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NASA's Personal Satellite Assistants
colonist writes "Wired News reports on the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA), a spherical robot about the size of a softball that uses air jets to move in the microgravity environment of space vehicles and habitats. Described as a cross between Star Trek's tricorder and Star Wars' lightsaber training droid, the PSA has 'sensors for measuring gases, temperature, and air pressure' and performs 'video conferencing and can communicate with electronic support devices such as computer servers, avionics systems, and wireless LAN bridges'." We mentioned these a few years ago - looks like they've come a long way since then.
More information is available here and here.
Kind of weird that they don't play up the fact it runs linux more.
It sounds to me like the Bit from tron =:-) *YES* *NO*
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Play Six Pack Man. I
All that money wasted on this project, could have gotten this guy some plastic surgery. Poor man...
There's a bunch more on how the Trek-inspired 'bot was built and tested here.
It's a cross between the tricorder and the lightsaber training droid... so... it shoots at me until I'm hit, and then uses that little detachable wand to scan my wound?
That's awesome. Put me down for two.
Why do they have an RS232 on the back of it? (pictured in the simulation). I'd be all about a WiFi, bluetooth, or wireless usb interface... just makes sense.
If they played it up, congress would accuse them of being Commies, and make them make it run Windows, and frankly, I think we'd all rather have a rogue lightsaber training droid in our shuttle, than one of these guys running Windows.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Wrong SW droid man! The IT-0 droid in that link is a torture droid. You will find the correct Training Remote Here. May the Force be with YOU!
only if they come in the cool pastels like the iPod...
well, it's nothing one behind the ear wouldn't cure
I smell a Beowulf cluster comment coming on..
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Human graphics are freaky looking.
Hmmm.
strap a helium baloon to it! why should space-men have all the fun toys!
Just as irrigation is the lifeblood of the Southwest, lifeblood is the soup of cannibals. -- Jack Handy
If droids can replace mundane human tasks on space missions, then Nasa is doing very well to spend their money on these things. Just think of it as a droid automating the stupid tasks of checking environmental controls, or outside activity. pretty cool.
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artlu.net
I just wish NASA had thought of it a while back. I know the Columbia accident was a wake up call, but that's like buying flood insurance after a hurricane.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
Oh, was that a bad movie. And I paid to see it too.
also being covered at some sites.
anyway Personally I thought it was more of a cross between IT-O , the imperial droid Vader used on Leia and Haro from Mobile Suit Gundam who ALSO uses a jet system very simular to the PSA
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Why not put a small CO2 cartridge in it so that it could move through a space that has been depressurized? This would probably come in handy for, say, checking the status of a system after an accident.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
I just turn on Halo. Cheap excuse to sit in my room and beat Halo on legendary mode again...
There you go. Someone had to say it.
Of that thing from Flash Gordon the freezes anyone who tries to assasinate Ming.
I saw these things at NASA's AMES research center a few years ago. The article says they could be in serivice within three years too. Very cool.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Imagine Clippy come to life and able to follow you around commenting on everything you do.
Lifespan: 2 hours
Cause of failure: smashed against bulkhead by astronaut
On the coolness meter it only rates slightly higher than sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads.
Read any good sonnets lately?
"And now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base..."
OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
When I read that line the first question that came to mind was: they don't have burritos in space, do they?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Another poster mentioned it did, but I can't find a reference.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
*enter Clippy*
"It looks like you are trying to breathe..."
Hmmm.
In the cramped quarters of something like a space station, do you really want something else floating loose to run into?
DeviantArt Page
NSFWDo astronauts on the ISS have normal internet? Or are they just linked in an intranet and with NASA ground intranets....?
These things are tiny! I bet they could launch them with satellites and control them from ground if they need to fix something or whatever. Anyway, pretty cool.
Click for offensive t-sh
True, the slashdot article link is to the torture droid and not the Training Remote, but in Dubya's brave new world, IT-0 may be what NASA had in mind after all-- gotta keep close watch on them astronauts. Shifty, the lot of 'em.
//Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
Cool - where can I get one? My own mass should be big enough for the necessary microgravity environment... ;)
quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
Seems like it'd be a lot cheaper to put some velcro on a pda and stick it to the wall.
Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated shall you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
Spock: "Atmosphere: breathable oxygen/nitrogen mixture..."
Scotty: "..I should bloody well hope so.....and anyway..Federation Standard Landing Party Procedure states that tricorder readings of atmospheric content should take place BEFORE we set foot on the planet"
Spock: "That's Federation bureaucrats for you....Someone should point out to them that it's only possible to take a tricorder reading once you're actually there..."
Scotty: "but...but...but what happens if the atmosphere wasn't breathable?"
Spock: "It always is...."
Jim: "Anything else on the tricorder Spock?"
Spock: "Yes I'm picking up some primitive radio frequency signals... ...here listen..."
[...it's a brand new dance now...come on baby..do the locomotion...]
Jim: "..primitive indeed..."
Spock: "I bet she's got nice legs though.."
Jim: "Spock!..what's wrong with you...that was Scotty's line..."
WHAT happened next?)
Next Week: Episode 4.
Shamelessly reproduced from: Vax Trek V, the movie, The Crunchy Bits 2.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
It reminds me of that sphere from phantasm
Looks more like a pod from 2001: ASO to me...
"The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck is the day they make a vacuum cleaner."
In order for this sort of thing to actually do the things it's described as being able to do, it's going to have to work and play well with the other systems onboard.
One of the tools indicated on this device is an inventory scanner. Whomever is working on this project has yet to contact anyone in the inventory department about interfacing with the inventory software IMS (Inventory Management System) which uses its own barcode readers.
This still has a long way to go before anyone sees them floating around any of the orbiting vehicles.
/sig
sphere: Sensors indicate that the oxygen level in the cabin have decreased dramatically.
astro-tauko-cosmo-naut: gasp!
sphere: You appear to be suffocating. Would you like some training on the use of the backup oxygen supply?
astro-tauko-cosmo-naut: cough... gasp!
sphere: I did not understand your answer.
sphere moves in front of 'naut to hear the response, obstructing the backup mask.
astro-tauko-cosmo-naut passes out.
sphere: You appear to have suffocated. I'm sorry, but I don't have instructions for you to follow on what to do next.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
Ultimate dodgeball.
Ernest Borgnine in space. Are there scarier thoughts?
Leaving aside the Beowulf cluster jokes... I wonder if these could work cooperatively? It seems like six or eight of them could move light stuff around.
Or for projects were more than one view would be helpful (aligning parts by remote, for instance) because of the lack of image depth, you could send two or three to capture an image from different viewpoints to help with the alignment.
Cool!
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
You mean like that thing from Space Camp?! Is it as annoying? can it talk? wtf?!
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Piss on my head, that second link has nothing to do with anything. -abscondment
In Robert Forward's Rocheworld series, his characters have a fractally organized device called "The Christmas Tree." The limbs of the tree could break off, and the branches of those limbs could do likewise, and so on until you have little tiny clusters. Each cluster had some small amount of processing power, and sensor capability, and motile capability. A small branch was always with/following around after/worn by every crewmember, and could be used for pretty much everything these "PSAs" are intended for.
Lots of good science in the Rocheworld books, but as prose and characters go...well, the science is really neat...
The Humblest Mollusk on the Net
for the sporty astronaght the PSA can be used as a soocer/softball ball as it will stop itself from flying into you then will start swearing at you and trying to knock you out
If you have nothing useful to say post as AC.
I wander what sort of communcations options this thing has? It looks like there's a DB9 blug on the back, I hope they're not just using old-school RS-232 serial.
What'd be great is if they were using something like WiFi or maybe even Bluetooth (you're never more than a few meters from anything in current space vehicles anyway). Then you can offload the more coputationally expensive tasks to a stationary computer or even have a small flock of droids working together.
Note: after re-RTFA, the don't state any details about how it ocmmunicates, but some of the tasks they say it can do imply the presence of wireless communicaitions. I still wish there was some detail though.
