Engineering Commons^™

NASA’s Johnson Space Center has recently begun efforts to eventually integrate air-independent Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) systems, with landers that can be propelled by LOX-CH4, for long duration missions. Using landers that utilize such propellants, provides the opportunity to use SOFCs as a power option, especially since they are able to process methane into a reactant through fuel reformation. Various lead-up activities, such as hardware testing and computational modelling, have been initiated to assist with this developmental effort.

One modeling approach, currently being explored to predict SOFC behavior, involves the usage of artificial neural networks (ANN). Since SOFC performance …

Robots are being integrated into everyday use, making the evaluation of trust in human-robot interactions (HRI) important to ensure their acceptance and correct usage (Lee & See, 2004; Parasuraman & Riley, 1997). Goetz, Kiesler, and Powers (2003) found that participants preferred robots with an anthropomorphic appearance appropriate for the social context of the task. This preference for robots with human-like appearance may be indicative of increased levels of trust and therefore, the present research evaluates the effects of anthropomorphism on trust.

Eighteen participants (Mage = 34.22, SDage = 10.55, n = 8 male, n =10 female) with …