Date correction: 4pm - 5pm, Stata Center, Kiva/Patil 32-G449.
Refreshments at 3:45pm in 32-G449.
Hosted by Daniela Rus from MIT CSAIL.

What do driving robots have in common with Pac-Man? How can we explore space with a video game? Many video games are marvelous achievements in human-computer interaction that enable untrained players to use sophisticated controllers to take control of complex systems. This talk explores the surprising similarities between video games and mission control software and the inspiration that can be found in their juxtaposition.

Dr. Jeff Norris is the supervisor of the Planning Software Systems Group. His group develops operations systems for a variety of space missions including the Phoenix Mars Scout, Cassini Saturn Orbiter, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rovers -- for which his team was co-winner of the 2004 NASA Software of the Year Award. He is currently leading the development of the uplink system for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory Rover mission and operations software development within NASA's multi-center lunar Human Robotic Systems technology development project. Jeff founded the JPL OPS Lab, an advanced agile development facility for the design, development, and deployment of mission operations software and human-robot interaction technologies. Jeff helped operate the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers as a Tactical Activity Planner during the prime mission. He received Bachelor's and Masters degrees in Computer Science from MIT and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Southern California.

For more information please contact: Rebecca Yadegar, (617) 253-5817.