Japanese Consortium Projects a Humanoid Robot On the Moon By 2015 151
JoshuaInNippon writes "A Japanese manufacturing cooperative named Astro-Technology SOHLA announced on April 27th that they are planning to create and send a two-legged humanoid robot to the moon, have it draw the Japanese flag on the surface, and hopefully then get it to return to the Earth, all by the year 2015. The group wants to inspire people, particularly in Japan, about space and generate confidence among SMEs to create low-cost space technology. While the idea may seem far-fetched to some, SOHLA had success in building a small low-cost satellite named Maido-1, which was launched into space aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket in early 2009. The group also commented that they want to have their future humanoid robot hitch a ride to the moon with a surveying rover that JAXA is building."
Asimo? (Score:3, Interesting)
Couldn't they just Send an Asimo and a Solar array to charge it's batteries, maybe a "suit" to keep the dust off it's joints?
What a Waste! (Score:4, Interesting)
Why not have the robot do something semi-constructive? Maybe set up a solar mirror capable of melting lunar rocks. Or set up a drill to see if there are more volatile elements deeper beneath the surface? Or at LEAST give it lots of equipment to play with, and turn it over to their brainiest kids to "experiment with", inspiring their next generation.
If they just want to demonstrate the capability to put a human on the moon and bring them home, have the robot load their return lander with moon rocks - at least that payload would have some value other than publicity, and the robot will have served a purpose.
Re:Why 2-legged? (Score:3, Interesting)
That's true, legs are complicated. However, they have distinct advantages over wheels on extremely rough terrain. Wheels easily get stuck and lose traction. Legs can easily cope with holes, small and large obstacles, etc. A rock in the way can cause a wheeled vehicle to get stuck, but a legged vehicle can step right over it.
Have you ever seen someone try to take a wheeled vehicle on one of the hiking trails in the Grand Canyon? Even if it weren't against the rules, not many people would be that stupid, because it would mean certain death. But thousands of hikers and mules go up and down the extremely steep and rocky trails every year with almost no problems. The 4-legged mules actually do a lot better than the 2-legged humans too, even if humans are sitting on top of them.
Re:Why 2-legged? (Score:3, Interesting)
There are advantages to being bipedal, hence why humans and birds are.
Like what?
The only "advantages" to being bipedal is that it frees up two limbs to do things other than walking. With humans, we use our front legs for grasping and carrying and manipulating things. With birds, they use their front legs to fly, which has distinct advantages over walking. Most birds only walk when they're resting, eating, or doing something else where they don't need to travel any significant distance. For primary locomotion, they use their wings, because it's a lot more efficient (and faster) than walking.
But, if we solve a few problems the relevant advantages would be weight (2 vs 4 legs)
If you don't have 4 legs, then you won't be able to do anything on the moon. Humans have 4 legs. We only walk on two of them, and call the other two "arms". They are smaller and lighter, but not that much lighter. Most quadrupedal mammals also have smaller, lighter front legs, which they happen to walk on. With them, just like with us, the rear legs are larger and heavier and provide most of the locomotive power.
efficiency (wheels are best, but humans are the most efficient long distance runners)
Wheels suck for rough terrain. Let's see a 4x4 truck or a mountain biker climb the Grand Canyon, or a mountainside for that matter.
Humans might be energy-efficient long-distance runners, but they're not very fast at it. That efficiency doesn't help too much when you're being chased by a bear or a lion. And I'm pretty sure birds are more efficient than humans at long-distance travel.
and the ability to step out of a hole.
Huh? I'm pretty sure just about any quadrupedal or 6-legged animal can do the same with ease. And with narrow holes (relative to their body size), they wouldn't fall in them to begin with, as their body is spread out more horizontally and if one pair of legs slips, the other pair (or two pairs) is still on the ground.
Re:Why 2-legged? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why 2-legged? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:And What Will It Do? (Score:3, Interesting)
Perhaps there are. However, perhaps you missed the implications of this plan.
Humanoid robot. Complex action. Manipulation.
To achieve the goal of "drawing a flag" it seems reasonable that the robot would a) have both sensors and manipulators, and probably b) be updateable, or even teleoperation/telefactor.
At that point, what it can do once it gets there is only really limited by what you send with it, or what you can assemble once you get there.