| 14 April |
A Human Type Robot to Join the ISS Crew? |
Looks like NASA is hoping to launch a human-like robot into space later this year and have it become a permanent resident on the ISS. The robot is called Robonaut 2 or R2 and has been created as a joint venture between NASA and General Motors. The idea is that the robot could work either in space on on Earth alongside humans.
The robot R2 is three hundred pounds of electronics and has a head, torso, two arms and two hands. It’s been designed to look and work like a human and therefore will be able to use the same tools as the astronauts.
It’s planned that R2 will launch on space shuttle Discovery (STS-133 mission) which is scheduled for launch in September. As the space station is the perfect place to test human and robotic team construction, this is the ideal environment to observe how R2 functions in a weightless environment. Initially R2 will stay in the station’s Destiny laboratory, but it’s hoped that with future enhancements and modifications it will eventually be able to move more freely around the station. The prototype currently does not have the protection it needs to be able to work in the extreme temperatures outside the space station.
It’ll be interesting to see how this project progresses between now and the launch in September.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/robonaut.html
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
