Spherical Robots Dance In Space
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 21 of January , 2010 at 3:55 am
The nice thing about robots in space is that there’s no gravity, so you don’t have to worry about things like weight and balance. The annoying thing about robots is space is that there’s no gravity, so orientation and control is a problem. MIT has had a set of robots called SPHERES (Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites) on board the International Space Station since May of 2006 to test out algorithms for autonomous navigation and docking maneuvers. Each sphere is about 8″ in diameter and has 18 sides. They gets around with 12 thrusters powered by compressed CO2, while ultrasonic and infrared sensors and a wireless link tell them where they are. SPHERES are able to maneuver precisely enough to dance around in a circle on the ISS; watch as a third robot enters the pattern:
The idea behind SPHERES is that a bunch of small satellites working together is much cheaper, much more efficient, and much more robust than one single large satellite. It’s swarm robotics, up in space.
[ NASA ] and [ MIT Spheres ] VIA [ Danger Room ]
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Comment by jimzello
Made Thursday, 21 of January , 2010 at 11:34 am
“with blast shield down, I can’t see a thing!”
cool stuff, I could imagine them being used as a repair team too.
Comment by baronsamdei
Made Tuesday, 26 of January , 2010 at 11:47 am
haha, right on jimzello! they do look a lot like that
