Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

First ISS-To-Earth 'Handshake' Demonstrates Space-to-Ground Remote Control

Posted by Soulskill on from the interspace-thumb-war-tournament-scheduled-for-tuesday dept.

Zothecula writes: NASA astronaut Terry Virts, aboard the International Space Station, and ESA telerobotics specialist André Schiele, in the Netherlands, made space history this week with the first telerobotic "handshake" between space and Earth. Using special force feedback joysticks that acquire force data and create the sensation of pressure, Virts and Schiele brought the agencies closer to allowing astronauts in remote locations to naturally and safely control robotic devices and perform potentially dangerous or otherwise impossible tasks.

2 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by sound+vision · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Is this what space exploration has been reduced to?

    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This was a test of haptic telerobotics from orbit. It is being tested from Earth orbit because IT'S A TEST. It would suck to get to Mars before finding problems that only show up under certain conditions that we could have found closer to home.