I was going to just do three posts today about beer fetching robots, but then I saw that NASA’s Project M website was updated with a heartfelt statement of the project’s driving philosophy from Matt Ondler, the manager of Project M. I read it, and decided to stay up late writing this article.

We’ve been following Project M fairly closely… In 1000 days, a small team envisioned putting a humanoid robot on the moon. From the beginning, however, Project M was never a sure thing as far as NASA was concerned, and it never received agency level approval or substantial dedicated funding. Despite this fact (or, perhaps, because of it), the Project M team was able to accomplish a great deal in a small amount of time with limited resources by cooperating with other groups while eschewing bureaucracy. As Matt says:

A thousand days drives our creativity, it fires our intolerance for obstacles and unnecessary process, and if accomplished it changes the conversation about what is possible.

It seems as though the future of Project M may be more in doubt than it appears to those of us who just admire the results, despite the obvious dedication and successes of the team. Here are a few more excerpts from Matt’s message, which speaks to the overall vision (and possible future) of the project:

We are a technological society falling behind in graduating engineers and scientists. We felt it was our responsibility to create a mission worthy of capturing the minds and imagination of the youth of the country. I have had the privilege of taking scores of visitors to see R2. The machine never fails to awe the most cynical, to put a smile on the most jaded, and to instill wonder in everyone that interacts with it. A humanoid robot walking on the moon will inspire students and demonstrate our technological prowess. We also thought quite frankly, President Obama might agree that it is a compelling and worthy mission for NASA to conduct.

We have nearly reached the end of our cobbled together funding and charge code allocations and I often get asked is the project still alive. I get asked by the team are we really going to do this, especially when nothing about the future seems clear. I know the technologies we are developing are valuable to NASA, I know the mission is compelling to the country. I know this kind of project is the right thing to do. But my honest answer is I don’t know. I don’t know if we will get the resources we need. I don’t know if we’ll be given the chance. But we will make the most of what we do have. We will continue to trade and barter and scrap for resources. We’ll argue for charge codes. We’ll find capacity wherever it might be. We won’t sit on our hands and lament the state of the Agency and wait for some revelation to appear. We will continue to push back the darkness until they chain the doors and take away our hacksaws. I think that is what the American people expect of all of us.

I would comment on some of the issues that Matt brings up here, but I don’t want to distract from his message. I will say, however, that this has entirely cemented my faith in the Project M team. This is the type of culture and progress NASA should be embracing: small groups of creative and dedicated people doing amazing things. Project M deserves NASA’s support, and ours.

I would very much encourage you to read the entire message at the link below.

[ Project M ]

We covered NASA’s Project M back in May, and despite the fact that it still seems to be unapproved and unfunded, we’ve now got a prototype lander to take Robonaut wherever he wants to go. Hmm… Maybe this is the way to get cool stuff done at NASA: don’t approve it, and take away all the money. Anyway, pretty much the entirety of what I know about this lander is contained in the YouTube caption: it’s a prototype, it runs on methane and liquid oxygen, and will launch a version of Robonaut on future exploratory missions.

After the jump, more rocket porn, including gratuitous video video of a LOX/methane engine test firing. Turn up your bass for one of the coolest sounds ever. (Read more…)

Not that it’s strictly necessary, but Justin, DLR’s android, appears to be good at more than just dancing like John Travolta. The plan is to shoot Justin into space, mounted on his own satellite to ride around on, which sounds pretty badass to me. He’ll be able to wander around up there, repairing and upgrading satellites. The eventual goal is to have Justin operate autonomously, but in the short term, he’ll be teleoperated from the ground… With binocular vision and force feedback arms, operating Justin will be just like being up there in space, except warmer and with less explosive decompression.

