ROBONAUTS

History

Present Day

Future

Roboticist

Cartoon and Film

Robotic Additions

Robots under water

Robonauts

Links

FREE Newsletter

Enter your details recieve your
FREE Newsletter worth upto £89.99

Full Name:
Email:

A robot is basically a machine which can be programmed. We all as children have owned or seen a toy robot, well now what started as a fantasy in a fictional story written by Asimov in 1942 has become a reality. This website is called Robotic and hopefully will enlighten your knowledge and your interest in these human creations.

Robonauts

ROBOTS IN THE SPACE INDUSTRY (ROBONAUTS)

Robots have come into their own in the Space Industry in the last fifty years. Nasa have designed their very own Humanoid Robot which was designed by
the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's JSC with another company called DARPA. Their creation is referred to as a ROBONAUT.
It is designed to have a range of movements and dexterity,about the same as an astraunot wearing a space suit and has been designed over time to take over tasks that up until now have been done by astraunots such as serviceing the Space Flight Hardware.

When designing the Robonaut great thought was given to what duties it would be doing and which tools it would be using and how in the last fifty years astronauts had been managing the tools that they needed to complete their missions. Since 1965 ( Nasa's Gemini 4 mission), astronauts have been walking in space.or rather floating outside their space capsules. This as we can all well imagine is a dangerous and difficult manoevre. What isnt so widely known is the fact that the astronaut is actually floating while needing to hold a' hand held self maneuvering kit' (a kit which has a camera mounted on the front and expels gas which thrusts the astronaut in different controlled directions) in order for him to get around to do the necessary serviceing work required.

The robot has a five fingered hand and human size arm and has lots of sensors such as thermal, position, tactile, force and torque. It has 150 sensors in all The Robonaut includes an onboard CPU with miniature data acquisition and power management all put in to its especially hardened body. A special thermal suit was also made for Robonaut to protect this very expensive piece of equipment from the wild temperature swings in space.

Another mobile robot Sojourner was used in space (Nasa 1997 Mars exploration) This looks rather more like a car than a robot and has six wheels all of which are independently operated making it able to manoevre itself around objects. It is completely remotely controlled from earth with a top travelling speed of 0.4m/min It gets its power from a 10 watt solar panel. This robot alone has sent back millions of pictures from space.

Another very useful robot which would not look out of place in a car factory is the Canadarm (no guessing where this originated) there are various versions of this and its basically a shoulder, elbow, arm and wrist assembly and one routinely flies on every space missions and has done for many years. Its has many adapted uses ut was originally designed to work as a mobile work station for astronauts.

A multipurpose telerobotic system for use in space which was started in 1987 and intended to help build the first space station has not yet been put into space despite millions of dollars having been spent designing and making it. Various versions have appeared but work is on going. The scientists goal is to make an automated, telerobotic, teleoperated robot with sensing and cognitive skills similar to that of a human who can work in a very simple way with such things as assembly serviceing, maintenance and telescience tasks but who can also function in very complex ways. No mean feat but if we look back over the last fifty years and see just how far humans have progressed with the exploration of space and how much knowledge and pictures of space we now have we can only wonder at how far we will get in the future.

2008-07-16
SELF REPLICATION.or SELF REPRODUCTION at Cornell.
Cornell University have an interesting project involving a three dimensional 4-module Robot.&
More..

2008-07-16
EVOLUTIONARY ROBOTICS
Are robots technical devices that have to be developed and controlled by a human engineer, or could robots also develop a
More..

2008-07-16
THE WORLDS SMALLEST ROBOT.

Researchers have built an inchworm-like robot so small that you need a microscope to see it.
This tin
More..

2008-07-16
DRIVERLESS CAR TECHNOLOGY
Robotic cars are not yet ready for mass production however they are improving. Technology such as emergency braking,
More..

2008-07-16
THE PASSAT THAT PARKS ITSELF

What are we talking about? Park Assist Vision. Pull up just past an empty parking space, let the nav
More..

2008-02-16
Toshiba has developed a prototype robot that can act as a voice gateway to just about anything in a room that has a remote control. Almost all h
More..

2008-02-10
Madeline the Robot Turtle.

John Long is one of the makers of Madeline and she was made at Vasser College in New York, USA.
The
More..

Subscribe/Unsubscribe for our Newsletter!

Send this page to a friend!