George Lucas must be proud with the named ‘R2’ robonaut preparing for the International Space Station. As reported by CNET and Gizmodo, the helpful new tool has been developed over the last three years as a joint venture between NASA and General Motors. Not sure why they wouldn’t partner with Sony or another more advanced robot maker, but reportedly it can do all kinds of things, like carry tools and actually perform repairs.
Controlled via laptop at the NASA control center, this bot will be a permanent resident of the space station, and may be working alongside humans in the future. If you read the NASA website, it sounds very fancy:
Robonaut 2 (R2) is a state of the art highly dexterous anthropomorphic robot. Like its predecessor Robonaut 1 (R1), R2 is capable of handling a wide range of EVA tools and interfaces, but R2 is a significant advancement over its predecessor. R2 is capable of speeds more than four times faster than R1, is more compact, is more dexterous, and includes a deeper and wider range of sensing. Advanced technology spans the entire R2 system and includes: optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, series elastic joint technology, extended finger and thumb travel, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, redundant force sensing, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel, and high resolution camera and IR systems. The dexterity of R2 allows it to use the same tools that astronauts currently use and removes the need for specialized tools just for robots.
Going into space during mission STS-133, see videos of this cool bot online – then on your TV from space in the coming months.
Source: CNET via Gizmodo, NASA and Facebook (Photo Source: NASA)
