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NASAs tennis ball Sized Robot Assistants
Rob sent us linkage to
a wired article that talks about Tennis ball sized robots
that will zip around working as assistants for astronauts. They
are described as being like the training bots in Star Wars.
They'd be cool as pets if we lived in zero-g...
I hope they work on toilet balls so I can have an ass wiping robot to perfectly clean my hiney. Just think! No more skidmarks. The bleach manufacturers would probably sabotage it though, so we would have to come up with an open source/hardware alternative to make sure it lived on.
btw, I did log out before posting this. AC's can be useful.
not that there is anything wrong with helium. On the other hand, with all that metal to drag around....
no, one is a really annoying useless piece of software, the other is a potentially annoying and potentially useful piece of hardware. What matters tho, is that since it is virtually impossible to give hardware wiggly eyebrows, it should stay non-infuriating.
While these things are a theoretical possibilty, "a few years" is a little too optimistic. I don't expect any practical quantum computers for _at least_ 20 years, and for invisible "quantum robots" (ie nano-robots [is nanite a real word or did star trek invent it?] which incorporate quantum computers) i expect it will be a good deal longer. If you want a good estimate, look at the predicted computing power of quantum computers and plug it into Moore's law.
Additionally, there will be enough people opposed to a pervasive network of airborne robots that the use of them will be highly limited in most environments. I myself fully support technology and everthing that goes with it (exepting military applications), but i do not want to be inhaling robots constantly.
You forgot the "air nozzles for propulsion".
Strange, from the picture on "The New Scientist" site, I didn't see any propellers.
NASA's troubles aren't connected with the manned-space programs as such, they're political. The Space Shuttle is a horribly expensive and inefficient launch vehicle, but it is the support system for a huge network of suppliers in lots of Congressional districts. The ISS is a boondoggle in spades, but it's the State Department's way of keeping the Russians from supplying stuff to the likes of Iraq, and it doesn't come out of either the State Dept. or the foreign-aid budget. If NASA had the freedom to ditch the failures and go with something like the DC-1 (the vehicle for which the DC-X was the atmospheric test vehicle) and the LLNL "community spacesuit" space station (put up with a single launch of a Titan IV), manned space would look cheap for what it does.
Unfortunately, NASA's manned space program is tied to all kinds of non-scientific goals by the pols, and that's why it looks like a loser. Just don't mistake "men in space" for the problem.The PSA appears to be a descendent of AERCam Sprint ( http://station.nasa.gov/station/as sembly/sprint/). AERCam Sprint was pretty dumb, and flew around in the Shuttle cargo bay under remote control by an astronaut inside the shuttle. You can find video of AERCam in action at http://spaceflight .nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-87/video/daily/.
[More info from NASA:]
The Autonomous EVA Robotic Camera/Sprint (AERCam/Sprint) is a small, unobtrusive, free-flying camera platform for use outside a spacecraft. The free-flyer has a self contained cold gas propulsion system giving it the capability to be propelled with a 6 degrees of freedom control system. On board the free-flyer are rate sensors to provide data for an automatic attitude hold capability. AERCam/Sprint is a spherical vehicle that moves slowly and is covered in a soft cushioning material to prevent damage in the event of an impact. The design philosophy is to keep the energy low by keeping the velocities and mass low while providing a mechanism to absorb any energy from an impact. The free-flyer platform is controlled from inside the Orbiter by using a small control station. The operator will input motion commands from a single, Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER) device controller. The commands will be sent from the control station to he free-flyer via a Radio Frequency (RF) modem link operating in the Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) range.
Look here:
http://gundam.anime.net/chara/gundam.html
Then search for the term 'ball'.
Will they appear on Wimbledon ?
What will this robot really be used for?
Given that it is designed to work in (1) zero gravity and (2) an atmosphere, the robot is limited to move around inside the shuttle or space station interior. This means that the robots will be confined to a fairly small space, where astronauts will be within shouting range, or "here, let me toss you this" range of each other. I suspect that for most of the applications suggested in the New Scientist article, e.g. taking snapshots or checking oxygen gauges, it will be easier for the astronaut to simply go over and use the instrument. After all, the shuttle is space-limited, not astronaut-limited.
This makes me doubt that these personal satellite assistants (PSAs) will be truly useful for helping out with routine tasks. Instead, I see these PSAs as being useful primarily in emergency situations, say a fire, when it is unsafe for astronauts to be present. But in that case, why not have several small PSAs dedicated to particular tasks? They are likely to be simpler and more reliable.
Right now a PSA has a:
Why not just make a PSA with an oxygen sensor, one with a camera, and so forth? No need for solar panels, just a battery that can last through an emergency. No need for a bulky video screen or speakers, this can be transmitted to a remote.
Or better yet, make the system modular. Just have a basic remotely operated propulsion system with a battery, like a flying grappling hook, and allow a wireless camera or wireless sensor to be attached as necessary.
