IBM develops PC tablet for Mars Rover scientists

The first of a series of Mars Exploration Rover (MER) expeditions is set to

get underway in 2003. IBM announced its researchers are working with NASA to

develop a new tool to help NASA scientists analyze data received from the robots

as they roam around the Martian surface.

The IBM project to develop the so-called "MERboard" is a spin-off

of an IBM project called "BlueBoard." Developed at IBM's Almaden

Research Center in San Jose, BlueBoards are PC-based devices that allow

scientists and engineers to display, capture, annotate and share information via

large interactive displays. The board includes a PC with a web browser and

custom workspace application for data and file sharing.

"Given the enormous amount of training and specialization already

required for the participants in the rover missions, we needed an interactive

collaboration tool that the rover teams could easily use after only 10 minutes

of training," said Jay Trimble, a scientist at the NASA Ames Research

Center in California's Silicon Valley. "This work at IBM research on

collaboration via interactive displays provided us with the design inspiration

that led to our proposal for the MERboard as a mission enhancement."

MERBoards will let NASA scientists view data, share it on multiple displays

in different locations, sketch and make annotations, and distribute that data to

individual team members and groups. "The goal of our BlueBoard project is

to increase productivity by integrating simple and easy-to-grasp functions that

support fast encounters and spontaneous meetings," said Daniel Russell,

senior manager of the User Sciences and Experience Research group at IBM's

Almaden Research Center.

"This work with NASA Ames is supplementing our own user research and

providing us with valuable insight into user-centered design and the BlueBoard

project."