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.

Comments

Other Possibilities

[tino_sup]

It might be interesting to have this type of device do some mundane house keeping tasks. Another possibility is a mobile alarm clock that looks for people if it has not been turned off, and wakes them up.

Excellent Upgrade:

[2nd Post!]

Collects random lego bricks and then builds another 'Jitter' from the parts!