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Inchworming Probe for Planetary Exploration

Posted by michael on from the worms-drill-in-the-worms-drill-out dept.

An anonymous reader writes: "Honeybee Robotics, a firm in New York's Little Italy, has designed a probe that can inchworm deep into the Martian crust or Europan ice shell without a cable to the surface for power or data. Totally autonomous. It's based on a system the company designed to weld steampipes below Manhattan. It's also just really cool."

44 comments

  1. All About the Money by Erasei · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't think we will see many such missions (if any) until there is corporate money to be made. If there was some mineral or something of great value that can't be had on earth, then I think you would see space exploration really take off. Until then, it's just going to be done as NASA (and few select others) get the money to do research. If the corporate world would get behind something like this, then we really +would+ see cool things start to happen.

    --
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    1. Re:All About the Money by smaughster · · Score: 2, Funny

      penetration devices without cables.... Instead of waiting for the (conservative) corporate world, I think we can expect more really cool things from the pr0n industry.

      --
      I intend to live forever, so far so good.
    2. Re:All About the Money by Villain · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I couldn't agree more. There are some organizations that have been trying to put forward some commercial ideas to lure in company $$$, but they look like they could still use alot of help.

  2. mmm hot bit? by ash2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This sort of technology could be used to take 'pure' samples of things like the ice caps to check for life buried deep below.

    As in the past the deep ice cores were contaminated with lubricant which lead to several fake ET lifeforms.

  3. More info by elfkicker · · Score: 5, Informative

    More info from the company's website here. Includes images and related projects.

  4. Could be useful here by TrollMan+5000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This may be offtopic, but this type of technology could even be used for the type of searching in NYC disaster. Survivors could be pinpointed and rescue teams sent straight to pockets of victims.

    1. Re:Could be useful here by elfkicker · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As long as it doesn't dig right through them. That seems reasonable. Of course, I'm just talking shit.

      I had a pretty silly thought since some folks were using cell phones, couldn't they triangulate ACKs from digital phones by sending them messages are calls or whatever and find the concentrations of where people are? You could also call some numbers and get the ringing for a audible cue when the diggers are close.

      Don't know if actually possible, but it's worth a thought.

    2. Re:Could be useful here by ergo98 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      For sure they should be able to. In fact there was a lot of moaning and bitching that the wireless providers hadn't yet implemented their system triangulation yet (of course the government is largely pushing for it for anti-crime reasons, but they pretend it's for 911), though of course that's absurd as a) GPS portions obviously would not work under the rubble. GPS barely works under heavy tree coverage. In fact I'm curious how GPS could play a part for that. b) If triangulation can be done at the cell phone towers then it can therefore be done onsite.


      It is amazing how incredibly important cell phones (and the much more expensive plane phone versions) have been during this whole event. They were a crucial pipeline of information, and in the events over Pennsylvania they are how the victims learned that the terrorist had already plowed one or both planes into the WTC.

    3. Re:Could be useful here by CrazyBrett · · Score: 2, Informative

      If I understand how GPS works, it wouldn't be useful at all in this case. GPS satellites essientially broadcast a strong signal to the ground, and this signal is measured by receivers, which then calculate their position. There is no communication in the other direction. In other words, GPS is very good at telling you where you are, but not capable of telling others where you are.

      So even if GPS signals could penetrate the rubble, there would be no way to use that to locate people.

    4. Re:Could be useful here by dollargonzo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      yuo are correct in yuor presumption of how GPS works, plus, even if there was communication in the other direction, the non military GPS satellites are only accurate to +/-100 ft, which in the rubble, wouldnt do much good. On the subject of GPS, the government has been wanting to implement monitors in most GPS receivers such as navigation systems tp track yuor speed and other distance / time related information. People have been protesting this, because that would mean that whenever yuo went 80 miles an hour to pass someone, the navigation system would register and notify authorities of a speed violation. People dont want their privacy intruded upon, so GPS systems are (at least in the near future, while our constitution still holds) not going to have transmitters. Although it would seem that they would be useful in these specific cases, there are quite a few MORE people who dont want to get speeding tickets whenever they pass.

