Controls Update

July 28, 1998

Teleoperation

I am happy to report that we have seduced Gillian over to the Dark
Side.  She will be helping to design and program the user interface
for the teleoperation console and engineering console.  As a part of
the interface design, we have also begun to develop a proceedure for
vehicle checkout and activation.  First generation controls and
display mockups are currently under development.

Vehicle Control

While discussing vehicle control inputs, we came to the realization
that the there are some potential control inputs which would translate
into unacceptable vehicle behavior (e.g. inducing yaw while at full
forward walk).  We will discuss this with Franz to see what the best
approach to the problem is.

A new sensor/actuator schematic is under development and will be ready
by next week.

Linear Test Stand

During the course of selecting load cells for the linear test stand,
it was determined that emergency stops should be installed on the load
track, to prevent destruction of the load cell (and possibly the
actuator) should the load reach the piston stops while at full
velocity.  The load cell chosen is the Transducer Technologies WD-30K
30,000 lb universal load cell, with a 150% overload capacity.

