PSFK Talks to NASA

Another of our string of Nextfest interviews was with the awesome team from NASA. They had an impressive display and a top notch group that were more than accommodating to speak with. We got a chance to see the Robonaut assistant up close and ask some questions. 

Robonaut is designed to assist astronauts in any number of tasks. One of the first things I asked about was why it was built with arms, legs, torso, etc. instead of some not so human shape. The answer was not surprisingly one of function. Since Robonaut is about the same size and shape as an astronaut it can go where ever the astronaut can go. The hands were even designed to function like human hands so that any tool a person could use Robonaut can use. This means no special sets of tools or fixtures have to be developed for the robot.

One advantage of Robonaut is safety. The robot can do most things a
person can do. This means in dangerous situations the robot can leave
the vehicle instead of an astronaut. Another interesting fact that came
up in our discussion was rapid deployment issues. The astronaut I spoke
to said there is a two hour breathing exercise that has to be performed
prior to suiting up for work outside the spacecraft. The breathing
exercise must be done to avoid problems with nitrogen in the astronauts
blood stream. In an emergency, two hours is a very long time. The
Robonaut obviously doesn’t need this preparation and can be set to work
immediately.

This leads to yet another advantage where the Robonaut can be sent
out first to set up a project and then the astronauts can come out and
handle the trickier aspects of a job. This is a simple issue of
maximizing the work time of humans since they have limited time to work
where the Robonaut wouldn’t.

The Robonaut is also designed to carry equipment that might encumber
an astronaut. Things like having tools attached to the robot instead of
the human are big advantages in an environment where a small mistake
can be fatal. The Robonaut can carry and hold tools until they are
needed and then hand them to the astronaut.

For an in depth look at Robonaut with photos, videos and full explanation of the project check out http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/