Humanoid Robots on the Moon in 1,000 Days? - Technology Review

Humanoid Robots on the Moon in 1,000 Days?

A curious NASA mission, known as Project M, could send a robot to the moon, soon.

Brittany Sauser 07/02/2010

10 Comments

Credit: NASA/GM

Despite President Obama's new budget proposal to scrap moon-landing plans NASA is pushing forward with a new lunar-based mission, dubbed Project M.

According to the agency, "the proposition is simple: land an operational humanoid robot on the moon in 1,000 days."

NASA made a big splash earlier this year when it unveiled a humanoid robot called Robonaut2 in partnership with GM. At the time, Rob Ambrose, chief of the Software, Robotics and Simulation Division at NASA, told Technology Review that the agency wanted to use the robot for a number of different missions, starting with visits the International Space Station. The proposed Project M, which oddly hasn't been discussed much by NASA officials, seems to be part of this plan. The agency is also testing a prototype lunar lander to launch the robot at Armadillo Aerospace located near Dallas, TX. NasaWatch.com reports that the agency plans to land something on the moon in 2013.

According to NASA's Project M white paper:

The humanoid will travel to the moon on a small lander fueled by green propellants, liquid methane and liquid oxygen. It will perform a precision, autonomous landing, avoiding any hazards or obstacles on the surface. Upon landing the robot will deploy and walk on the surface performing a multitude of tasks focused on demonstrating engineering tasks such as maintenance and construction; performing science of opportunity (i.e. using existing sensors on the robot or small science instruments); and simple student experiments.

Below is a video of the Project M lunar lander in action.

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246 Comments

584 Days Ago
07/03/2010

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I don't believe that a RELIABLE lunar humanoid can be landed on the Moon in 1,000 days, but, starting now, a lunar Opportunity could

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286 Comments

581 Days Ago
07/06/2010

Interesting

Perhaps they failed to mention the person driving it back home.

I dont understand it myself.... Every time they send a rover it malfunctions in an environment that is basically more appealing than any environment on earth.

It doesnt rain there, has less gravity, no sand storms, just a bit of heat thats it and they cant even make a rover last.

The problem i see it is they are under enginerring these things...becuase of weight to get them there.

Hell just pay the extra money and take a toyota up there...Guaranteed itll drive around for longer. (lol)

If these people were sensible...make the damn thing work on earth first ....then send it up there. How flaming hard is that.

Same with the robot...make it to work on earth and you can be damn sure it will work on the moon.

10 Comments

581 Days Ago
07/06/2010

Re: Interesting

um, heard about the mars rovers? They've lasted what 5 years now, with one still going.

407 Comments

581 Days Ago
07/06/2010

re:interesting

People who are in the process of constructing their own augmented/simulated reality game get to play by a whole different set of rules.

52 Comments

581 Days Ago
07/06/2010

Tele-presence

Just 1.3 sec delay for video, and a control signal/feedback round trip time of 2.6 secs. You can operate this robot from Earth, like an avatar! What about landing many such robots on the moon and charge for the 3D moon exploration experience, to finance new landings? And use them to build factories from raw materials (we did it on Earth). Lack of fire is a problem, but you don't need to start from scratch like we did here. Build other robots there. The possibilities are unbounded, given enough time. If it takes one tenth the time since the industrial revolution (acquired knowledge acceleration factor), in less than twenty years you could have an entire civilization worth of manufacturing capability running on the moon.

1 Comment

581 Days Ago
07/06/2010

Re: Tele-presence

Seems to be a fairly stable platform, necessary for an unmanned craft. The robot would unlikely be able to interact with the flight. The comment of direct ground control is erroneous, anyone having operated a remote control craft would know that even one second of delay is a long time and typically disastrous. NASA realised this at the beginning. RC is utilized in many applications today for remote flights but it still has it's limitations, and that is with near zero delay.

As far as 1000 days? Focus, limited outside involvement, and a little luck! I would say it's doable. It would provide a solution to Mars habitation by providing "manpower" to construct and test facilities prior to human arrival.

52 Comments

580 Days Ago
07/07/2010

Re: Tele-presence

I wasn't thinking of flight control, just work on the ground. 2.6 seconds delay would be awkward, I know, but unless you're trying to juggle moon rocks, I don't see there's a big problem. I've got an idea to improve the experience: you could automatically model the moon surroundings in a VR environment, then you can manipulate objects in this simulated environment and your actions would be reproduced 1.3 seconds later on the real one. The robot/avatar could have some autonomy to correct minor misjudgments. This idea would be easier to implement the more structured the environment becomes as the robots' effort tames the moon.

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6 Comments

574 Days Ago
07/13/2010

but what to do with it ??

i really wonder what the goal of the robot will be turn rocks upside down, dig a hole, or build a manufacturing plant for helium3, or just provide greetings to the people of earth ?

instead of exploring its about time we actualy going to do something overthere, columbes didnt kept sailing he landed and had a goal to concur America

286 Comments

571 Days Ago
07/16/2010

Youre thinking sending the signal by radio?

Put a laser receptor up there and have it relay messages in milliseconds.

Then you could have your entire army of robots doing things. Even so a 1.3 second delay is nothing...look at steven hawkins his delay is more than that and hes created some very fine works. In fact in his wheel-chair bound state he has done an awful lot.

If you think a fully mobile robot with a 1.3 second (or shorter) delay cant be an effective tool on the moon then theres something wrong with you.

The VR suggestion is spot on to what technology can do at the moment.

Gone should be the days with rows of people in a room looking at buttons and cursor consoles that say press enter to move the rover 10 centimeters forward.

Hooray for someone smart enough to bring an idea that takes the space program into present again.

286 Comments

571 Days Ago
07/16/2010

1.3 seconds

Just cause its 1.3 seconds travel time doesnt mean you wont see it till 2.6 seconds...Thats old school thinking.

Its quite easy to put a guage on the screen red to green showing the delay to the operator, such that in intricate jobs he makes sure he stays in the green..ie very small movemments and in other areas has a greater freedom.

There would be no delay shown on the screen...ie what the robots sees, the person on the ground sees at the same time...its called augmented extrapolated screening or AES for short.

Sorry i just invented the tech, so youlll have to build it. Even so with the red-green guage the robot would be extremely effective. Its not difficult to extrapolate what items do in 4d space, just needs a 3d map display.

NASA was right back then to not look at it. NASA is WRONG...REALLY WRONG to not look at now.

Somebody somewhere kick NASA or ESA and get them back on board with this please.

Bio

This blog focuses on the nuts-and-bolts of space technology. We're interested in the hardware that's actually going into orbit and beyond. We write about what's involved in building, launching, and operating spacecraft, exploration vehicles, and habitats (and what it takes on the ground to support them) today.

Delta-V is written by Stephen Cass, a senior editor at TR who has covered space technology and exploration for nine years, and Brittany Sauser, a space technology reporter at TR.

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