So, what’s the most exciting thing about this new plan for Justin? Simple: there is now potential for android combat in space. Robonaut is gonna be up there fixing stuff. Justin is gonna be up there fixing stuff. Maybe they’ll both find each other fixing the same satellite, and maybe Justin is hogging all the space wrenches and then Robonaut makes some crack about Justin’s noodle arms, and then BAM, they’re goin’ at it… ROBOT SPACE COMBAT. It’s the future, people!

[ DLR Space Robotics ] VIA [ IEEE ]

The Mars Odyssey orbiter has been listening for any signal from the Phoenix lander, which has been up in the Martian arctic since May of 2008. Phoenix was not expected to endure the Martian winter, although there was a slight chance that the robot would revive itself when it thawed out. However, some pictures from orbit appear to show some damage to at least one of the solar panels on Phoenix, making it fairly certain that the robot is not going to recover:

Two images of the Phoenix Mars lander taken from Martian orbit in 2008 and 2010. The 2008 lander image shows two relatively blue spots on either side corresponding to the spacecraft’s clean circular solar panels. In the 2010 image scientists see a dark shadow that could be the lander body and eastern solar panel, but no shadow from the western solar panel.

Apparent changes in the shadows cast by the lander are consistent with predictions of how Phoenix could be damaged by harsh winter conditions. It was anticipated that the weight of a carbon-dioxide ice buildup could bend or break the lander’s solar panels. Mellon calculated hundreds of pounds of ice probably coated the lander in mid-winter.

Phoenix highlight video, after the jump. (Read more…)

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 ]

Looks like someone at DARPA is a Star Trek fan. Unlike your average Star Trek fan, though, DARPA has at its disposal millions of dollars to try to make science fiction a reality, and those little SPHERES robots are about to get some pretty sweet upgrades.

First, DARPA wants the SPHERES robots to be able to work outside the comfortable environment of the ISS. They’ll have access to their own little airlock, and they’ll need to be able to wander around outside semi-autonomously and not get lost. To help them do that, the bots will be able to navigate based on their position and orientation relative to another object which may itself be moving.

Now, the cool stuff, which DARPA calls “Electromagnetic Formation Flight & Power Transfer:” the goal of this program is to demonstrate relative stationkeeping, maneuvering, and attitude control between two SPHERES using steerable electromagnetic dipoles at a distance on the order of decimeters to meters. So basically, by manipulating internal electromagnetic coils, the SPHERES robots will be able to attract and repel each other in specific directions, moving without the aid of their CO2 thrusters. Oh, and DARPA figures that while they’re doing that, they might as well be able to “demonstrate wireless power transfer through resonant inductive coupling.” I mean, sure, why not, sounds great! DARPA will give you a cool $1 million to make it happen, apply here.

Oh, I <3 you so, so much, DARPA... You and all your crazy schemes that sometimes actually happen in real life.

VIA [ The Register ]

Looks like Robonaut 2 is getting fast-tracked to the International Space Station to lend a robotic hand to the astronauts up there. It’s only a proof of concept type of thing, at first… Initially, Robonaut won’t even be able to move around. After some testing, though, the robot will be upgraded on-site with additional components that will allow it to move around both the inside and outside of the ISS, doing useful stuff (controlled by teleoperators back on Earth) so that the human astronauts don’t have to.

The dexterous humanoid robot not only looks like a human, it is designed to work like one. With human-like hands and arms, R2 is able to use the same tools that station crew members use. In the future, the greatest benefit of humanoid robots in space may be as an assistant or stand-in for astronauts during spacewalks or for tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans. For now R2 is still a prototype and does not have adequate protection needed to exist outside the space station in the extreme temperatures of space.

Testing the robot inside the station now will provide an important intermediate environment. R2 will be tested in zero gravity, as well as subjected to the station’s radiation and electromagnetic interference environments. The interior operations will provide performance data on how a robot may work side-by-side with astronauts. As development activities progress on the ground, station crews may be provided hardware and software to update R2 to allow it to do new tasks.

