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MIT Helping NASA Build Valkyrie Robots For Space Missions (roboticstrends.com)
An anonymous reader writes: NASA announced that MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is one of just two institutions that will receive "R5," a six-foot, 290-pound humanoid robot also known as "Valkyrie" that will serve on future space missions to Mars and beyond. A group led by CSAIL principal investigator Russ Tedrake will develop algorithms for the robot as part of NASA's upcoming Space Robotics Challenge, which aims to create more dexterous autonomous robots that can help or even take the place of humans "extreme space" missions. While R5 was initially designed to complete disaster-relief maneuvers, its main goal is now to prove itself worthy of even trickier terrain — deep space exploration.
...children....space...whatever. IT'S a DAMN KILLER ROBOT, man.
No, it was probably because the submitter was too embarrassed to mention the bizarre verbal contortions that Northeastern group went through attempting to come up with an acronym they thought sounded cool. From TFA:
Accessible Testing on Humanoid-Robot-R5 and Evaluation of NASA Administered (ATHENA) Space Robotics Challenge
#DeleteChrome
I went to that link expecting to see mecha capable of transforming into fighter, battroid, and GERWALK modes; I was sadly disappointed.
So the height/weight is designed to match the typical American proportions?
What a coincidence! It just happens that the best physical form for a space robot is exactly the same as the evolutionary end product of millions of years of swinging in trees followed by millions of years of roaming around on grassy savannahs. Are legs really that useful in zero G? Only two arms when you could have three?
Sadly, this seems to indicate that NASA is more interested in pandering to pop culture than in optimizing a space-based physical effector.
"He took a duck in the face at 250 knots." -- William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
Are legs really that useful in zero G? Only two arms when you could have three?
Yes, because even tracked vehicles have trouble going up 45 degree slopes. They want a robot that can climb hills, jump into pits, hang on to a irregular shaped asteroid, etc. You don't really think that this would just be used in space exclusively, do you?
Your suggestion about three arms is interesting, although you can argue that it might already have 4, since it is quite imagine-able that the feet might have articulate fingers/toes.
They aren't pandering to pop culture, it needs to be basically human shaped, since any vehicles it will be traveling in will be built primarily to accommodate human shaped astronauts. Or were you thinking that NASA should redesign everything to accommodate a three armed, no legged robot?
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Depends on the end goal. Maybe showing more girls they can get aerospace engineering jobs.
Is that you?
Am I the only one, who wonders if we just decided to send Ash along with our space truckers?
I get that you're making a pop culture reference, but it's *stupid* pop culture. Wings are useless in space, as are "sleeker" aerodynamics. And there's no such thing as difficult terrain in space - even the asteroid belts are essentially completely empty. Difficulty comes only in the form of navigating/manipulating asteroids or structures in free fall, in which case grasping appendages and clunky omni-directional maneuvering jets have far more to offer.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
So, why does a robot need legs in zero g? I sincerely doubt the humanoid design was chosen on technical merits. Also, didn't Valkyrie get last place with 0 points at the DARPA robotics competition?
...has a bad motivator. Better go with an R2. ;)
:::The Spear in the heart of the Other is the Spear in the heart of You; You are He - Surak of Vulcan:::