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Lego Mindstorms In Space
ribbiting writes: "A father-son team have won the "Ultimate Builder Competition" (Lego Mindstorms) with their entry named "Jitter". The robot will fly to the ISS in November. It fits (whole) into a approx. 1'x1'x1' box and weighs less than 3 lbs. It's main mission is to collect small, flying debris. It can interact with the station walls and crew and supposedly has some light "mischief" programmed in as well (sneaking up on people, dancing). The story can be found here, de.news.yahoo.com, it's in German (sorry)." We mentioned the contest a few months ago. Altavista gives a semi-readable machine translation.
Is "Sneaking up on people" such a good idea in something as stressful as a space station?
I give it two months before an astronaut "accidentally" blasts it out an airlock...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Or is that a DMCA violation? :-)
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
I can see it now..
"Open the pod bay doors Jitter."
You mean small flying debris, like loose 1x3 Lego Blocks?
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -- Carl Sagan
"Dimitri, I need a 1 x 6 block. Nyet, a block, not plank!"
[pink beam of light]
"Impulse drive", eh? These mindstorms are more advanced than I thought...
But this is crazy! I thought the Canadarm had a few more years of useful life left.
Hmmm... Lego-based IIS components wouldn't be a bad way to go, I think. Just fire up a case of pieces and have the crew build whatever they need!
...the problem of arranging for the house to be in zero-G is left as an excercise for the student...
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
I assume they'll glue it together before sending it up. At least that will avoid the self-modifying trojan LEGO monster issue...
Another possibility is a mobile alarm clock that looks for people if it has not been turned off, and wakes them up.
Why do I get this mental picture of a relentless, unstoppable robotic alarm clock (with an Austrian accent) that's going to come find you and wake you up, no matter where you are?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Just to be safe, in case the robot gets out of hand, I think we should ship Sigourney Weaver up there with it.
It can interact with the station walls and crew and supposedly has some light "mischief" programmed in as well (sneaking up on people, dancing).
Can you imagine a Beowulf cluster of...
Oh, nevermind...
-Ryan, with the unoriginal sig