- sig? who is this sig of which you speak?
" Described as a cross between Star Trek's tricorder and Star Wars' lightsaber training droid, the PSA has 'sensors for measuring gases, temperature, and air pressure' "
So.. it can shoot at you, then detect that you soiled yourself. I want one of these for my cat!
"Derp de derp."
NASA's web site has pictures of non-functioning prototypes, a mockup, and computer graphics. Usually, anything NASA is hyping is accompanied by high-resolution color pictures. Is this thing for real?
Haro! Haro!
:)
So NASA is proposing we have Haro bouncing around our space craft.
What's next, Mobile Suits?
If so, sign me up!
Just wonder, how much did it cost already? "Science is a way to satisfy your curiosity for money from government"
it does, Pentium 2 running Linux.. its in the article
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
They have one of these in the Terminal 5 (American) foodcourt @ Chicago's O'hare airport next to the Panda Express. It's a little bigger than a softball but really sweet nonetheless.
Cheers
Paint this thing black and put a needle on it and I'd swear it's the thing Darth Vader used to torture Princess Leia.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
"Looks like you're trying to avoid a small annoying talking ball. Would you like help with that?"
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"He's never done anything immoral....unless you count all those times he sold dope disguised as a nun."
But why is the rum gone?
Am i the only person who saw this article and immediately thought of Colin from "Mostly Harmless"? As long as the astronaut also has his towel he should be all set.
This is *not* redundant! In fact, it's not anything but an example of poor moderation. Good Job!
Put a couple larger models to tag along outside the Shuttle, or Mir, and tie them into shipboard millimeter RADAR. They can manouvre in between the ship and/or shuttle and absorb/deflect any micrometeors that fly by. They can double as outboard cameras to monitor the station (ala satellite of love :) or redundant comms relays. If there's too much intertia a few ounces of shaped-charge high explosives goes a long way.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Ha! Loved that flick... Anybody got any Plutonium Nyborg?
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
....this is a training remote. This (as referenced in the submission) is an Imperial interrogation droid.
What does it mean to wake out of a dream
and be wearing someone else's shorts?
BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
But I want it^h^hher to look like Missy Elliot.
While it may be "Old School", it is still a very useful communications option, particularly when other hardware is failing. Serial data communication is very solid, and usually easy to add or even built-in to most CPU modules that you would be use for a project like this. Bluetooth and WiFi is definitely not "built-in" like this. Essentially, for about $0.20 worth of hardware you can throw on a DB-9 port and have an excellent diagnostics access port when almost nothing else is working. I've seen RS-232 serial communication happen when almost no other communication can be taking place, due to RF interference or even fluctuating voltage levels from power supplies.
That said, I don't think this would be used for routine communication, but rather for firmware upgrades and other long-term setup. The DB-9 port can also be used as the power connector, to help recharge the batteries inside the unit (also a part of the RS-232 specification).
I talked to these guys at the air show at Moffet Field. They are planning deployment to ISS in 2007. The main hurdles are the propulsion system and the autonomous control software.
Can these things be programmed to duke it out with each other for the entertainment of the space station's crew? 0 grav battle bots they just need to attach drill bits, chain saws, etc. hrm, probably not too safe though
I was watching a Discovery channel documentary on the space station and all the cool things it had about a year ago. They showed this device then. It followed the astronauts around and was able to record their voice as well give them readings such as temp, gas composition and such. I remember at the time thinking what a great idea this was and I don't remember thinking that it was animation of any kind. Hmmm. LouSir
LISTEN!!
That's a taikonaut, not taukonaut.
they mentioned the Lightsaber training droid, but then linked the INTERROGATOR DROID.
Is there something here involved with G.W. that I'm not aware of?
There's a paper from 2000 showing the "1 G testbed", which is another air-hockey-puck robot. It doesn't fly; it skates around on a flat surface. That's the "testbed."
According to the 2000 paper, the next step was supposed to be a 1.75x scale model of the 6 degree of freedom flyer, which was to be tested by flying it in the KC-135 aircraft used to train people to operate in zero G. We don't see that mentioned again.
