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The Next Leap In Space Exploration
An anonymous reader writes "The crew of the space shuttle Endeavor recently returned to Earth as ambassadors, harbingers of a new era of space exploration. Scientists at NASA are saying that the recent assembly of the Dextre bot is the first step in a long-term space-based man/machine partnership. '"The work we're doing now -- the robotics we're doing -- is what we're going to need to do to build any work station or habitat structure on the moon or Mars," said Allard Beutel, a spokesman for NASA. "Yes, this is just the beginning." Further joint human-robot projects will "be a symbiotic relationship. It's part of a long-term effort for us to branch out into the solar system. We're going to need this type of hand-in-robotic-hand [effort] to make this happen. We're in the infancy of space exploration. We have to start somewhere and this is as good a place as any."'"
Launch windows for Hohmann transfer orbits occur at intervals of 780 days, and the one-way trip takes about 220 days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_exploration#Launch_windows
Remote Controlling machines on the Moon would be tough with the 1 second lag. I ran across an article about Japanese researchers experimenting with the simulated lag to an orbiting satellite, but I can't find it right this second. Latencies to Mars are going to be many minutes. To do "remote control" you'd need to be able to give high-level commands, like: "okay, you assemble that wall over there. You help him by fastening the screws. You over there, you pile dirt on the back and sides of the hab module..."
Three rules:
One - If a human passenger dies, the AI is automatically shut off via a mechanism the AI doesn't control.
Two - Everyone carries a remote shut off
Three - It's survival must rely on the survival of the human occupants.
Of course, since it turns out HAL couldn't think outside it's programming and take an independant action, I would argue it wasn't an AI.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Aren't robots supposed to be autonomous? From what I understand, Dextre is a cybernetic manipulator. Why do people refuse to distinguish between robots and cyborgs?