International
Space Station Flight Experiments E085/E507:
[ Downloads | Photo/Video | Vendor links ]
Experiment Description
The ISS VOILA investigation extends, simplifies, and merges two sensory motor and performance experiments originally developed for the 1998 STS-90 Neurolab mission. The two components retain separate numbers (E085/E507) on ISS, but are performed together. The experiments use the HRF Workstation 2 as a “science kiosk” to perform short (typically 30 minute long) tests to study the role of visual, vestibular, and haptic cues on spatial orientation and motor behavior. The experiment utilizes virtual environment generation accessories first developed for the Neurolab as a tool to study these processes during and after long duration (3-6 month) orbital flight. Restrained and free-floating subjects wear a wide field of view, color stereo head mounted display. Tests are based on 1-G paradigms, require little set-up time, and can be selected and performed by an astronaut in an automated fashion using Session Manager software. Three pre-flight, three in-flight, and three post-flight performances of each test are planned on each ISS increment.
Hypothesis
The general hypothesis is that mental processes involved in self-orientation, object perception and motor control will be fundamentally altered in microgravity environments, as evidenced by visual reorientation, inversion, and proprioceptive illusions frequently reported in-orbit by astronauts. Our experiments on self-orientation, linear vection, object perception and motor control will help us characterize the contribution of gravity to the mechanisms underlying these activities.
Objectives
To determine the
effects of microgravity on: (1) the influence of scene symmetry, rotation, haptic
cues, and expected orientation on static and dynamic self tilt (Virtual Tilting
and Tumbling Room Tests); (2) the onset of x-axis illusory linear self-motion
without haptic cues (Linear Vection Test); (3) the effect of perceived orientation
on visual object recognition and shape recognition (Object Recognition Tests);
(4) whether information used in grasping remembered objects is stored in head
fixed, body fixed, or exocentric reference frames (Virtual Grasping Test); and
(5) how the timing of catching movements depends on anticipation of downward
acceleration (Virtual Catching Test).
[ Original
proposal - PDF 163Kb ]
There are 2 papers describing the experimental protocol and hardware which were presented at the 2001 AIAA Conference on International Space Station Utilization, Cape Canaveral, FL. The first paper, by A. Liu et al., describes the E085 experiment and VOILA hardware. The second paper, by J. McIntyre, describes the E507 experiments.
Investigators
E085
E507
Complete VOILA contact list as of 6/04/04 (.pdf)
Downloads
[File sizes under 100K are not listed]
VOILA CDR Presentations
VOILA Experiment Documents
VOILA Hardware Documents
VOILA Software
HRF Rack2 Workstation documents (More current versions may be on the Rack2 Workstation page - see link below)
HRF Software Documents
Space Station Documents
Photos from the July 2001 Paris HW/SW TIM. Files are about 350-650Kb. The file names correspond with these topics:
Rack 1 photographs - taken in Bldg 9 mock-ups during the Jan 16 TIM @JSC (.jpg are 600-715Kb)
Subject Restraint System - taken in-flight on Neurolab STS-90 (.jpg - 201K or Powerpoint slide - 650K)
Subject Restraint System - Photos of prototype being built at MIT
HMD/SID photos - some NASA in-flight photos from Neurolab STS-90 (.jpg are 1.4 - 2 Mb!!)
Here are some mpegs of experiment stimuli (under consideration):
nVis nVisor SX (HMD) - the current HMD of choice for VOILA. This HMD has SXGA (1280x1024) resolution.
Bose QuietComfort2 headphones for stereo sound isolation. These are nice headphones for noisy environments but we don't get all the benefits since we must pass a monaural signal of ambient sound to the astronaut for safety reasons!
Intersense IS-300Pro (Tracker)
Charnwood Dynamics CODA mpx30 (Tracker)
HRF Rack2 Workstation page (The R2WS is undergoing an upgrade - newer docs are not yet online)
