"Robonauts" to help humans in space
May 25, 2005 17: 47 EST
Remember HAL from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey? Robots will likely be crucial in future space and planet exploration. According to NASA, “When humans plant new footsteps on the Moon and Mars, they may well have wheelprints right beside them.” The agency is looking into new “robot helper” technology to assist astronauts in their exploration of the unknown.
A team at Ames Research Center envisions futuristic robots that "act" like people, enabling them to work more efficiently with astronauts.
"Our goal is not for robots to have the same 'thought process' as humans, but rather for them to act, respond and interact more 'naturally' in ways that humans do with other humans," said Illah Nourbakhsh, a scientist who leads a group developing human-robot teams at NASA.
Humans and robots speaking to each other
There are three main areas of focus for the robot development teams. One is called 'collaborative control,' during which the human being and the robot will speak to one another and work as partners. A second area is the construction of robots that have reasoning mechanisms that work similarly to human reasoning. Thirdly, the researchers will conduct field tests of people and robots working together.
No more master-slave relationship
"Conventional human-robot dialogue is limited to 'master-slave' commanding and monitoring," said NASA scientist Terrance Fong. "As a result, system performance is strictly bound to the operator's skill and the quality of the (computer) user interface."
But the new robots will have more of a partner-to-partner interaction, and the droids won’t require constant human supervision.
Ideally, the robots will help assemble buildings, test equipment, weld structures and dig with small tools. Human-robot teams will use a checklist and a plan to guide their joint efforts.
Human-robot teams must be reliable, survivable, reusable and low-cost, according to scientists, who hope to enable robots to receive general commands, such as, "inspect habitat." The human-like machines would then autonomously perform tasks and seek help only when they encounter problems they cannot solve by themselves.
Image of robonaut courtesy of NASA.
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