      --
      BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
    5. Re:Could be useful here by ergo98 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Agreed that GPS is of limited accuracy in this case, however the idea behind GPS in phones (which they are going to be doing in the near future as scary as that sounds) is that it relays your position over the cell control channels (i.e. if someone can make a phone call then it could be their position), so if someone was lost in the forest but could make a phone call they would know exactly where they were give or take 20 ft or so.

  5. don't let goatse.cx know about this... by cyb0rq_m0nk3y · · Score: 1, Funny
    I fear what unintended uses they might find for such a robot...

    --
    eat shit and die, Bambi!
  6. Cool! by GWPetePap · · Score: 1

    It would be amazing to see what it can find... we could possibly see new forms of life that we never knew existed. Just imagine what they can make in the future! O_O

  7. Bad puns by smaughster · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I am sure that there are some bad puns regarding penetration devices out there. Now if I could *just* insert those martians in there somewhere....

    --
    I intend to live forever, so far so good.
  8. unmanned drilling won't be easy by Villain · · Score: 4, Informative

    This article at spacedaily.com discusses options for cost effective remote unmanned drilling.

  9. Uh-oh by micromoog · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    ...has designed a probe that can inchworm deep into the Martian crust...

    I can't imagine the new possibilities for http://goatse.cx. No, I won't imagine it.

  10. Re: Dumb fuckwit's car by buzban · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wish my car would self-restore.

  11. Re: Dumb fuckwit's car by HeelBiter · · Score: 1

    Probably trying to provoke the intellectually challenged like yourself. Way to rise to the occasion...

    --
    ------------------------------
    ...harder than Chinese Algebra.
  12. The hype machine by The+Ultimate+Badass · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The worldwide robotics industry has one primary market: toys. All robotic efforts are being directed towards this market. There is no other use for autonomous robots in the modern world.

    Industrial robotics has failed due to costs of lawsuits and the success of deregulation and free trade at opening up cut price labour markets in the third world. Industrial robots are a thing of the past.

    Autonomous robots are far to complex and fragile to be used for taks like space exploration. As someone who has programmed robots, I can assure you that the level of effort required to get a robot to move consistently in a straight line, let alone navigate areound obstacles through sensory input is prohibitive. Expecting a robot to work autonomously on a distant planet is absurd.

    I am certain this story is mere marketing hype. In order to develop a market of "early adopters" for robot technology, an impression must be created that robots are futuristic high tech, and hence a desirable commodity to gadget freaks. This article was written to seed the market with subtle propaganda.

    Expect to see this for sale at upscale electronic stores within two years. It's not the next voyager, it's the next aibo.

    --

    Denial isn't just a river in Italy

    1. Re:The hype machine by addaon · · Score: 1

      I know I'm feeding a troll, but heck, I don't have any mod points, and somehow this guy has been modded up...

      As someone who has programmed robots, I can assure you that the level of effort required to get a robot to move consistently in a straight line, let alone navigate areound obstacles through sensory input is prohibitive.

      There are few things I love more than the mentality "I can't do it, therefore it can't be done." Someone please mod this fella down now?

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
    2. Re:The hype machine by The+Ultimate+Badass · · Score: 1

      I didn't say I can't do it. I have done it. That's why i can say it's fucken hard.

      There's nothing I hate worse than the mentality of inexperienced teenagers who think they know it all.

      --

      Denial isn't just a river in Italy

    3. Re:The hype machine by DGolden · · Score: 1

      Feeding a troll, but anyway. I REALLY have programmed robots (CNC machining stations, to be precise) to move in quite complex paths. It's piss easy, like programming a turtle (for those of you who remember primary-school computing in the 1980s), only the robot holds a rapidly rotating cutting tool instead of a pencil. Likle I said, easy. You program the robot once, and it does it 100s of times, thus turning out metal doohickeys for whatever reason you wanted them for.

      YOU are talking out of your arse.

