NASA's Robonaut Gets Its Legs; Could a Moonwalk Be In Its Future? 63
MarkWhittington writes "Project M was a proposal at NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center that would have put together a mission to deliver a bipedal robot to the lunar surface within a thousand days. The idea never got out of the conception stage, but two major components, a new type of lunar lander, now called Morpheus, and a robonaut continued on as separate projects. Morpheus is getting ready to conduct a second attempt at free flight tests at the Kennedy Space Center. The first attempt resulted in the destruction of the prototype vehicle. If the second round of tests is successful, NASA will have a spacecraft that could deliver 1,100 pounds of payload to the lunar surface. While a copy of Robonaut 2 is still undergoing tests on board the International Space Station, ABC News reports that a cousin of the mechanical person has been built with legs. It stands eight feet tall and weighs 500 pounds. With two major components of Project M nearing completion, could a robonaut become the next moon walker?"
"Moonwalk" is a bit of a misnomer... (Score:1)
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No, it has to be a robonaut so it can carry the Olympic torch.
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Dunno about the "Moon" part, but they are needed for the "Walk" part.
But two legs is purely an anthropomorphic choice.
If there is a reason to not use wheels (I haven't heard any), then surely 4 legs or maybe 6 make more sense than two.
The load carrying capability is greater, the ballance issue is easier to handle and fall recovery less of an issue.
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So wheels with controlled Hydraulic suspension, to lift the wheel up more.
The reason why we living things don't have wheels isn't because legs are so much better, but it will take extraordinary effort for evolution to make wheels. as normally it would mean the wheel will need to be cut off from the rest of the body. So either the wheel and the body will need to be two different life forms, needing their own food and energy. Or the wheels will need to be made from dead tissue, which would mean after they w
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That's not to say t
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Are legs really required for EVA?
"Giant steps are what you take. Walking on the moon.
I hope my legs don't break! Walking on, walking on the moon..."
Gigglesnort (Score:2, Offtopic)
but two major components, a new type of lunar lander, now called Morpheus, and
(puts on sunglasses) What if I told you... There is no money to go to the moon?
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While the technology is there, can the United States afford to send a mission to the moon when so many of its citizens are starving, unemployed and unable to afford health care?
The American Dream... now available in Diet.
Re:Obligatory Poverty Comment.... (Score:4, Interesting)
And before somebody says anything, no this is not a broken window fallacy. A BWF would be to say the money put into building the rockets is value added. This is a different argument.
Re:Obligatory Poverty Comment.... (Score:4, Insightful)
NASA's budget represents about 0.5% of the U.S. national budget. I think we can probably find _something_ to cut (say, maybe getting in a few less wars). Or maybe we could raise taxes on the 400 Americans who control more wealth than 150 million other Americans?
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Why not cut the $1.8 Trillion expected cost of the ACA since it appears to be a complete failure and based on nothing but lies.
This [usaca.org] is expected to cost $1.8 trillion?
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>Military has alread been drastically cut in the last year. Yes. And it's still more bloated and larger than the next 10 or so largest military budgets in the world. It needs cut further. Let's cut the f-35,
It should at least be reevaluated by an independent group. Many countries have already dumped several tons of money into it. If it can be completed for considerably less than has already been put into it, then it needs to be finished. If there's no chance in hell of that, then it does need to be cut.
the f-22,
Are you a fucking idiot? It's already been tested and used in theater. You don't cut something that's already in service unless it's obsolete, or has sub-par performance. You can argue for drones all you like, b
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It's amazing how people that want higher taxes pretty much universally want them for other people first, isn't it?
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That's because the middle class is already the most taxed, and the lower class doesn't have any money TO tax. Which leaves . . .
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Do you have any actual stats on starvation in the US? Because last time I checked that number was so low that it wasnt even tracked.
Dunno, comments like this just seem to be aimed at stirring up hysteria with no actual basis in fact.
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Do you have any actual stats on starvation in the US?
There are a few fluke people that starve to death every year because they are stranded in the wilderness, or locked in a room, or an elderly person that breaks a hip and can't get up or call for help. Anorexic women also occasionally starve themselves to death. But the number of Americans that starve because of economic conditions is zero. The poorest region in America is the Mississippi Delta [wikipedia.org], which has one of the highest obesity rates in the world.
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I don't think that you understand that obesity and hunger are not diametrically opposite concepts
I don't think you understand that hunger is not "starvation".
