The project will be a collaborative effort between the MIT Man Vehicle Laboratory (MVL), the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School, the NASA Johnson Space Center Mechanical and Robotics Systems Group, and the NASA Astronaut Office. MIT will develop the simulations of robotics operations and implement the cognitive assessment tests. The BWH/Harvard team will create realistic schedules and environmental conditions to test the impact of countermeasures under these conditions. We will work closely with NASA trainers and astronauts to guide the direction of the research and recreate valid operational scenarios.

These results will also have widespread application on Earth. Approximately 18,000 Air Force pilots and flight crew are exposed to conflicting circadian signals and resulting fatigue from long flights. Tens of thousands of troops are subjected to rapid deployment world-wide and are often required to maintain alertness while suffering from jet lag. Additionally, nearly 180,000 troops are required to be vigilant for more than 24 hours at a time, and thousands of Navy and Coast Guard personnel work for extended periods under circadian misalignment. Over 200,000 commercial airline pilots, flight crews and air traffic controllers are also subjected to extended shifts and circadian misalignment. More than 230,000 ER doctors, staff and medical residents work extended shifts for 30 hours or more. Approximately 1.9 million public safety personnel (police, corrections officers, firefighters, etc.) work extended shifts and are exposed to emergencies which require vigilance for long periods. In total, more than 3 million Americans would directly benefit from the findings of this research. In addition, applications may be possible in standard occupational settings to improve general day-time alertness; in educational settings such as in training sessions and conferences, colleges, and schools where enhanced alertness would assist learning and memory; as a fatigue countermeasure for sleepy car and truck drivers in order to provide them with a short bursts of alertness that will allow them to find a safe place to stop driving and take a break. These wider applications have the potential to reach tens of millions of customers and indeed anyone who could benefit from improved alertness and performance.

Hardware and software development - Discussions with Williamson and Zakiya Tomlinson about detailed procedures for space teleoperation to be implemented in the simulation - We have developed preliminary versions of 2 of the 3 planned teleoperation tasks (i.e., grappling and payload assembly, track and capture). The third task (autosequence programming task) is under development. The framework for the simulation is based on software from earlier experiments, but additional capabilities such as object grappling and animated objects are being included. We are beginning the normative testing of these tasks in the lab. An undergraduate student is assisting with these tests. The simulation hardware (computer CPUs, monitors, joysticks, cart) has been assembled and delivered to BWH to begin safety check. We developed a custom made translational hand controller to use in conjunction with a commercial 3-axis joystick used as the rotational hand controller. These hand controllers provide the same functionality as the hand controllers used in flight. - The LED light panels have been delivered to the Sleep Lab at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Light stands to support the panels during the experiments are currently being designed. The hardware and software development is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of July, which is about 2 months behind the original schedule.

Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 2010 Mar;81(3):214. , Mar-2010

NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop, Abstract Book, February 2010. , Feb-2010

In this project, subjects will be trained to perform simulated robotics tasks under realistic astronaut schedules. Using a within-subjects design, our experiments will investigate how the proposed fatigue countermeasures affect both cognitive and task performance, thereby enabling their relationship to be understood. If this correlation can be established, we will provide more evidence that these assessment tools could be used as indicators of fitness-for-duty.

Specific Aims

1) Characterize the changes in cognitive function during robotic operations that affect performance;

2) Validate proxy cognitive assessment tests such as the Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) or Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) as predictors of performance changes in a complex operational task, and;

3) Test the efficacy of fatigue countermeasures (e.g., light, caffeine, modafinil) to improve cognition during robotic operations.

The project is a collaborative effort between the MIT Man Vehicle Laboratory the Division of Sleep Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital (BWH) and Harvard Medical School, the NASA Johnson Space Center Mechanical and Robotics Systems Group, and the NASA Astronaut Office. MIT will develop the simulations of robotics operations and implement the cognitive assessment tests. The BWH/Harvard team will create realistic schedules and environmental conditions to test the impact of countermeasures under these conditions. We will work closely with NASA trainers and astronauts to guide the direction of the research and recreate valid operational scenarios.