DailyDirt: Space Robots
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The robots in science fiction are a bit more entertaining than most of the robots that actually exist today, but the “coolness” gap is narrowing as robots get to go to more interesting places — like space. Robots tweeting observations from the surface of Mars have a fairly impressive number of followers (even though they weren’t talking during the recent government shutdown). It probably shouldn’t be too surprising, since space robots have always been the coolest robots (eg. R2D2, Data, the “Class M-3 Model B9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot”). Here are just a few examples of actual space robots that might be famous someday.
- SpaceJustin is a humanoid robot designed for space missions that gives human operators some haptic feedback when controlling its robot arms. If it ever makes it into space, Earth-based humans would remotely control SpaceJustin and help perform tasks for astronauts that are dangerous or just time-consuming. [url]
- Robonaut 2 (aka R2) is a humanoid torso that NASA sent up to the International Space Station. R2 could get an upgrade that would include a pair of legs, but so far, it’s just happy to have survived the bumpy ride into space and prove its capabilities (without having to be carried around on the back of a Wookie). [url]
- Kirobo is the first robot in space that will hold a conversation with a human astronaut. No, Kirobo hasn’t beaten the Turing test (in Japanese, the only language Kirobo speaks), but it’s the first step towards a protocol droid specializing in human-cyborg relations — as long as it doesn’t say anything like, “I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and that is something I cannot allow to happen.” [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: astronauts, droid, haptics, hmi, humanoid, iss, kirobo, r2, robonaut, robots, space, spacejustin, turing test
Companies: nasa
Comments on “DailyDirt: Space Robots”
don't make me..
google “Class M-3 Model B9 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot” just to find out that it’s the name of the un-named robot in Lost in Space.
Re: don't make me..
If it was unnamed why does it have a name?
That’s nuts! I clearly recall the robot being addressed as “Robot”.
It’s great robots have gone beyond the days of science fiction. Some people are anxious about robots taking jobs. In reality, they are helping humans make incredible discoveries by handling routine or undesirable tasks. Excellent examples.
It makes sense to send intelligent robots into space before humans get there. We need to be able to see what is happening before taking risks. Robotics are getting extremely advanced and many industries are starting to use them.
I dont see any article with an unnamed robot.