1 Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software and STEM Education using ...

236 Pages·2012·7.84 MB·English

Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software
and STEM Education using SPHERES Zero Robotics
by
Sreeja Nag
B.S. Exploration Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 2009
M.S. Exploration Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 2009

Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of

Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics
and
Master of Science in Technology and Policy

at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
June 2012
© 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved

Signature of Author ____________________________________________________________________
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems Division
May 11, 2012

Certified by __________________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey A. Hoffman
Professor of Practice in Aeronautics and Astronautics
Thesis Supervisor

Certified by __________________________________________________________________________
Olivier L. de Weck
Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems
Thesis Supervisor

Accepted by __________________________________________________________________________
Eytan H. Modiano
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Chair, Graduate Program Committee

Accepted by __________________________________________________________________________
Joel P. Clark
Professor of Materials Systems and Engineering Systems
Acting Director, Technology and Policy Program
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Collaborative Competition for Crowdsourcing Spaceflight Software
and STEM Education using SPHERES Zero Robotics

by

Sreeja Nag

Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division
On May 11, 2012 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of

Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics
and
Master of Science in Technology and Policy

ABSTRACT
Crowdsourcing is being researched as a technique to develop small-scale spaceflight software by issuing
open calls for solutions to large crowds of people with the incentive of prizes. There is widespread
investment of resources in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM)
education to improve STEM interests and skills. This thesis tackles the dual objectives of building
crowdsourcing cluster flight software and educating students using collaborative gaming and competition,
both in virtual simulation environments and on real hardware in space. The concept is demonstrated using
the SPHERES Zero Robotics Program which is a robotics programming competition. The robots are
nanosatellites called SPHERES – an experimental testbed to test navigation, formation flight and control
algorithms - onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Zero Robotics allows students to access
SPHERES through a web-based interface and the robust programs run on the hardware in microgravity,
supervised by astronauts. The apparatus to investigate the influence of collaboration was developed by (1)
building new web infrastructure and an Integrated Development Environment where intensive inter-
participant collaboration is possible, (2) designing and programming a game to solve a relevant formation
flight problem, collaborative in nature - and (3) structuring a tournament such that inter-team
collaboration is mandated. The web infrastructure was built using crowdsourcing competitions too, to
demonstrate feasibility of building software end-to-end through crowdsourcing. The multi-objective
design of experiments had three types of collaborations as variables – within matches (to achieve game
objectives), inter-team alliances and unstructured communication on online forums. The data used to
evaluate objective achievement were simulation competition scores, website usage statistics, post-
competition surveys and satellite telemetry from ISS hardware demonstrations. All types of collaboration
showed positive influence on the quality of solutions achieved. Educationally, they showed mixed results
and lessons on improving their process of implementation for more impact have been documented.
Overall, this thesis ratifies the applicability of the developed framework for crowdsourcing spaceflight
software and educating students and maps the utility of collaboration in this framework. A systems
dynamics model for generalizing the framework into other programs for simultaneous crowdsourcing and
education outreach has been proposed and management policy concerns highlighted.
Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey A. Hoffman
Title: Professor of Practice of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Thesis Supervisor: Olivier L. de Weck
Title: Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineering Systems
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Everything I am and ever hope to be, I owe to my mother.

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank my MIT advisors, Prof. Olivier de Weck and Prof.
Jeffrey Hoffman for consistent belief in my capabilities and for their guidance. I am particularly
grateful to them for going out of their way on many occasions to provide unwavering support of my
pursuit of unexpected opportunities and ever-evolving interests. Their dedication to their students is
admirable and very deeply appreciated.

I particularly acknowledge Jacob Katz and Alvar Saenz-Otero from the Zero Robotics (ZR) team,
without whose leadership and creative, hard work, this program would have reached even close to
the heights it is at today. Alvar and Prof. Dave Miller inducted me into the SSL and to the
SPHERES ZR team and gave me an opportunity in the awesomeness called “space” - an experience
I can never be grateful enough for. In the last two years, I have learned more from Jake on a day-to-
day basis than I have from any other person at MIT, be it on technology, programming or the
American professional culture. ZR would be incomplete without the consistent support of our
collaborators. As student lead of the program for over a year, I identify with the program and my
cohort has grown to identify the program with me. I would like to acknowledge Ira Heffan and
Jason Crusan for helping with the program and indirectly my thesis. Last but not least, the data and
conclusions mentioned here would be incomplete without the hundreds of students and mentors
who have participated in, provided feedback and helped improve ZR.

Very deep thanks to Alan Natapoff for helping with my statistical analysis. Social science research
was a new field and books could teach me only so much in the short period, his input was timely
and very helpful. A part of Chapter 3 in this thesis has been read through and improved by Dave
Scott from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as part of a review board for my IEEE Aerospace
2012 paper, thank you.

