DAVID L. AKIN (dakin@isr.umd.edu)

David L. Akin is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and of the Institute for Systems Research at the University of Maryland, where he is also the Director of the Space Systems Laboratory. He received the Bachelor of Science degree in 1974, the Master of Science in 1975, and the Doctor of Science degree in 1981, all from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His current research spans the range of space operations from purely manual activities such as extravehicular activity, through teleoperation and robotics, to space applications of artificial intelligence techniques. He was the Principal Investigator on the Experimental Assembly of Structures in EVA, a flight experiment on board Space Shuttle Mission 61-B. He has also headed the development of the Beam Assembly Teleoperator and the Multimode Proximity Operations Device, two full-function telerobot devices used in neutral buoyancy simulations of space operations. He is a member of the NASA Telerobotics Intercenter Working Group and the AIAA Automation and Robotics Technical Committee, and served on the NASA Advisory Council on the Role of Humans in Geostationary Orbit. He has written over forty papers on EVA, teleoperation, robotics, and space applications of artificial intelligence.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Akin's research interests include space telerobotics; zero-gravity human anthropometrics, kinematics, and dynamics; neural network applications for closed-loop adaptive control; and artificial intelligence for space station operations.

SELECTED RECENT PAPERS

1. D.L. Akin and R.M. Sanner, "Neuromorphic Pitch Attitude Regulation of an Underwater Telerobot," submitted for publication, IEEE Control Systems Magazine.

2. D.L. Akin, "Telerobotic Assembly of Space Structures: Experience from Neutral Buoyancy Simulations," submitted for publication, Journal of Aerospace Engineering.

3. D.L. Akin and C.R. Carignan, "Cooperative Control of Two Arms in the Transport of an Inertial Load in Zero Gravity," IEEE Journal of Robotics and Automation, 4, (4), August 1988.

4. D.L. Akin, "Extravehicular Assembly of Space Structures: Results of the EASE Flight Experiment," submitted for publication, Journal of Aerospace Engineering.