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Jeng Yen

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 198-235

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

8187269185

Website:

Click here

Member of:

347K - Robot Operations

Jeng Yen, PhD

Group Supervisor

Biography

Dr. Jeng Yen: A Leader in Mars Tele-Robotics and Telepresence at JPL

Dr. Jeng Yen, with a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and a minor in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa, has dedicated over 25 years to advancing tele-robotic operation and telepresence capabilities for NASA's Mars surface missions at JPL.

Since 2000, Dr. Yen has played a crucial role in numerous Mars missions, including the Mars Exploration Rover mission (2000-2010), Phoenix lander mission (2005-2008), Mars Science Laboratory mission (2008-2015), and the ongoing Mars 2020 mission (since 2015).

A cornerstone of his contributions is his leadership in the design and development of the Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP). This sophisticated human-in-the-loop user interface software has become the de facto tool for tele-operating NASA's rovers and landers on Mars. RSVP operates within the missions' Ground Data System, featuring a visual-based human interface deeply linked to a command text-based robot interface via a message-passing system. It leverages 3D visualization of the reconstructed Martian environment and NVIDIA stereo vision technology, enabling human operators to create and verify robot activities. The corresponding commands are then auto-generated and validated through flight-software-in-the-loop simulation. RSVP's seamless integration of human-in-the-loop tele-robotic operations stands as a prime example of telepresence's practical application in space exploration technology.

Dr. Yen's profound academic background has provided the robust foundation for his pivotal role in ensuring that teleoperation and telepresence tools consistently and effectively support the complex demands of Mars rover and lander missions.

Education

Ph. D in Applied Math. And Computational Sciences, minor in Mechanical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 1990.

M.S. in Mathematics, Iowa City, Iowa, 1987.

B.S. in Mathematics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, 1983.

Professional Experience

1997-98: Project Manager, Applied Mechanics Dept., United Defense, LP, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1996-98: Project Manager, Engineering Animation Inc., Ames, Iowa.

1994-97: Research Faculty, Army High Performance Computing Research Center, University of Minnesota at Twin City, Minnesota.

1993-96: Research Faculty, Automotive Research Center, University of Michigan.

1990-94: Sr. Software Engineer, Compute Aided Design Software, Inc., Coralville, Iowa.

1990-1994: Research Associate, Center for Computer Aided Design of Mechanical Systems, The University of Iowa.

Research Interests

Modeling and Simulation of Multibody Systems
Tele-robotics
Human-robot interaction

Telepresence

Supervised Autonomy

Robotic Operations

Awards

NASA Exceptional Public Achievement Medel (2023): Perseverence and Ingenuity Robotic Planning .

NASA Silver Group Achievement Award (2023): Robotic Planning Subsystem (RSP).

NASA Exceptional Public Service Medel (2019): Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP).

NASA Tech Brief Award (2007): Rover Slip Validation and Prediction.

NASA/JPL various Award (2004-2008): MER development and operations team awards.

NASA Space Act Award (2006): Phoenix GDS development team.

NASA Space Act Award (2003): Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP).

NASA Tech Brief Award (2003): Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP).

NASA Tech Brief Award (2003): ROAMS - Rover Analysis, Modeling and Simulation.

NASA Tech Brief Award (2001): A Configuration Kinematics Algorithm for Rover Traversal Over Non-smooth Terrain.

DOE CRADA Award (1993-94): “Automatic Differentiation Technology for Dynamic

Simulation of Mechanical Systems”, with Argonne National Laboratory, CRADA No.C9201001.

Visiting Fellowship (1992) at the German Aerospace and Aeronautics Research Establishment (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany

Flight Project and Research Task Involvement

Flight Projects
Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP)
Terrain Relative Navigation
Robot Operations
RSVP for InSight
RSVP for MSL
Phoenix Robotic Arm (RA)
MER Interfaces
Ground Control Software

