Possible solution to light-delay problem

[Drunkrobot 10]

Hi, first post on this forum. Tell me if something like this has already been suggested.

We know that eventually, the devs will implement a realistic delay between sending orders to a probe and seeing the results, at least on the highest difficulty. The problem here is that, with current methods of controlling the craft, performing a task like "positioning the drill on the head on the rover arm on that rock" will take about one year. Moving the arm too little means waiting a quarter of an hour to see you mistake, and waiting another quarter to see if you got it right this time. Moving too much means waiting a quarter of an hour to watch your precious rover perform a drum solo on a Martian rock.

We would need a better system than this.

What if, instead of sending instructions one at a time, we devise a number of steps for the rover to take, then send, and watch the results.

Here's how it works. We have a computer terminal at mission control, we click into it, we see a list of current missions. Let's pick the rover. We see a simulation, a 3-D map of the rover and the immediate surroundings, including the rock we wish to penetrate. The rover is in PRESENT STATE, identical to the one the real rover is in right now. We take control of the rover, and we drive it up to the rock (Remember, this is a simulation, so there is no delay.). Once the rover is next the rock, we "save" it's new state, FUTURE STATE 1. Then, we move the arm, save it as FUTURE STATE 2. You get the idea, move the head, save, start the drill, save. We have just created a series of movements for the real rover to perform. The instructions are beamed at the speed of light to the red planet. We go off and wait for 15 minutes, check on other probes, play Gravon, do donuts in the Mars yard, whatever. Then we are alerted, the feedback from the rover is nearly here. We check up on the rover. We see the rover moving from PRESENT STATE to FUTURE STATE 1, on it's own. It doesn't need to do the same route we did in the simulation, it just needs to match the position and heading we saved in the sim. Then it moves the arm to FUTURE STATE 2, the head to FUTURE STATE 3, and it begins drilling. Hail Probe!

Why is this idea a good idea? Because we just turned a hit-and-miss, dangerous work of several hours into a super precise operation of 15 minutes. It's also realistic. These rovers are gosh-darn ROBOTS, not remote-control cars. They are capable of at least semi-autonomous behaviour.

Your feedback on this idea, and possible addition to it, are much appreciated. Again, sorry if it has already been suggested!

[NovaSilisko 10]

Didn't know they were planning on implementing light-delay, but the method you described just seems like the logical means to go about doing it and I expect it would eventually work like this.

[Drunkrobot 10]

You said it, so I'm saying it as well: KSP dev approved!

[tpw 2313]

Brilliant idea. Make a ticket on the tracker!

[Drunkrobot 10]

Thank you for the support, but I'm really new here. What's the tracker?

[Matt W 10]

So basically just how the real rovers are controlled from JPL?

[tpw 2313]

Thank you for the support, but I'm really new here. What's the tracker?

Take on Mars Feedback Tracker: http://mars.takeonthegame.com/feedback/my_view_page.php

The tracker is the official place to place bug reports and suggestions for the devs.

[entspeak 1]

It should be noted that rovers now have a rather advanced AI system so that they can make minor adjustments on their own without needing a command.

And, if the feedback tracker is where the devs want this stuff suggested... why is there a forum for suggestions?

[Drunkrobot 10]

The forum gives much better feedback to the suggester than the tracker does. Maybe this is the place where suggestions go through a sort of "initiation", other community members providing critique before the suggestion gets sent up the dev team. This would make it easier on the devs, with less suggestions for already confirmed features, for example.

Edited August 5, 2013 by Drunkrobot

[dram 14]

The remote operation of rovers with the OWLT (One Way Light Time delay) is not set in stone, but very much desired. We are definitely planning on adding controlling the rover just like NASA does - through a series of console commands:

FORWARD 50m

LEFT 20deg

FORWARD 10m

and so on...