A bit of self-ad here :-) Hear my lab colleague Tony Morse speaking about developmental robotics, and meet our little iCub...
As a bonus, have a peep into the kitchen and messy lab of the guys downstairs... my office is of course much nicer!!!
the little android's oil bearings and ultrasonic sensors will not work in the lunar vacuum
The one-sixth gravity presents problems for stable movement, and Moon dust clogs joints.
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa), the country's space agency. It runs the rockets needed to deliver their robot to the Moon and, so far, has been distinctly cool on the idea.
Interesting!
I like the quote "Maybe China would allow that to be a one-way trip but, in Japan, it would have to be a return ticket" talking about a human mission ....
CHARLI is the first untethered, autonomous, full-sized, walking, humanoid robot with four moving limbs and a head, built in the United States. His two long legs and arms can move and gesture thanks to a combination of pulleys, springs, carbon fiber rods, and actuators. CHARLI soon will be able to talk as well.
We are departing from traditional approaches of a single robotic spacecraft with no redundancy that is Earth-commanded to one that allows for having multiple, expendable low-cost robots that can command themselves or other robots at various locations at the same time.
The system uses Amazon's Mechanical Turk, an online marketplace which pairs up workers with employers that have simple tasks they need completing. The robot takes a photo of the object it doesn't recognise and sends it to Mechanical Turk.
The Economist this week has a 14-page special on the rise of the robots. Don't expect a very indepth technical review but an interesting read nonetheless for some maybe.
This article nailed the issue, as far as I'm concerned.
By the way the diagram in the Economist is hilarious.. amazing combination of American and male chauvinism!
Soft Robots Scientists from Cornell University and the Italian Technology Institute in Pontedera have developed an elastic robotic skin that is able to stretch up to five times its size, change colors, and even detect pressure. The luminescent skin, partly funded by the Army and Air Force's research wings, is comprised of different kinds of specialized silicone, making it flexible and soft.