This past Thursday, February 24th 2011, marked two distinct milestones for NASA and space exploration: space shuttle Discovery launched for a final time bringing its 27 years and 143 million miles of service to an end while at the same time carrying in her cargo bay Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot (that we know of) to be deployed into outer space.
Robonaut 2 Being Carried on Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133
To be more specific, Robonaut 2 is only half a humanoid robot, containing an upper torso and a head but lacking hips, legs, or feet… NASA plans to add those in later versions. R2, as the robot is called, has been developed in collaboration with General Motors (the automotive company), and is what NASA expects to be the first of a new generation of robots that will assist humans in space explorations. As such, the deployment of R2 at the ISS will comprise the first wave of various experiments in deploying this type of robots into outer space, tasked with both assisting and collaborating humans in their missions while also carrying out missions that are otherwise too dangerous or laborious for human astronauts. Among these tasks, EVAs, Space Assembly, and General Repairs of ISS’ outer structure are amongst the most cited examples of what they expect to do with R2.
R2 is capable of both teleoperated missions as well as autonomous and semi-autonomous modes. Certainly having dextrous hands capable of using some of the same tools as humans do will go a long way in carrying out these missions and NASA expects to both accomplish and learn a great deals in using robots in such missions in outer space.
A while ago I had a brief email thread with Dr. Firouz Naderi at JPL about the wisdom of the humanoid form-factor for such robots. While the crammed hallways of the ISS are conducive to the humanoid form, I can think of a variety of other form-factors that may be more ideal to the Zero G environment and the types of tasks they are expected to perform – particularly in the longer term roadmap of NASA’s space exploration roadmap. Nevertheless, the fact that NASA is actively investigating the role of robots in space exploration marks a significant milestone not only for NASA but for robotics as well.
No doubt we will be learning a great deal on human-robot interaction given the tightly controlled and scripted experiments that are run on any given day on the ISS. The introduction of robot assistants into the mechanics of running these experiments will go a long way in providing best practices and intuitive interfaces for human-robot collaboration, amongst other lessons. The use of robots also opens up the possibility of experiments that are otherwise too dangerous and/or laborious for human scientists to undertake in the extreme environment of LEO, leading to both direct and indirect scientific research benefits never before possible.
There are other benefits worth mentioning as well.
As robots are a natural at capturing the cultural imagination, putting a visible humanoid robot into space may have the added benefit of getting people interested in not only space exploration, but the incredible scientific research and development that is needed and conducted on an ongoing basis to do so. The interest of the populace is particularly important today as the global economic climate and the domestic political mood are in misalignment with our appetite to invest in such endeavors.
It is indeed worrisome that the current Republican controlled U.S. Congress has publicly gone on the record that cutting funding for NASA is on their agenda. While as a CEO of a for-profit company I am deeply concerned with our national debt, I believe cutting funding to NASA (and any other national organization conducting public R&D for that matter) is extremely short-sighted and carries grave consequences for the longer term viability of our national economy. It is no secret that innovation has been the key driving force of our economy and if we are to remain competitive in the globalized marketplace, it is vitally important that we continue to be a nation of innovation. And without public investments in large-scale abstract and directed research, we will be severely and measurably cutting the very lifeblood that has sustained our economic viability since World War II.
R2 is a great first step… and to the extent it helps to inspire us to ever greater achievements, and inspires an entirely new generation of our youth into science and engineering, I’m all for it, wish it luck, and hope to see it do great things in the very near future.
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 Crew
So bon voyage to R2, Discovery, and her incredible crew of astronaut scientist.
Best,
/F
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 Launches for her Final Journey
For those of you who attended the 2010 Immersive Tech Summit in person, you already know you were part of something special. After my talk that day I wrote a quick summary post of some of the talks I found interesting and worthwhile… though not by any means an exhaustive one. The Immersive Tech Summit was extremely insightful and beneficial – and by all indications and feedback I’ve heard since then – a huge success that I hope repeats again next year.
Soon after my talk I was asked by many of you asking for a video of my talk titled Around the World in 80 Seconds, A Story of Robotic Telepresence from RoboDynamics CEO, Fred Nikgohar.
Meanwhile, I’d like to draw your attention to several other talks from that day. Again, this is by no means an exhaustive list and I recommend checking out all the great talks that have been posted.
Dr JoAnn Kuchera-Morin (UCSB) presenting The Allosphere
Dr. Avideh Zakhour’s Instant 3D Modeling
Chris Noessel on Science Fiction and Immersive Tech
…and of course the bonus here is the incredible video of Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir which is an absolute must see:
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir
I am grateful for the fantastic summit that was put on by Nathan Makino and his team and am honored for the opportunity to have had this intimate time with the fine people who came to the conference.
Travis Deyle over at Hizook asked me to write an article for his blog which I was happy to oblige given his dedication to sparking intelligent and in-depth conversations on topics in robotics.
“The Need for Low Cost Sensors in Robotics – The Holiday Edition” is an analysis of the current state of sensory components in robotics, our dire need for more complex sensing at lower prices, and a look at how Microsoft has been able to create a powerful (3D sensing) device with Kinect at a very reasonable price.
Emulating the same strategy as Microsoft, the robotics industry can also achieve significant milestones in commercialization of mobile/intelligent robots… and the Kinect project should be looked at as a simple and achievable roadmap in our industry.
There’s a very good post over at Hizook on the lessons of the hacked Kinect: Nutshell:
“The best solution to complex low cost sensing (or actuation for that matter) is to take advantage of affordable, mass-produced components, complementing them with the innovative use of software solutions that benefit from constantly declining prices of computation.”
Well worth reading it all.
You can read the full article over at the Hizook blog here:
Special thanks to Travis Deyle for posting it to Hizook.
