Robonaut
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Robonaut-2 (R2), the first humanoid robot in space, was delivered to the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. R2 was designed by NASA and GM to work alongside astronauts, replacing them during dangerous spacewalks. R2 will assist astronauts with assembly and maintenance tasks outside the space station. R2 has a robotic torso and arms that allow it to use the same tools as astronauts. It can also lift heavy objects and has dexterous hands and fingers to perform delicate tasks. R2 is undergoing testing aboard the space station and will eventually work outside during spacewalks.
Robonaut
- 1. 30 ElEctronics Robotics Engineering & technology 13 November - 10 December 2010 www.theiet.org/magazine
- 2. 31 Semi-autonomous robots are on duty throughout the solar system – prosaic little boxes, waiting patiently to act out the latest transmission from Earth. However, one passenger aboard Nasa’s STS-133 mission to the Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station may just ignite the popular imagination. By Piers Bizony. robonaut it may seem like some sort of science-fiction scenario, but clever robots are scattered widely across the vastness of our solar system. all deep-space flies in probes and planetary landers are capable of operating semi- autonomously in order to cope with the long time-lags between radio commands from earth. some, such as Nasa’s wheeled mars rovers, also boast certain degrees of mechanical flexibility provided via pan-and- tilt camera arrays, directable radio antennas, steerable wheels, extendable soil-sampling arms and other instruments. the public perhaps struggles with the idea that these clunky boxes are definable as robots, but no one will be in any doubt about Nasa’s latest non-human space explorer. at first glance it looks just like an astronaut in a space suit. even at second glance, it seems at least as lively as a ‘star Wars’ character in an armoured mask. its head is shaped somewhat like a motorcycle helmet, but its torso and arms, tipped by elegant hands with slender fingers and opposable thumbs, look very like our own. Robonaut, the first humanoid robot ever sent into space, has just arrived at the international space station aboard space shuttle Discovery, as part of the payload for the sts-133 mission. it was stowed for launch inside the european-built Leonardo cargo supply module, which is now docked permanently on the station to provide yet more pressurised working volume. in the coming months, the robot will be unpacked from its crate and repositioned inside the larger Destiny laboratory module. although its primary task, for now, is to remain aboard the station while under- going further tests, it will eventually be deployed outside the pressurised shell of the orbiting platform, where it will assist human space walkers in assembly and maintenance tasks. this flightworthy version of the hardware is a second-genera- tion machine, based on a proto- type developed by Nasa and the E www.theiet.org/magazine 13 November - 10 December 2010 Engineering & Technology
- 3. 32 ElEctronics Robotics Robonaut-2 not only looks human, but is also designed to work like one. R2 can use the same tools as space station crew and can replace astronauts during spacewalks that are difficult or dangerous ROBONAUT-2 (Designed by NASA and GM) Materials Height: 102cm (from waist to head) Aluminium, Shoulder width: 79cm steel, Kevlar, Weight: 150kg Sensors: 350 Teflon Arms: Twice as articulate as human arm Backpack might expect from a human Conversion Vision colleague. system allows According to Dr Robert Five cameras R2’s batteries to Ambrose, chief of the Software, provide stereo be charged by Robotics and Simulation and infrared vision Division at Nasa’s Johnson terrestrial or ISS Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Parts can power supplies “It operates at a speed and scale be upgraded similar to us.” He clarifies this or replaced by pointing out that no robot yet built can truly meet that descrip- tion. Nasa has set the bar slightly lower, in terms of “the somewhat Flight reduced dexterity, work suit envelope and performance of a human in a bulky space suit”. In fact, Robonaut’s grasping Each finger Torso skills and sensitivity to touch has grasping Contains 38 are markedly finer than those of force of 2kg PowerPC a space-walking astronaut, because its slender fingers have Control processors Lower body no need for thick gloves. A set of From Mission running VxWorks Legs are still in 14 brushless motors in each Control, or operating system development – forearm drive the hands, each of which has the proper comple- locally from R2 initially ment of four fingers and an International Strength mounted on opposable thumb, ensuring Space Station Can lift mobile base compatibility with all the tools (ISS) laptop 9.5kg designed for astronauts. Robonaut can pick up a small metal washer with tweezers, and R2 IN SPACE has the strength to lift more than nine kilos in weight. This may Shuttle not sound like much, but it is