |
| · | A Physical Implementation of the Self-reconfigurable Crystalline Robot. (D. Rus, M. Vona), In Proceedings of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2000. |
| · | Self-reconfiguration Planning with Compressible Unit Modules. (D. Rus, M. Vona), In ICRA, 1999. |
| · | The Self-reconfiguring Robotic Molecule. (K. Kotay, C. McGray, D. Rus, M. Vona), In ICRA, 1998. |
| · | The Self-reconfiguring Robotic Molecule: Design and Control Algorithms. (K. Kotay, C. McGray, D. Rus, M. Vona), In Proceedings of the Workshop on Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics, 1998. |
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| | | Recent Honors and Awards |
| · | NASA Board Award · 2005 · For development of the Visible Scalable Terrain (ViSTa) format for the MER mission |
| · | NASA Software of the Year · 2004 · For development of Science Activity Planner/Maestro software for the MER mission |
| · | Sun Microsystems Duke's Choice Award · 2004 · For Java implementation of Science Activity Planner/Maestro |
| · | NASA Space Act Board Award · 2004 · For Science Activity Planner ThreeDView Component |
| · | NASA Space Act Board Award · 2004 · For Science Activity Planner Downlink Component |
| · | Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Award · 1998-99 · For research in Self-Reconfigurable Robotics |
| · | Rufus Choate Scholar · 1997-98 · Awarded to top 5% of class |
| · | Francis L. Town Scientific Prize · 1997 · For achievement in Computer Science |
| · | Philip R. Jackson Award · 1998 · For the engineering project Trig Widget |
| · | Microsoft Outstanding Junior Award · 1997-98 · For achievement in Computer Science |
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