This is likely to be more practical -- these aren't on the surface of Mars, they're right in front of the user, and that distance, they don't need to be that smart or complicated. They just need to act as a simple tool.
Don't you mean Phantasm? It had the little ball that floated around, shooting a spike into people's heads and assorted fun.
Hey, why didn't NASA install any kind of laser device on these things? I don't see how they can be used for Jedi^H^H^H^Hastronaut training otherwise. Maybe they will just use the built-in fan propulution system to ram into the blindfolded astronauts instead. With a running start, there's no limit to how fast these things could get going in space!
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
By the sound of the article, I get the impression that they make it more out of fun that out of utility. I don't blame them. =) It would be cool to make the software they will be using. Would it be possible to make one that works down on earth maybe?
"We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
Riiiight. NASA is going to let these things zip around the space station/shuttles and watch them plow into various control panels and so forth. I don't think so. If NASA does permit these things on board a space station, you can be pretty sure the commander of the station isn't going to be letting these things have free reign of the station they have anything to say about it.
I gotta pay more attention when I froth.
--
rickf@transpect.SPAM-B-GONE.net (remove the SPAM-B-GONE bit)
"People will pay big bucks for the luxury of ignorance."
That plane that flies up to 50000ft (or whatever) then does a freefall for a minute or so. Maybe not zero G exactly, but close enough to allow for free ball motion.
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rickf@transpect.SPAM-B-GONE.net (remove the SPAM-B-GONE bit)
"People will pay big bucks for the luxury of ignorance."
But am I the only person to recall what happens when these balls go BAD? Nasty, nasty results... I refer you to the Hellraiser series of movies as graphic and tragic examples of what the future might hold with Problem Balls.
I wholely denounce this ball exploration! If God wanted us to have balls in space, (s)he would have put them there!
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rickf@transpect.SPAM-B-GONE.net (remove the SPAM-B-GONE bit)
"People will pay big bucks for the luxury of ignorance."
Ill bet the Russians are still years away from launching their first ball in space. Although Sputnik was roughly ball shaped...
For anyone who cares, I ended up getting 97,609,200 points by level 6:9. I would have gotten a lot further (and likely well over 100 million points) except that I was tired and just *barely* slipped on a drop which would have completed 6:9 (but instead took away my last life, since I'd made two other just-barely slips on that level). Pissed me off, but I was too tired to do anything about it, so I went to bed.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
Incidentally, I saw this post while taking a break from Tetrisphere, in the middle of a "let's see how many points I can get" session. I'm on level 4:5 and already have 48.3 million. I doubt I'll have the attention span to get all the way to episode 13, though (my record when playing for speed).
See, 'coz like, Tetrisphere has these little robots which are shaped like a tennis ball and unfold into various utility robot forms, and one of them is fan-propelled and stuff, and...
*realizes she's rambling, and decides to hide in a corner where nobody will notice*
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
... which would be so much cooler. You know, like the Seeker from Dune. If the Army Air Corps was still in charge of space exploration you know they'd do it.
Oh well. sigh.
-- Jeff Paulsen
You can tell I've just woke up - I misread that as "NASA's tennis ball sized Robot Assassins"
*wibble*
Space Aliens Took Our Balls!
Or, if Congress drops even more funding for NASA, they could use:
Congress grabs NASA by the balls!
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seumas.com
I went over the NASA site to see if anything was mentioned about this. Eventually, I ended up at the Ames Res. Center site and found this interesting related item. It turns out that ARC/NASA does work in robotics and sponsors a contest for middle and high school students called Botball. This from their press release.
Two robot teams will `do battle' at a time, trying to put the most Ping-Pong balls into a target within a set time limit. The small, one-foot robots compete on a smooth, 4-foot by 8-foot playing surface.
The botball program teaches students C computer programming as well as increases their skills and interest in mathematics, science, physics and design, according to organizers.
These is the contest rules.
There is going to a live webcast (real video) of the finals on July 20 and 21. So it is too late for this year.
Sorry for the off-topic post but I love it when there is something like this that gets kids interested in science/engineering/computers.
And one good sneeze could take out your connection.
I can see a rise in lung related illnesses from too much time in front of the internet cloud (swarm?) Or how about, "Sorry teacher, I ate my homework. It settled on my cornflakes and I thought it was sugar."
USA-Democracy is 270 million YESes and NOes a day, not one every four years.
As for being able to fix minor problems, erm, How? will they have little arms? Or will it have logic capabilities that can determine the problem, and remotely output it to a monitor so the ASTRONAUTS can fix it? (In that case, the article is a bit misleading.)
In any case, what the astronauts REALLY need is one of those Big-ass Lost-in-Space utility Robots. Then they can put the blindfold on the big guy, and have HIM swat at these PSAs.
DANGER WILL ROBINSON! **Krack!!**
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Oh, I can just imagine the office assistant software running these:
Astronaut: OK, Houston, I'm going to replace the TCB-315 unit now...