more than sufficient for the Discovery Testing inertial loads that it will will deliver R2 will work in encounter in the weightlessness R2 in muti- Destiny laboratory, Task of space. The two fingers purpose providing data on board furtherst from the thumb are designed just for grasping, while storage vibration, zero gravity, Stand the thumbs, forefingers and module radiation exposure, and middle fingers are more fully and electromagnetic mount dextrous. The palm is also jointed. interference Robonaut’s gold-plated head Source: NASA © GRAPHIC NEWS is articulated at the neck, allowing a similar freedom of movement to a human head. F Defense Advanced Research and safer manufacturing Robonaut is a high-profile The torso is built from Project Agency (DARPA) over techniques right here on the testbed for some of these aluminium, with Kevlar and the last decade, and now coming ground.” ambitions. Teflon padding to protect it from to fruition via a joint project It is also about the future of fire and micrometeorite between Nasa, General Motors a faltering US industrial giant Hand and body impacts. The torso and arms are (GM), and Houston-based as it looks towards new and post- Robonaut is designed to look and covered with a custom-fitted Oceaneering Space Systems. petroleum automotive technolo- behave much like a space-suited fabric skin that secures the Special legislation allows all gies. Assembly lines in the human, with no unexpected electrical wire harnesses and three partners to protect their Far East harness the produc- protuberances or sharp edges. keeps dust away from the joint intellectual property in a tivity of the world’s most When it drifts in and out of the mechanical joints. An inner technology that could have advanced robotic assembly limited peripheral vision layer of foam padding absorbs far-reaching implications on systems. GM wants to see afforded by an astronaut’s the impact energy of minor and Earth as well as in orbit. “advanced robots working helmet visor, it will seem permissible collisions between According to Alan Taub, together in harmony with perfectly familiar. Just as Robonaut and its astronaut GM’s vice president for global people, building better, higher- importantly, its physical companions. research and development, quality vehicles in a more gestures will mimic the Finally, we come to the lower “For us, this is about safer cars competitive environment.” behaviours that an astronaut extremities. The torso tapers Engineering & technology 13 November - 10 December 2010 www.theiet.org/magazine
- 4. 33 ‘Here’s a robot that can Robonaut joined mission sts133 see the objects it’s going after, feel the environment and adjust to circumstances. That’s pretty human. It opens up endless possibilities.’ Ron Diftler, Nasa neatly into the top of a single writer Isaac Asimov some half a operator inside the space leg, with hip, knee and ankle century ago. In simple terms, an station, or down on the ground. one small step joints. The ‘foot’ is an adaptor Asimovian robot has freedom of A stereo vision helmet allied that clicks into various attach- ment points on the outside of the action unless the proposed action threatens to cause harm to a force feedback endoskeleton and a pair of gloves studded luNar roboNauT space station, or on the end of to a human. with haptic sensors enables the In November last year, a study long and similarly articulated Similarly, Robonaut operates operator to see and even to feel group at Nasa’s Johnson Space robotic boom arms that are a hierarchy of ‘sub-autonomies’, Robonaut’s environment. The Center wrote the brief for Project already part of the station’s with harm avoidance at the system is an advanced form of M, a proposed mission to land a external equipment. Swapping top of the pyramid. Various what’s known as ‘telepresence’. Robonaut on the Moon in 1,000 between available handholds sub-autonomies run motion The application programmer’s days flat, measured from the time and leg attach points, Robonaut control in 3D Cartesian space, interface (API) allows more than of budgetary approval to the will clamber from one secure the vision system, the teleoper- 40 degrees of freedom to be moment of touchdown – M being location to the next, covering ator interface, joint control, controlled remotely in a ‘master- the Roman numeral for 1,000. ground, so to speak, as it makes and grasping actions. Each slave’ relationship where the The delivery vehicle would be its way from one end to the other sub-autonomy deals with its operator’s motions are a small single-engined lander of the sprawling complex, but own internal safety and decision mimicked, in near real-time, built by Armadillo Aerospace in without ever completely letting making, but will ‘request’ rather by the robot. Mesquite, Texas: one of a dozen go. It has no thruster packs or than ‘demand’ a reconfigura- A key factor in the API’s companies now making rapid independent free-flying tion, or even a complete safety design is ease of use for the advances in the private rocket capability. shutdown, if it senses trouble. human