WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

A head and torso shot of a full-sized Robonaut--a humanoid robot designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in the control loop through its telepresence control system. Robonaut is designed to be used for "EVA" tasks, i.e., those which were not specifically designed for robots. EDITOR'S NOTE: Robonaut A, pictured here, was recently joined by a newer version, called Robonaut B, in hand-in-hand testing at the Johnson Space Center with human beings to evaluate the ability of the human beings and robots to perform certain types of extravehicular tasks.