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http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/hunger-facts [nokidhungry.org]
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When you look at it that way, clearly Russia, China, Japan, India, France, the UK, etc can't afford a space program either. Guess we better shut them all down.
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The UK has a space hardware manufacturing industry. We make a lot of scientific and commercial sats. We just have no launch facilities, because physics says those need to be as close to equatorial as possible. We're too far north.
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Yes a nation can work on more then one initiative at a time.
Space Travel inspires people to be Engineers, Scientists, to take risks and look further. That means the kids have a reason to get more schooling and get a better education. Now this educated population will be better at surviving in a global economy, even if they don't get into aerospace.
We have programs available for people to get food if they need it and not starve. A lot of those who are starving do not take advantage of these programs, or do
Er, guys? (Score:3, Funny)
The first attempt resulted in the destruction of the prototype vehicle. If the second round of tests is successful,
It's times like these I wonder if the html BLINK tag was retired too early. Because that's a very, very big 'if', so big in fact that the atrocity that was BLINK might be justified. But not marquee, because screw you Microsoft. Sinner!
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That "if" is big enough to justify blink, marquee and strong tags. It's like if I tell you that I'm going to audition for a movie next week. Last time I practiced I accidentally set my hair on fire, but if I do well next week I'll be a big star.
Why bother with legs? (Score:2)
When the Martian rovers do so well on wheels? The wheel works, the leg is fiddly and invert-pendulumy. We have enough issues getting shit put into orbit and sent off to Mars/Moon/Alpha-Centauri, why are we dicking around with legs?
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When the Martian rovers do so well on wheels? The wheel works, the leg is fiddly and invert-pendulumy. We have enough issues getting shit put into orbit and sent off to Mars/Moon/Alpha-Centauri, why are we dicking around with legs?
Well, Neil Amstrong took only a small step.
Meanwhile, police alleged that giant steps is what you take walking on the moon; someone need to prove the allegation.
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You win an internet.
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Madonna was in The Bangles?
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Madonna only wishes she had sung that, Cindy Lauper did it much better :)
Is "robonaut" the best choice? (Score:1)
That is, if you're going to send a remotely guided robot to the moon, is a bipedal walker the best choice?
As opposed to a conventional wheeled or even a quadrupedal rover.
I assume a bipedal walker is going to need sophisticated stability control (computational and mechanical) for every step it takes over rough terrain that a simple wheeled vehicle can just roll over.
Re: Is "robonaut" the best choice? (Score:2)
Control: We seem to have a bit of a problem, sir.
HQ: Does it need a firmware update again?
Control: Not exactly, sir.
HQ: Well, then what? That's a multi billion dollar project you're talking about there, son. It's quite autonomous.
Control: Well. It fell over. Sir.
Gravity (Score:1)
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Don't know about this particular one, but I've seen fractional G modeled by putting the test subject under water or suspending the excess weight from wires. Both those options would mess with testing stability though.
Why not (Score:1)
Robodummy (Score:2)
What's it with the impersonation? A deeper insight into the the psyche of NASA.
Anyways; -- hands up! -- Anyone thinks that additional survey of the moon is
going to bring any significant discoveries?!
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Let's say that you were an alien geologist dropped onto Earth. You get a couple of weeks to explore, with almost no equipment more complex than a rock hammer, an area smaller than Central Park in New York and bring back a total of a couple hundred kilos of samples for analysis. That's what we managed with Apollo.
Hands up anyone who thinks that there's nothing more to discover?
Morpheus,also comes equipped with (Score:1)
First it's moonwalking robots (Score:2)
Then it's creepy robots molesting little boys.
Then it's creepy little-boy-molesting robots paying for someone to have "his" kids.
Then it's creepy little-boy-molesting robots who paid for someone to have "his" kids OD'ing on prescription drugs!
Just say NO man!
it's a girl! (Score:2)
Robonaut's legs are designed for walking around the space station in microgravity, so they would be useless in gravity
BUT, the same people working on robonaut are building a female humanoid robot for the DARPA robotics challenge, which could very well walk on the moon
There's already a book about this (Score:2)
Read Society Of The Mind [amazon.com] by Eric Harry, an awesome book about 8 foot tall robot astronauts and other AI themes.
Robonaut? (Score:1)
An astronaut moves through space.
An aquanaut moves through water.
So does a robonaut... move through robots?