NASA creates space robots

One of the astronauts in training for an upcoming shuttle flight can operate a variety of power tools, is more limber than a gymnast and has only one leg.

Robonaut, which NASA hopes to place on a shuttle flight in about 18 months, is one of a series of robots that the space agency is developing to assist humans in outer space.

Others include Tendril, a robotic cable a centimetre in diameter that can snake into tight spaces and take pictures, and Scout, a four-wheel planetary rover, about the size of a golf cart, that will ferry astronauts around or carry their oxygen and other gear on planetary hikes.

Then there's Spidernaut, a 270kg, eight-legged mechanical arachnid that will crawl around on the outside of space craft to mend things. Although it weighs considerably more than an astronaut, its eight-leg design distributes the weight in a manner that makes the robot's footfalls less potentially damaging to the skin of a spacecraft than those of a two-legged human.

"Where does a 270kg spider go? Anywhere it wants," Rob Ambrose, director of the Johnson Space Center, said during a presentation at Robonexus, a conference in San Jose that ended on Sunday.

Although NASA has deployed robots such as the Mars rovers for years, the agency is increasing its efforts in robotics as its missions increase in complexity. Over the next few decades, the US government wants to place humans on Mars and build a base on the Moon for launching rockets, which essentially will mean human occupation of the rocky satellite. Because they don't breathe, eat or lose muscle mass during space flight, robots are great helpers in inhospitable climates.

The humanoid Robonaut will function something like an astronaut's assistant, said Ambrose. It can open doors, use a drill, climb ladders and perform other manual tasks with its two arms and two hands. Its head comes with stereoscopic cameras and an LED light for illuminating surfaces.

Conceivably, Robonaut will anchor itself with all of the appropriate equipment required to perform an outer-space operation. Humans, who are much faster and more dextrous than robots but can carry only a limited amount of oxygen, will presumably pop outside to perform specific tasks and leave Robonaut out there to clean up the mess.

To make communication easier, systems like Scout and Robonaut will respond to voice commands or gestures, he added.

The man-bot even wears a white, puffy space suit, but its human resemblance ends at the waist. For one thing, Robonaut has a far greater range of motion (bending and twisting) at the waist than gymnasts, said Ambrose. It also has only one leg, with a metal toe that allows it to anchor into ports. A single leg, it turns out, is better for balance in zero gravity.

For shuttling around surfaces, Robonaut B, the second version of the robot, has an attachable base that comes from a Segway scooter.

"The Segway turns out to be excellent for moving the Robonaut around," he said.

A third version of the robot, Robonaut C, is currently under development and is slated to go on a space shuttle mission in about a year and a half, he added.

When the space shuttle will actually fly again is an open question. Unwelcome in-orbit repairs during last summer's flight of Discovery and an ageing design have prompted the US government to ground the shuttle fleet indefinitely.

Speed is not of the essence, Ambrose said. "When you have a robot handing you a sharp tool, you want it to be slow and deliberate."

The agency will also soon release a new version of the Aercam, a floating football of a camera that can scout the outside of spacecraft and look for problems.