Ball: Hi there! It looks like you're trying to floss your teeth! Would you like some help?
Astronaut: Um, no... please go away.
Ball: (dances about, and wanders off)
Astronaut: OK, Houston, got the main housing off, I'm going to detatch the primary...
Ball: Hi there! Would you like to learn about primary robotic arm operations?
Astronaut: No! Go away!
Ball: (winks and departs)
Astronaut: Ok, got the primary connector...
Ball: Hi! It looks like you're trying to floss your teeth! Would you like some he--
(some smashing sounds)
Houston: Columbia, please confirm, we've lost telemetry on PSA 3.
Astronaut: Confirmed. Now, about this connector...
Well, hopefully they'll assist astronauts. There seems to be a rising tide among conservatives to cut NASA. Heck, they didn't even uphold the funding of the F-22, much to the chagrin of our dear Secretary Cohen.
I think things like these tennis ball sized robots illustrate how vital the space station is in promoting technological innovation. Lots of people have ragged on the International Space Station, saying that it's nothing new, it just orbits the earth. I think its clear that even space travel around our own earth has tremendous benefits.
There are bound to be medical advances on board the space station -- but I think articles like this should show that just having an active space program promotes really creative thinking -- who knows what we'll see next. I know I'll be waiting...
If i wanted a robot controling my universe I would live in a VR world. this planet has existed for several billion years without humans even THINKING they could control it in any way, I see no need to start now. Nature should be accepted and contended with, no one should attempt to control it.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Nah... Just embed them in a baloon filled with Hydrogen. (Robot in use! No Smoking!) :-)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
http://www.newscientist.c o.uk/ns/19990717/newsstory7.html :p
Sorry I cut out the frames it was in
if it''s designed to work inside, would a solar cell help at all?
------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
WILL THEY RUN LINUX?
Coz if they don't they are Totally Useless(tm);)
Hehehehehe..........
The only reason all cover-ups appear to fail is that you never hear about the ones that succeed.
Now, we only have to get rid of gravity on earth, so we can use those things at home.
I always thought it would be kinda neat to have one of those little training droids around to fry mosquitos. :> Great thing to have around the cottage or camp fire, it can just float around and fry any of the the little buggers that come inside a certain perimeter. All we need is anti-gravity... :)
(Mmm... anti-gravity...)
Which makes me envision dozens of little tennis balls whizzing around... trying to kill me.
(Or am I having a Phantasm flashback?)
So, if these things really become smart, will we then be able to have tennis balls chasing after dogs?
Regards,
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
The battery-powered PSAs, each about the size of a tennis ball, will need only tiny fans to move around in zero gravity.
Heh. I guess that mean's they won't be very useful outside. If the spaceballs' electronics can withstand the temperature and radiation outside the station, maybe we'll eventually see little jet propelled versions that use CO2.
The major reason you're seeing cool things like these space balls (sorry, couldn't resist), and like the mars rover is that NASA is having to cut costs and therefore innovate.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Surely they're not relying on the occasional shuttle trip or computer simulation to test these things? Maybe NASA have used Roswell technology to develop an earthbased zero-G lab! ;-)
Is it just me or does the idea of this remind anyone else of the Microsoft Office assistant.
blue
Do u mean "Kawaii"? Cute in Japanese?
Wait, this little robot ball takes 2 years to build? Also, shouldn't be consider a baby submarine? (zero gravity, fan to thrust aka no nano-rockets/compressed air/pulley system via wires or fibers) Well, robotic due to it's intelligence, avoiding getting into people's way and all. I guess the 2 years is to make it durable and work under stress, you are asking a tennis ball size to survive space station disasters and do investigations after all.
:)
I bet another hard part is to have a hoard of them working together. It could take 5 spaceballs to cooperate and put out a little fire or take different camera shots of a unreachable space.
Another thing that would help these balls do precision positioning is if once there they can attach a tricorder to a solid space and use that tricorder to move in little increments. Just because you can't send a human into small places doesn't mean you don't need the fingers of a astronaut. But this is probably hard to include into the budget--micro surgeons these balls aren't. On the bright side, the surgical
programming can be on a mainframe that's on the
shuttle, not in the ball, you just need to give it a robotic arm--maybe the Toyota assembly factory can help in this respect
I wonder if positioning them for surgical work would be manual, like a 3D view of the tunnel and you see a ball, and you use your hand to guide the ball left and right.
Talk about juggling. This is a hard project. Good luck.
In a few years, we will all have little robots everywhere and we won't even see them. Maybe there will be for weather regulation, air pollution, health, to clean the house in an instant. These will be quantum robots based on the quantum technology that is being worked on today. Each of these robots would be more powerful than any of our home computers. We could connect to the Internet by just telling the words and a screen would appear, all these little robots floating seamlessly in the air would gather to project an image.
This is not just Sci-Fi, it can be possible. It's just a matter of time. This is the perspective of Quantum technology