As far as I can tell, the Wired article's reference to "a version of the Personal Satellite Assistant, or PSA, that's fully mobile, with a sensor suite that's nearly space-ready" refers to the 2D hockey-puck robot.
This is *NASA* we're talking about here, not the RKA.
Tut... Some people...
Deleted
HMM, what if he had access to a super duper bullet proof helicopter? oh, wait...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Hey I'm all for funky gadgets that fly around in space, and these are really incredibly cool. And getting more exposure is always good, but judging by the comments so far a lot of you were not aware of these funky orbs.
But, I do have to point out that this is really old news, as a matter of fact it goes back at least to 18 October 2001. courtesy of the Waybackmachine
The sad part is, that I haven't seen any news on the project since.
Murphy(c)
I was looking at the conceptual model, and I noticed that the thruster arrangement only applies force in the x, y and z axes. There are no nozzles that allow pitch, yaw and roll. Then I looked at the testbed. It has thrusters in the x and y axes that would also allow yaw changes, but no z translation, and no pitch or roll. Now, maybe they were planning to use gyros in the final version, but that would seem to be an unnecessary complication. It might be easier to have thruster nozzles with small electrically controlled baffles to open and close the nozzles, and 1 or 2 internal fans to intake and exhaust air (in a pressurized environment) from/to the appropriate nozzle(s).
You may think you understand what you thought I said, but what you thought you heard was not what I meant!
My little ball thingy eloped with my OnStar
It took them this long to get it working?
I spent a semester and a half of hardly part-time work getting a similar project rolling with 5 other people. Granted, this PSA looks cooler and probably has better control, but we were undergrads and these are NASA post-docs with 8 hours per day to work on this.
Check, check, check, check it out.
And yes, I realize we had a wire sticking out. It was our position/attitude sensor. EM requirements for the plane-borne lab wouldn't allow yet another wireless transceiver.
IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
Shouldn't devices like this be deployed all over outside the station or shuttle as well? Wouldn't a device like this allow close examination of a leading wing on the shuttle? Imagine putting these about 50 feet away from the ISS while construction manuevers are taking place. That would provide an incredible view of the action.
BrahmsVE model of the Space Station and the Personal Satellite Assistant
We did these simulations approximately middle of last year. You can watch the movies on the website, but to watch the live simulation, ou will need to install Adobe Atmosphere (IE only, ActiveX, evil etc) and it runs really badly, but it shows a simulated "Search And Report" scenerio for the PSA in the ISS.
Oh, and the one they are building for working outside is called RoboNaut, it looks like the torso and arms of a human (no legs), with five fingers and all, so it can use human's tools.
An outer neutron star shell would make us nearly invincible too.
-I am an elective eunuch.
sounds like Weebo to me. Hopefully it won't fall in love...
Do not taunt happy fun ball.
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Last time this was on slashdot they only had a plastic model of its shape to pass around at meetings and a simple simulator to work on controls. Not much more is on the website than that now.
NASA is in a big grant proposal push right now because of the change of initiative to the mars exploration and this guy (Yuri) might be using Slashdot for marketing purposes.
The video of this in action on discovery a few years ago was an animation but they kept it vauge both on their website and when they talked about it.
It is a great idea and very feaseable but I am skeptable of the reseults because of previous overstatements and the timing with funding reviews.
Geez -- you guys are harsh!
... ;-)
Maybe they've been so busy making the thing work that they haven't had time to update their web page. There is another web site with slightly more up-to-date info than the ic.arc.nasa.gov web site:
http://psa.arc.nasa.gov
Apparently for education, but it has a cool VR model of the PSA:
http://psa.arc.nasa.gov/syst.shtml
Note it has USB, not RS-232
Also, take a closer look at the image from the Wired article. From what I can see, it's a ball with a working LCD (looking at one of the rear cameras) and a light. I see what look like ultrasonic sensors all around it and ducted fans. Also note it's suspended in what appears to be a rotating gimbal inside a mockup of an ISS module. I see no granite table!
WEEBO!!
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