Incidentally, we now have the makings of a pretty sweet space robot wrestling match, if they put Robonaut 2 up against Dextre… Sorry, Robonaut, but my money is on the bot with the three meter long septuple jointed arms.

[ Robonaut ]

It’s been decades in the works, but an honest to goodness robotic space plane is about to make it to orbit. The X-37B is a demonstration vehicle designed for testing in space, and will be launched next month on top of an Atlas V rocket. It’s 27 feet long, 15 feet wide, weighs 5 tons, and that’s about all we know at this point. A bit confusingly, the X-37 was developed from the X-40, a smaller air-dropped gliding demonstrator that had its first flight back in 1998.

It’s worth noting that this is a US Air Force project, not a NASA project. In fact, the branch of the air force that is working on the X-37B is the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, whose mission is “to expedite development and fielding of select Department of Defense combat support and weapon systems by leveraging defense-wide technology development efforts and existing operational capabilities.” Understandably, this has prompted a few concerns. More, after the jump. (Read more…)

Poor Spirit. I do so wish there was something we could do. $16 from ThinkGeek, and zero percent of the proceeds go to the Bring Spirit Home fund. Incidentally, here’s the latest update on Spirit:

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is now parked for the winter. The rover team is commanding Spirit this week to make additional preparations for the Mars southern hemisphere winter season. The team does not plan further motion of the wheels until spring comes to Spirit’s location beside the western edge of a low plateau called Home Plate.

Spirit will spend the coming winter tilted 9 degrees toward the south, an unfavorable attitude for the solar panels to catch rays from the sun in the northern sky. Spirit’s parking positions for its previous three Martian winters tilted northward. Engineers anticipate that, due to the unfavorable tilt for this fourth winter, Spirit will be out of communication with Earth for several months.

Spirit may enter a low-power hibernation mode within a few weeks, shutting down almost all functions except keeping a master clock running and checking its power status periodically until it has enough power to reawaken. It may go in and out of this mode a few times at the beginning and at the end of an extended hibernation period.

I’m not going to buy this shirt for the simple reason that wearing it would keep me on the verge of tears all the time. Proud tears, but still, that would totally ruin the manly image that I am so used to projecting.

Poor little robot :’(

[ ThinkGeek ]

This badass looking android is Robonaut 2, a joint project of NASA and General Motors. Robonaut 2 is an evolution of Robonaut 1, who was spawned by NASA and DARPA and had an ATV for legs. R2 emulates the upper torso of a human, and is designed to work closely with humans using the same tools that humans use. GM, for its part, is interested in advanced industrial robots:

“For GM, this is about safer cars and safer plants,” said Alan Taub, GM’s vice president for global research and development. “When it comes to future vehicles, the advancements in controls, sensors and vision technology can be used to develop advanced vehicle safety systems. The partnership’s vision is to explore advanced robots working together in harmony with people, building better, higher quality vehicles in a safer, more competitive manufacturing environment.”

You have to wonder, though, whether creating a robot that looks and functions like a human is really the best way to do it. There already is a robot in space: Dextre. Dextre doesn’t look especially human, but he has two 3 meter long arms, each with seven offset joints, which is a couple more than we’ve got last time I counted. I understand that a robot that emulates a human in form and function will likely be more intuitive to control, but there may be some compromise when it comes to capabilities and options.

Now, I’m a huge fan of human spaceflight. I don’t think there’s any substitute for the inspiration afforded by having members of our species leave our planet. That being said, while I don’t know what the exact numbers are, I imagine that the cost and effort of sending a human into space is split something like 5% science, 95% making sure that they don’t die. This isn’t exactly the most efficient path to discovery. Of course, that 5% science may be 100% stuff that only humans can do in person, but I really do think that robots are the practical future of space exploration 95% of the time. I want humans to travel to Mars… Heck, I want to be one of them. But realistically, in the short term, I think our limited resources are better spent on intrepid robots like Spirit, Opportunity, and Cassini.

[ Robonaut 2 ] VIA [ Engadget ]