      --
      Choice of masters is not freedom.
    4. Re:The hype machine by The+Ultimate+Badass · · Score: 1

      What exactly is autonomous about a machining station? Can't you read? We're talking about mobile robots here. Does your machining station navaigate in an uncontrolled environment?

      A million imperfections in sensing and movement prevent easy programming of autonomous robots. If you want to guarantee straight line movement, you need either a strictly controlled environment, with lots of navigation aids for the robot, or you need to use stochastic mapping and kalman filters. None of that is easy.

      --

      Denial isn't just a river in Italy

    5. Re:The hype machine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just to refute this troll... I study computer science at Harvey Mudd College. We have a reasonably weak robotics program in general, but a comparitively strong robotic vision program (2 profs with that as their main research area). The first semester students have in the past created robots that can navigate hallways in search of fires to put out, followed moving targets, autonomously mapped out their environments, and done many other impressive things. Robots have had tracks, wheels, legs, etc. The senior research/clinic projects have included parts used in the Mars Pathfinder mission. The first-year robotics courses all rely solely on sensory input, and yes, all of them could move in straight lines. Also, all of this was done on a shoestring budget.

      If it's not prohibitive for groups of 3 through 4 undergraduate computer science students, why should it be prohibitive for a group of 30 engineers with graduate/postgrad/postdoc experience under their belts, as well as experienced mechanical engineers, software engineers, mathematicians, astrophysicists, and geologists on the team?

      Also, I don't see how a drill would be sold in toy shops. It seems that would be slighty too dangerous for even the 40-something target market of the aibo.

    6. Re:The hype machine by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      I built a model rocket once. It was pretty hard, and it didn't go very high.

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      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
  13. Various objections by Alien54 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I recall various comments where people object to probes visiting any planet where there may be any possible form of life, on the basis that we may cause contamination.

    This I consider this to be rather foolhardy, to throw away the chance for access to another world because we are afraid that we might do something.

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    1. Re:Various objections by CrazyBrett · · Score: 1

      Imagine how you'd feel if aliens sent a "research probe" to Earth that landed on your house and drilled a big hole through it!

    2. Re:Various objections by susano_otter · · Score: 1

      About how I'd feel if "aliens" crashed a "probe" into my place of employment, I expect.

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

    3. Re:Various objections by kimihia · · Score: 1

      I believe there is a law describing this. Is it the Uncertainty Law?

      We haven't a clue what is on this planet/moon, but until we visit, we won't know.

      Once we do visit, we have the possibility of dragging along some [foo] and breaking the results. But we do have some results.

      (Planck's Law? Where the more observations are made of a particle the better its motion can be describing, but the act of observing by bouncing a photon off it will influence the particle's motion.)

  14. Re: Dumb fuckwit's car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Way to use good english.

  15. Hypocrites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait


    For all the complaining that goes on about political stories not being "news for nerds" or "stuff that matters", I can't help be wonder why this story which is very much news for nerds (using robots to mine on celestial bodies) yet it's garnered only 30 posts.

    1. Re:Hypocrites by HeghmoH · · Score: 1

      I would guess that if this story had been posted a week ago, it would have gotten a lot more posts.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
  16. heh neato little wormie :) by huckda · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they taste good dipped in chocolate!

    --
    "Just Smile and Nod." --Huck
  17. Re: Dumb fuckwit's car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing wrong with writing correctly. A hell of a lot easier to read, too.

  18. Ice is a rock? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >>"Actually ice is a rock," Gorevan observes.

    No, life is a rock. But the radio rolls me.

  19. it's feasible by matrix0040 · · Score: 1
    I'm sure this kind of a project will find corporate support. Even if we can't establish a human coloney on mars, we might consider having it as a mining coloney. And this probe will be the first step at that.

    But with the recent evidence of life on mars, such things will be really difficult to pull off. Imagine if we end up destroying life on mars, we'll end up destroying something which we've been searching for so long.

  20. Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the planetoids by Morbid+Curiosity · · Score: 1

    I believe this particular innovation has seen previous use in the field of the collection and collation of marigold metrics - now, after many years of research and development, we will finally get to see how far it and its arithmetic will probably go...