A special thanks to the Technology and Policy Program (TPP) family. It is one of the most
international programs at MIT and an incredible opportunity to meet and absorb cultures from all
over the world. TPP is not just about the classroom; but so much more through culture nights,
iAmbassador lunches, leadership retreats, personal guidance from Ed, Sydney and Krista and the
always-active OS mailing lists! When I first saw the program’s flyer the summer of 2007 and googled
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it, I felt an instant connection. And the program has been everything I had imagined and more. My
summer internship of 2010 was an especially rewarding experience, thanks to Leopold Summerer for
supervising my first work experience in Europe and allowing a ton of travel along with.

Generous funding for my work and study at MIT has come from the MITEI-Total Energy
Fellowship, NASA Headquarters, DARPA InSPIRE and the MIT Gordon Leadership Program.
Work can never be satisfying through content alone. Colleagues have played an integral part of my
educational experience. Thank you, Daniel for support whenever I called for it, Zoe and Danielle
who have helped me navigate the internship arena outside MIT very successfully, Sydney for being
the last man standing with me when the sun sets on the SSL cluster, Farah for spearheading the
Quals movement and introducing me to Aero/Astro-related social events, Alessandra for being my
advice-offering sounding board, Gireeja for helping me formulate my ZR crowdsourcing ideas in the
larger context of the field and many other SSLers and SERGers for making my association with the
two groups a very memorable one.

Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends for being my rock
through the turbulent sea of excitement and the directionless free-fall called Grad School. A special
mention for Diviya for being my Cambridge family, for Nihit, Harshad, Siddharth, Shamel, Aditya,
Arun, William, DC, Srinath, Abhijit, Deepak, Amrit, Sohail, Rachel, Grace, Sheekha, Sharmistha,
Farrah and Sayamindu for being fun company as well as friends in need. My world would be
incomplete without my parents, grandparents and Arish, I owe the contented solace behind my
energy and passion to them.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................ 7
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................... 13
List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................... 16
List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................. 17
Chapter 1 – Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 19
1.1. Research Framework ...................................................................................................................... 20
1.1.1. Research Questions ................................................................................................................ 20
1.1.2. Proof of Concept .................................................................................................................... 21
1.1.3. Research Methods ................................................................................................................... 21
1.1.4. Logic ......................................................................................................................................... 23
1.2. Document Overview ...................................................................................................................... 25
Chapter 2 – Background and Motivation .................................................................................................... 27
2.1. Crowdsourcing................................................................................................................................. 31
2.1.1. Historical Applications ........................................................................................................... 31
2.1.2. Recent Applications ................................................................................................................ 32
2.2. Formation Flight for Satellite Clusters ......................................................................................... 36
2.3. STEM Education ............................................................................................................................ 39
2.4. Collaborative Gaming and Competition ...................................................................................... 44
2.5. Gap Analysis and Research Motivation ....................................................................................... 46
Chapter 3 – Apparatus Development: SPHERES Zero Robotics Web Infrastructure ....................... 53
3.1. SPHERES .............................................................................................................................................. 54
3.2. History of Zero Robotics and Modification of the Program ......................................................... 57
3.3. A System Representation of Zero Robotics ..................................................................................... 58
3.4. Zero Robotics Web Infrastructure ..................................................................................................... 60
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3.4.1. Programming Interface ................................................................................................................. 61
3.4.2. Team and Project Management Tools ........................................................................................ 64
3.4.3. Tournament Management Tools ................................................................................................. 68
3.5. Crowdsourcing Methodology for Web Interface Development ................................................... 68
3.5.1. Evaluation Criteria ......................................................................................................................... 69
3.5.2. Incentive Structure ........................................................................................................................ 70
3.5.3. Benefits of Competition in Development .................................................................................. 70
3.5.4. Benefits of Collaborative Competition in Development ......................................................... 71
3.5.5. Development of Complex Software through Crowdsourcing Contests ............................... 73
3.5.6. Crowdsourcing Contest Results .................................................................................................. 77
3.5.6.1. Contest Participation ............................................................................................................. 81
3.5.6.2. Contest Prizes ......................................................................................................................... 83
3.5.6.3. Product Quality ...................................................................................................................... 89
3.6. Lessons from Apparatus Development as a Crowdsourcing Case Study .................................... 90
Chapter 4 - Tool and Metric Development: Zero Robotics Tournaments ............................................. 93
4.1. Components of the Zero Robotics Tournaments ........................................................................... 94
4.1.1. The Zero Robotics Game ............................................................................................................. 94
4.1.2. Generic Tournament Structure .................................................................................................... 98
4.1.2.1. Simulation Competitions ...................................................................................................... 98
4.1.2.2. Ground Competitions/Demonstrations ............................................................................ 98
4.1.2.3. ISS Competition .................................................................................................................. 100
4.2. Collaborative Gaming in Zero Robotics ........................................................................................ 101
4.2.1. Collaboration within Matches ................................................................................................... 101
4.2.2. Collaboration within Alliances .................................................................................................. 110
4.2.3. Collaboration on the Community Forums ............................................................................. 112
4.3. Design of Quasi-Experiments using the ZR Tournaments Tool ............................................... 113
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