NASA May Send Humanoid Robot To Moon In 1000 Days
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 2:45 am
With President Obama shifting the focus of the US space program away from the moon (which may or may not be a good idea), NASA is proposing to replace a human return to the moon with a humanoid robot explorer, that could be walking around the lunar surface in less than three years:
The humanoid will travel to the moon on a small lander fueled by green propellants, liquid methane and liquid oxygen. It will perform a precision, autonomous landing, avoiding any hazards or obstacles on the surface. Upon landing the robot will deploy and walk on the surface performing a multitude of tasks focused on demonstrating engineering tasks such as maintenance and construction; performing science of opportunity (i.e. using existing sensors on the robot or small science instruments); and simple student experiments.
The mission is about inspiration, streamlining agency practices and processes and using unconventional partnerships, and building a workforce and demonstrating technologies to enable the continuation of human exploration beyond low earth orbit.
Project M hasn’t been funded (or even approved at an agency level) yet, but a bunch of the associated technology has already been developed. The head and torso of the robot you’ll probably recognize as belonging to Robonaut, while the legs are currently undergoing testing:
No idea what that last thing in the video is, but there’s some cool rockets and stuff earlier on.
Anyway…
Project M, if it gets funded, could be a cheap way to get back to the moon with a platform capable of performing tasks like a human but without requiring the massive amounts of infrastructure that humans do. Plus, not having to worry about bringing the robot back makes everything way, way easier. It’s true that a robot on the moon doesn’t inspire people in quite the same way that human lunar exploration does (or did), but robotic explorers offer unique advantages, and provide plenty of inspiration on their own.
[ Project M ]
Comments (10)
Category: Space
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Comment by Zool
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 3:30 am
That’s an impressive walking robot, but ready in under 3 years?. That sounds a bit ambitious even for a virtual operated robot (i.e. not requiring its own intelligence). Maybe they think a nice round figure of 1000 days makes a good sales pitch number, to get peoples attention on the project?
Anyway good luck to them, I’m all for more robots in space. :)
Hold on Spirit!, help is on its way! :)
Comment by Zool
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 3:31 am
p.s. yes I know the Moon is a long way from Mars, but its a start ;)
Comment by XV-745
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 8:11 am
Why are they proposing to make it bipedal? Wouldn’t it make more sense to send a tetrapod, hexapod, or tracked robot? Asimo is one of the most stable bipedal robots out there and he/she still has trouble with simple stairs…
Comment by Joe Dunfee
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 10:05 am
I have long been in support for using robotics for space exploration. Much cheaper than sending humans. Plus, the extra money spent to develope these robotic platforms is more likely to have a benefit to us on Earth.
Walking is clearly NOT developed enough to be meaningful for exploration. Get it working on Earth before sending technology like this to another planet.
Perhaps adding Britney Spears face to the robot would be a good idea for this project and further the project’s purpose. Real science and exploration is clearly not a goal here.
Joe Dunfee
Comment by Myk Kaudze
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 2:28 pm
Why not use the Boston Dynamics BIGDOG Robot? Why use a HUMANOID robot? Seems like we could accomplish more with a stable balanced robot on all 4′s. Only a matter of time before we find out it fell down and isn’t able to get up.
Comment by Myk Kaudze
Made Wednesday, 19 of May , 2010 at 2:29 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww&feature=related
That thing would destroy the Nasa humanoid robot.
Comment by quantum_flux
Made Sunday, 10 of October , 2010 at 6:55 pm
It’s about engineering, not so much about the science. Still very cool! I’ll bet Japan would put bipedal robots on the Moon before we do if Project M doesn’t get adequate funding.
Comment by sandviç panel
Made Saturday, 2 of July , 2011 at 6:57 am
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Comment by granit
Made Monday, 4 of July , 2011 at 3:45 am
.) There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.
Comment by contract electronics manufacturing
Made Tuesday, 22 of November , 2011 at 12:23 pm
Kudos to that!