Publications

2023
  1. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, Khaled Ali, Cristina Sorice, Won Kim, Steven Myint, Omair Khan, Philip Bailey, Hallie Abarca, Robert G. Deen, Jeng Yen, Justin N. Maki, Grace Lim, Nythi Udomkesmalee, and Jeffrey Umland, "Robotic Deployment and Installation of Payloads on Planetary Surface," Handbook of Space Resources, edited by Viorel Badescu, Kris Zacny, Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Springer, pp. 721 – 762, 28 April 2023.
2022
  1. J. Koch, G. Johnson, N. Wiltsie, F. Hartman, F. Alibay, J. Yen, "Helicopter and Rover Operations on Mars using the Robot Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP)," 2022 IEEE Aerospace Conference (AERO), Big Sky, MT, USA, pp. 1-9, 05 March 2022.
2020
  1. J. Yen, B. Cooper, F. Hartman, S. Maxwell, and J. Wright, "Sequence Rehearsal and Validation for Surface Operations of the Mars Exploration Rovers," Proc. SpaceOps 2004, Montreal, Canada, 2004, 17 September 2020.
  2. J. Yen, A. Jain, J. Balaram, "ROAMS: Rover Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation," Proceedings of the 5th international symposium on artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation in space, pp. 249-254, 17 September 2020.
2015
  1. Masahiro Ono, Thomas Fuchs, Amanda Steffy, Mark Maimone, Jeng Yen, "Risk-aware Planetary Rover Operation: Autonomous Terrain Classification and Path Planning," IEEE Aerospace conference proceedings, Big Sky, Montana, USA, 01 March 2015.
2012
  1. A. Trebi-Ollennu, K. S. Ali, A. L. Rankin, K. S. Tso, C. Assad, J. B. Matthews, R. G. Deen, D. A. Alexander, R. Toda, H. Manohara, M. Wolf, J. R. Wright, J. Yen, F. Hartman, R. G. Bonitz, and A. R. Sirota, "Lunar Surface Operation Testbed (LSOT)," Proceedings of IEEE Aerospace Conference, 01 March 2012.
2004
  1. J. Wright, B. Cooper, F. Hartman, S. Maxwell, J. Yen, J. Morrison, "Terrain Modeling for Immersive Visualization for the Mars Exploration Rovers," Proc. SpaceOps 2004, Montreal, Canada, 01 January 2004.
  2. S. Maxwell, B. Cooper, F. Hartman, J. Wright, J. Yen, "The Design and Architecture of Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program," Proc. SpaceOps 2004, Montreal, Canada, 01 January 2004.
  3. F. Hartman, B. Cooper, S. Maxwell, J. Wright, J. Yen, "Immersive Visualization for Navigation and Control of the Mars Exploration Rovers," Proc. SpaceOps 2004, Montreal, Canada, 01 January 2004.
  4. B. Cooper, F. Hartman, S. Maxwell, J. Wright, J. Yen, "Using RSVP for analyzing States and Previous Activities for the Mars Exploration Rovers," Proc. SpaceOps 2004, Montreal, Canada, 01 January 2004.
1999
  1. T. Estlin. S. Hayati, A. Jain, J. Yen, G. Rabideau, R. Castano, R. Petras, S. Peters, D. Decoste, E. Tunstel, S. Chien, E. Mjolsness, R. Steele, D. Mutz, A. Gray and T. Mann, "An Integrated Architecture for Cooperating Rovers," 5th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, pp. 255-262, 01 January 1999.
1998
  1. J. Yen, L. R. Petzold, "An Efficient Newton-Type Iteration for the Numerical Solution of Highly Oscillatory Constrained Multibody Dynamic Systems," SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput., Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 1513-1534, 01 September 1998.
  2. Yen, L. R. Petzold, S. Raha, "A Time Integration Algorithm for Flexibe Mechanism Dynamics: The DAE alpha-Method," Comput. Meth. in Appl. Mechanics and Engrgr., 158(1998), pp. 341-355, 01 January 1998.
1997
  1. L. Petzold, L. Jay, J. Yen, "Numerical Solution of Highly Oscillatory Ordinary Differential Equations," Acta Numerica, pp. 437-483, 01 January 1997.
1996
  1. J. Yen, L. R. Petzold, "Computational Challenges in the Solution of Nonlinear Oscillatory Multibody Dynamic Systems," Proceedings of the 1995 Biennial Conference on Numerical Analysis, Editors D. F. Griffiths and G. A. Watson. Pitman Research Notes in Mathematics, Vol. 344, Addison Wesley Longman Ltd, pp 134-142, 01 April 1996.
1995
  1. E.J. Haug, F. Adkins, C.C. Qiu, J. Yen, "Analysis of Barriers to Control of Manipulators Within Accessible Output Sets," ASME J. of Advances in Design Automation, ASME DE-82:1, pp. 697-704, 01 January 1995.
  2. E. Eich, C. Fuehrer, J. Yen, "On the Error Control for Multistep Methods Applied to ODEs with Invariants and DAEs in Multibody Dynamics," J. Mechanics of Structures and Machines, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 123-135, 01 January 1995.
1993
  1. J. Yen, C.C. Chou, "Automatic Generation and Numerical Integration of Differential-Algebraic Equations of Multibody Dynamics," Comput. Meth. in Appl. Mechanics and Engr., 104, pp. 317-331, 01 January 1993.
1992
  1. E.J. Haug, J. Yen, "Implicit Numerical Integration of Constrained Equations of Motion via Generalized Coordinate Partitioning," ASME J. of Mechanical Design, Vol. 114, pp. 296-304, 01 June 1992.
1991
  1. J. Yen, E.J. Haug, "Numerical Methods for Constrained Equations of Motion in Mechanical System Analysis," J. Mech. of Struct. and Mach., 19(1), pp. 41-76, 01 January 1991.
  2. J. Yen, F.A. Potra, "Implicit Numerical Integration for Euler-Lagrange Equations via Tangent Space Parametrization," J. Mech. of Struct. and Mach., 19(1), pp. 76-98, 01 January 1991.