Released on: March 7, 2008, 10:19 am

Press Release Author: Dr BR Natarajan

Industry: Management

Press Release Summary: Kanna Rajan is presently Principal Researcher for Autonomy at
Monterey Bay aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), California USA. Prior to that
Kanna was a Senior Research Scientist and a member of the management team of the
Autonomous Systems and Robotics at NASA Ames Research Center.

Press Release Body: Kanna chose from his hectic schedule, March 5, 2008 to visit his
alma mater Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS Pilani) Rajasthan India
where he was a student during 1980-1985 and obtained his M.Sc. (Hons) Chemistry and
MSc (Tech) Computer Science under the unique dual degree flexibility which allows
meritorious motivated and committed science students to work for two degrees
simultaneously.

Going around the Institute he was impressed by the new Library building, Lecture
Theatre Complex, Students Activity Centre etc. He had extensive interactions with
the faculty and students at the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIS)
and appreciated the work done on Humanoid robot by the Fab 4 current BITSians Samay
Kohli, Arpit Mohan, Harsh Sinha and Prayag Mukherjee who will be participating in
the Robo Games the biggest Robot competition in the world at San Francisco later
this year.

In his lecture on Mars or Bust, Kanna talked about the Remote Agent Experiment (RAX)
which was co-winner of NASA's 1999 Software of the year and pointed out that a
successful innovator must possess Information Skills, Problem Solving Skills,
Decision Making Skills and Communication Skills apart from Ability for Time, Stress
and Project Management.

Kanna thanked the broad based integrated and interdisciplinary approach of education
at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani Rajasthan undoubtedly a
top ranking university in India yesterday and India today which gave him ample
opportunities from admissions to graduations for developing such skills and
acquiring such ability to ensure that winning in tough situations became his way of
life.

Kanna went on to describe the AI based MAPGEN (Mixed initiative Activity Planning
GENerator) the ground-based decision support system which enabled human-in-the-loop
oversight of plan development for Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission operations
involving the twin robot geologists Spirit and Opportunity which landed on the red
planet in January 2004 to probe the history of water.

MAPGEN received NASA\'s 2004 Turning Goals into Reality award under the
Administrators Award category, a NASA Space Act Award, a NASA Group Achievement
Award and a NASA Ames Honor Award. Kanna the principal investigator for MAPGEN got
the 2002 NASA Public Service Medal and also the First NASA Ames Information
Directorate Infusion Award. In Oct 2004, Kanna was awarded the NASA Exceptional
Service Medal for his role on MER at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) the lead US
center for robotic exploration of the solar system.

With his current research focus on unmanned Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV's),
Kanna has no doubts in stating that Autonomous robots that can \"think for
themselves\" will soon be exploring and monitoring the dark depths of the ocean as
well as the frontiers of outer space.

This proud to be a BITSian firmly believes that when you take up a mission with
passion, there are no dreams too large, no innovations unimaginable and no frontiers
beyond reach.



Web Site: http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in:12346/bitsaa.bits

Contact Details: Dr BR Natarajan
Vice President
BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA)
Pilani (Rajasthan) 333031 India
http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in:12346/bitsaa.bits
Phone: 91-1596-242210
Fax: 91-12596-244183
Email: brnt@bits-pilani.ac.in