NASA is exploring the potential for human robot design with Robonaut 2, a humanoid machine currently assisting astronauts on the International Space Station. The chief design goal for the robot -- a collaboration between the space agency and General Motors -- was manual dexterity, as it was built to perform simple, repetitive, or potentially dangerous tasks for astronauts.
To show progress the agency has made since it sent Robonaut 2 to the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in February 2011, NASA recently unveiled a video on its website of Robonaut 2 that features the robot shaking an astronaut’s hand on the space station much like a human would, as well as performing other manual tasks. (Watch a video of Robonaut 2 in action below.)
NASA has designed Robonaut 2 to perform a series of tasks with its hands much like humans would. The robot is currently helping astronauts aboard the International Space Station. (Source: NASA)
“That was an amazing moment,” Robonaut deputy project manager from NASA’s Johnson Space Center Nic Radford said of the handshake. Radford speaks on another NASA
video in an interview with NASA public affairs officer Dan Huot. Radford said Robonaut 2 was designed specifically to be put to work alongside astronauts, and in order to accomplish the tasks NASA has planned, it needed “to have very capable hands and very sensate hands.”
Robonaut 2’s ability to feel with its hands -- which have a grasping force of about five pounds per finger -- comes from touch sensors at the tips of its fingers. The robot is controlled by station crew members or through telepresence with controllers on the ground. However, it was also designed to act autonomously to perform tasks, with astronauts needing only to provide periodic status checks. It can move its arms up to 2 m/s, with about 12 degrees of freedom in its hands and two degrees of freedom in its wrist. It has a 40-pound payload capacity, and overall, includes more than 350 sensors and 38 PowerPC processors.
NASA has divided the robot’s experiments on the International Space Station into two stages -- free-space motions, such as waving its hands; and contact operations, such as flipping switches on machines and using objects in an intelligent way, according to Radford. He said Robonaut is unique in that it’s one of the first payloads on the space station than can actually impart forces on its environment. Safety was a major factor in its design, which includes a feature to shut down automatically if it comes into unexpected contact with an astronaut or equipment.
In fact, before the handshake between Robonaut 2 and astronaut Dan Burbank, another astronaut floated by and accidentally brushed the robot, Radford said. The robot immediately shut itself down and restarted as a safety measure. “We have a hair trigger safety system right now -- that is by design,” he said. In that particular situation, he said, “it reacted in the way it was supposed to.”
Beth, activities like space exploration stimulate the economy much more than the construction industry and local government as was done in the recent stimulus. It also stresses engineering and gets innovation into the "civilian" economy fairly quickly.
You are correct also that we are steadily moving forward (21st century) despite the economic issues. This is some cause for optimism.
This is very cool. A great first step. These can also be used in deep sea diving reseach. SInce 1960, we've been to the bottom of the Mariana Trench 4 times. We could move faster and even stay down longer if decommpression sickness isn't an issue.
I thought the GM co-branding, on the chest in Nascar-style, was interesting.
Considering how complex the human body is, the limited mobility it has is impressive.
2 degrees of freedom in the wrist, and about 12 degrees of freedom in the hand ? Is this supposed to be the equivalent of 'axes of movement' ? I guess the wrist can rotate and bend = 2 axes of motion. The 'about 12' in the hand may be the finger segmants. Is it about 12 because they aren't sure how many ? Or because the individual joints have some interferences in certain movements ?
Wow, between this development and Chuck's slide show on intelligent highways and cars, it's quite a wake-up call to the 21st or maybe even 22nd century!
I definitely applaud the idea of sending robots into space to perform the tasks that humans can't or shouldn't. I'm assuming a lot had to go into the design to enable the humanoid machine to function properly despite the laws of gravity. Too bad we're pulling back on space exploration research at a time when we have all this new technology to help uncover valuable insights.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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