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]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: astronauts, droid, haptics, hmi, humanoid, iss, kirobo, r2, robonaut, robots, space, spacejustin, turing test
Companies: nasa
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
don't make me..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: don't make me..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]