operator. Nasa likes to business. In June last year, Higher level software then design its control systems with Armadillo successfully tested a Laws of Robonautics monitors potential conflicts the human-machine interface at prototype lander fuelled by liquid The common industrial practice between the sub-autonomies and the forefront of its thinking. methane and liquid oxygen. It of having a workplace robot compares them with safety Astronauts tend to have took off from its terrestrial launch cease all motion if anyone parameters before allowing or backgrounds in military platform, then hovered at a preas- inadvertently touches it is not disallowing certain tasks. aviation or aerospace signed altitude and finally, always appropriate for All this is accomplished by engineering, with biological performed a precision autono- Robonaut, because it must be PowerPC processors running and space sciences also adding mous landing. capable of interacting VxWorks, and wired to a Virtual to the selection mix. Relatively A lunar version of Robonaut physically with astronauts Machine Environment (VME) few of them are professionally would operate in near real-time, without necessarily coming to a backplane, or motherboard, familiar with computers or once the operators on Earth have stop every time one of them inside Robonaut’s torso. VME robotics. They need to operate acclimatised their working habits bumps into it. In particular, it allows the sharing of the under- the Robonaut without having to around the one second or so of has to distinguish between lying machine resources know too much about its radio time lag in the command dangerous collisions and between different virtual internal systems. Manipulation and feedback signals. Fanciful desirable physical interactions machines, each running its own of the system must becomes as artwork shows the robot when tools are passed from operating system. intuitive as performing the walking on the moon on two robot to human hands, or when The object-oriented machine’s tasks oneself. legs, but Ambrose thinks that the load of a particularly large ControlShell software frame- Could it be that Robonaut and bipedal locomotion may be too piece of hardware is shared work is used to aid the overall his kind will one day supplant ambitious. “We’re looking at between the robot’s grip and development process, which will humans in space? John Olson, other lower body designs for the an astronaut’s. Ambrose says continue throughout Robonaut’s director of the Exploration Moon, with a four-wheel or that indicator lights and other operational life. Systems Integration Office at six-wheel base,” he says. Neither cues will ensure that Nasa’s headquarters in can we expect any poetic Robonaut’s human minders the puppet masteR Washington, DC, says that such speeches when the robot takes its will always have “a general Ron Diftler, Robonaut project a mournful outcome would be first look at the lunar terrain. understanding of what state manager at JSC, speaks proudly the very opposite of his agency’s Nasa’s Ron Diftler says, “It will be the robot is in.” about these capabilities. intentions. “This project working alone a lot. It won’t really These states are analysed, “Here’s a robot that can see the exemplifies the fact that robots need to talk.” in part, with the help of force- objects it’s going after, feel the are not replacements for us, but In the light of the Obama feedback sensors. But Robonaut surrounding environment and companions that can carry out administration’s cool attitude can also see what it is doing. Its adjust to circumstances as key supporting roles alongside towards future lunar exploration, head contains four stereoscopic needed. That’s pretty us,” he says. Project M has not yet received cameras, one pair in standard human. It opens up endless The combined potential of serious funding. Even so, the definition and the other in HD. possibilities.” humans and robots is, Olson relative simplicity and low cost of This enables the machine to build On the evidence of such a believes, “a perfect example the mission could win it the a depth map of nearby objects, description, Robonaut sounds of the sum equalling more than necessary approval from US which assists in collision avoid- suspiciously smart. If its actions the parts. It will allow us to go lawmakers anxious about the ance as well as in the perform- and intelligent behaviour seem farther and achieve more country’s technology sector. ance of its assembly tasks. almost spookily human, this is than we can probably even Young students in need of a little Robonaut’s hazard assess- because they really are human. imagine today.” L inspiration would be thrilled to ment is loosely comparable to Despite its semi-autonomous become telepresent lunar the famous ‘Laws of Robotics’ capabilities, it is essentially an L further information explorers. proposed by the science fiction avatar, driven by a human http://bit.ly/eandt-weblinks www.theiet.org/magazine 13 November - 10 December 2010 Engineering & Technology
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