The Next Leap In Space Exploration

An anonymous reader writes "The crew of the space shuttle Endeavor recently returned to Earth as ambassadors, harbingers of a new era of space exploration. Scientists at NASA are saying that the recent assembly of the Dextre bot is the first step in a long-term space-based man/machine partnership. '"The work we're doing now -- the robotics we're doing -- is what we're going to need to do to build any work station or habitat structure on the moon or Mars," said Allard Beutel, a spokesman for NASA. "Yes, this is just the beginning." Further joint human-robot projects will "be a symbiotic relationship. It's part of a long-term effort for us to branch out into the solar system. We're going to need this type of hand-in-robotic-hand [effort] to make this happen. We're in the infancy of space exploration. We have to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any."'"

Re:Yup!

[lobotomir]

Launch windows for Hohmann transfer orbits occur at intervals of 780 days, and the one-way trip takes about 220 days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_exploration#Launch_windows [wikipedia.org]

Lightspeed Lag = No (direct) Remote Control

[StCredZero]

Remote Controlling machines on the Moon would be tough with the 1 second lag. I ran across an article about Japanese researchers experimenting with the simulated lag to an orbiting satellite, but I can't find it right this second. Latencies to Mars are going to be many minutes. To do "remote control" you'd need to be able to give high-level commands, like: "okay, you assemble that wall over there. You help him by fastening the screws. You over there, you pile dirt on the back and sides of the hab module..."

Re:Those words...

[geekoid]

Three rules:
One - If a human passenger dies, the AI is automatically shut off via a mechanism the AI doesn't control.

Two - Everyone carries a remote shut off

Three - It's survival must rely on the survival of the human occupants.

Of course, since it turns out HAL couldn't think outside it's programming and take an independant action, I would argue it wasn't an AI.

Robot or Cyborg?

[arjay-tea]

Aren't robots supposed to be autonomous? From what I understand, Dextre is a cybernetic manipulator. Why do people refuse to distinguish between robots and cyborgs?