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we're here again in the space station

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flight control room all the activities

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going well and as we've mentioned the

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focus has been continuing to be on the

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htv operations which

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continued throughout the weekend

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actually resulting in the off day for

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the crew members but it was done in

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large part due to a lot of different

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teams here on the

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on the ground team

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joining us here is megan levins who is

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the one of the robotics officers but

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specifically the lead for robot thanks

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for joining us

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why don't you start by can you explain

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to us what robot is

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robot is our robotics onboard trainer

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it's what our astronauts use in order to

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prepare for

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big robotic missions like htv4

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so they use it as it's kind of a

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simulation of what they'll actually be

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doing on the real day so they can

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practice in advance and this is a tool

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that they use

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from when they're assigned for the

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mission as well as on orbit yes it's the

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same simulation they use on the ground

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so they spend all their time on the

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ground preparing

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for like the hdb4 or a spacex mission or

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an eba using this same software so when

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they get on board they can use what

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they're very used to and familiar to

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them and is of a high quality

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nature to prepare on board

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can you tell us a little bit about the

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training curriculum for robot and

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robotics in general how does that once a

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individual is selected as an astronaut

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is that part of their astronaut

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candidate training is there a more

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advanced

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skill or training that only occurs once

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they're assigned to a mission they do a

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general training before they're assigned

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to a mission

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that they get qualified to use the

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robotic manipulator that can arm too and

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then once they are assigned they use

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simulations like robot to prepare

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specifically for the mission that they

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have assigned so our crews that are on

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board now used the cement to prepare for

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h2v4

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once they got in orbit about two weeks

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out since it may have been a long time

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since they've been on the ground they

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used robot as well as the can arm two to

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prepare

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kind of refresh their skills remind them

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of what's really involved with htv4 so

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that they're very prepared when the time

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comes

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and some of our viewers may have heard

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about doug in the past which is also

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another term that's frequently used when

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robotics comes up can you explain to us

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the distinction between doug and robot

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dug and robot are similar

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doug is used more for situational

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awareness it's more of a graphic

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tool it shows the crew members the space

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station they can put the can arm to an

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eva crew member the htv in places where

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they expect it to be and see what that

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looks like robot is a little more in

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depth in that it actually simulates the

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entire robotics workstation so they have

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hand controllers to actually fly they

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can arm two around go in for the capture

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press that trigger to get the good

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capture

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and then

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do you know whatever other operations

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they may have coming up

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how much proficiency training does a

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crew member usually need to prepare for

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these types of dynamic activities that

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we just had

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well in cases like htv4 our nominal plan

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they do about three robot sessions

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and then two sessions with canadarm2

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where they actually go over and grapple

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or

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at least go over the pin of a real

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grapple fixture flying from the cupola

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workstation itself

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and how long is the session

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about an hour depending on the session

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we'll do anything from watching the hdb

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approach so they can refresh on their

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htv specific

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telemetry and then we'll go through and

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actually fly the robotic manipulator a

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couple times so they can get

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re-familiarize themselves with that

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operation as well

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anywhere from an hour to an hour and a

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half

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so robot recently underwent some

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upgrades can you talk to us a little bit

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about that yes

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as you can imagine something that's so

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graphic intensive like robot it does

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take a really long time for the

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simulation to even start which is

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basically a person standing there

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watching a computer boot which is

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not quite entertaining

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now what we start with ht4 is we can

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actually do that part of the operation

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from the ground so as soon as the crew

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member is ready to start their operation

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they can walk right up to the robot

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workstation and it's all set up and

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ready to go for them

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and

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i'm curious it seems like this might

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have been something that could have been

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designed all along but this was actually

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an upgrade done to specifically preserve

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some more crew time yes this is we're

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paving the way so they can do more signs

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better prepare for htv get the space

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station ready do you have any sense of

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how much time that saves like how much

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did that boot up take basically in the

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two weeks leading up to a free flyer it

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saved over an hour and a half of time

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which is a lot of crew time

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and so this was the first time that

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they've been able to use that yes

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then we'll be rolling this plan out for

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all of the free flyers so we'll get this

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crew time savings every time

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sounds like a very valuable

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upgrade you're also explaining to me

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that you're also an instructor wizard

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which is kind of unusual for flight

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controllers

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uh yes it's just i started my background

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started with instruction which is how

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i'm so familiar with robots since it is

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a crew training tool as well as a flight

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control tool so it helps kind of segue

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into that nicely

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and can you tell us a little bit about

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your background that led you to nasa and

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being a robotics instructor

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i got my degree in physics from the

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university of nevada reno and i've

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always loved the space program i always

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knew i would end up here and robotics is

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a very interesting field so it was an

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easy transition

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started off as an instructor training

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the crew members all the way back with

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increment 19

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all the way up till now and then start

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on the flight control side with

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actually executing ops from the

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mission control i would think having

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that instructor perspective would really

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help from being as being a flight

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controller as well especially

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interfacing with the crew or knowing how

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they were trained and being able to kind

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of relate to them for real-time ops it

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does really help when the crew is

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involved to have a better understanding

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or at least a really good understanding

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of how they're thinking and especially

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if you've trained this particular crew

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you're very familiar with their habits

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and what they like to do and how they

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operate each person is different so it

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helps and there's an instructor assigned

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to each crew is that how it works

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i i would imagine or it seems like i've

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even heard a little bit robotics is some

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of the more challenging training that

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astronauts go through it is and

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especially since it's not something you

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deal with every day

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it has to come up periodically it's very

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it can be intense can you tell us a

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little bit about what kind of skills are

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required or what are what are the

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challenging aspects of it

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it's a lot of hand-eye coordination

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basically you have two at the robotics

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workstation we have two hand controllers

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and you have to operate these two hand

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controllers simultaneously to control a

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very large robotic arm out in free space

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and make sure you're watching all your

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clearances and looking at all your

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camera views and out your window it's

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it takes a lot of brain power

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yeah and doing two hand controllers

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simultaneously sounds like that would be

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hard i know it would be challenging for

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me yes and especially with things like

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http 4 you really do need both of them

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gotcha well thank you so much megan for

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joining us and explaining to us some of

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the behind the scenes upgrades that are

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going on that have helped the crew and

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the ground control team be successful