Given the feedback I’ve received on this article, I’ve been inspired to write a whole series of articles analyzing and offering a roadmap for the successful commercialization of personal robots. If you have insights and would like to contribute, please get in contact with me.
There is something unexplainably elegant about simplicity. Case in point: The Noun Project.
The Noun Project has a simple mission” “… to share, celebrate, and enhance the world’s visual language”.
Their goal is to collect and organize all the symbols that form our language into one easy-to-use online library that can be accessed by anyone. These symbols (icons) are available for download and use through their website – and they’re adding new symbols everyday.
In order to raise a bit of funding to accomplish their mission, they used Kickstarter to post a funcing request… and they’re giving really cool prizes to the people who support them. For example, for a $30 donation, you can get a custom-made T-Shirt with the symbol of your choice printed on it.
I was particularly interested in the $45 prize, which includes a custom-made T-Shirt with a custom-designed symbol created in collaboration with the person who donates. I was interested in this because I noticed they have yet to include a ROBOT symbol on their site.
I spoke to Edward Boatman, the principle at The Noun Project, via email today and he agreed to make a custom-designed robot icon that would be included on their website for anyone’s use. He will also send a T-Shirt with that symbol to me – which is very cool!
The Noun Project is a fantastic undertaking that benefits the world. And I’m clearly not the only person who thinks so – given that they’ve raised five times the money they were seeking. Nevertheless, I highly recommend everyone to checkout their funding request on Kickstarter and support them.
I will post an update with a picture of myself wearing the T-Shirt once I receive it.
Veteran Robotics Scientist and Chairman Emeritus of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at USC Dr. George Bekey Joins the Advisory Board of RoboDynamics Corporation.
RoboDynamics HQ – Santa Monica (December 14, 2010)
RoboDynamics announced today that Dr. George Bekey has joined its Advisory Board.
Dr. Bekey is the founding Director of the USC Robotics Lab and current Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Biomedical Engineering at USC. Since retirement several years ago, Dr. Bekey has remained active in teaching and research, currently leading courses in biomedical engineering and robotics at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.
Dr. Bekey will join Dr. Illah Nourbakhsh of CMU’s Robotics Institute and other distinguished robotics scientists on the RoboDynamics Board of Advisors. In this capacity Dr. Bekey will work closely with the R&D teams at the company while representing RoboDynamics at international conferences where he is a frequent invited speaker.
“Dr. Bekey has provided a half century of distinguished contributions to the field of robotics” said Fred Nikgohar, CEO of RoboDynamics. “He is the preeminent Statesman of our field and we are honored to be in the position of benefiting from his guidance and having him representing the values and the people of RoboDynamics”.
“The profiling of RoboDynamics as the company pioneering Enterprise Robotic Telepresence by the New York Times and other major publications is an indication of this company’s vision and potential” said Dr. George Bekey. “Being privy to upcoming projects I am excited to be a part of something that has the potential to be historic and I’m glad for the opportunity to be a part of this team”.
RoboDynamics is the recognized global leader in enterprise robotic telepresence with its TiLR Robotic Telepresence Platform. Introduced commercially in 2008, RoboDynamics is the first company to bring cost-savings, travel reduction, and significant productivity increases through the use of robotic technology.
RoboDynamics is the pioneer of Enterprise Robotic Telepresence. Their human-sized TiLR platform has been in deployment since 2008 across multiple verticals and organizations of all sizes. TiLR is a robotic avatar that enables remote users to participate with geographically dispersed team members as though they’re there in person. RoboDynamics, founded in 2003, is a privately held company based out of Santa Monica, CA.
Given the feedback I’ve received on this article, I’ve been inspired to write a whole series of articles analyzing and offering a roadmap for the successful commercialization of personal robots. If you have insights and would like to contribute, please 
A Final Mission For NASA’s Discovery Shuttle Marks A New Beginning For Humanoid Robotics
February 26th, 2011This past Thursday, February 24th 2011, marked two distinct milestones for NASA and space exploration: space shuttle Discovery launched for a final time bringing its 27 years and 143 million miles of service to an end while at the same time carrying in her cargo bay Robonaut 2, the first humanoid robot (that we know of) to be deployed into outer space.
Robonaut 2 Being Carried on Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133
R2 is capable of both teleoperated missions as well as autonomous and semi-autonomous modes. Certainly having dextrous hands capable of using some of the same tools as humans do will go a long way in carrying out these missions and NASA expects to both accomplish and learn a great deals in using robots in such missions in outer space.
A while ago I had a brief email thread with Dr. Firouz Naderi at JPL about the wisdom of the humanoid form-factor for such robots. While the crammed hallways of the ISS are conducive to the humanoid form, I can think of a variety of other form-factors that may be more ideal to the Zero G environment and the types of tasks they are expected to perform – particularly in the longer term roadmap of NASA’s space exploration roadmap. Nevertheless, the fact that NASA is actively investigating the role of robots in space exploration marks a significant milestone not only for NASA but for robotics as well.
No doubt we will be learning a great deal on human-robot interaction given the tightly controlled and scripted experiments that are run on any given day on the ISS. The introduction of robot assistants into the mechanics of running these experiments will go a long way in providing best practices and intuitive interfaces for human-robot collaboration, amongst other lessons. The use of robots also opens up the possibility of experiments that are otherwise too dangerous and/or laborious for human scientists to undertake in the extreme environment of LEO, leading to both direct and indirect scientific research benefits never before possible.
There are other benefits worth mentioning as well.
As robots are a natural at capturing the cultural imagination, putting a visible humanoid robot into space may have the added benefit of getting people interested in not only space exploration, but the incredible scientific research and development that is needed and conducted on an ongoing basis to do so. The interest of the populace is particularly important today as the global economic climate and the domestic political mood are in misalignment with our appetite to invest in such endeavors.
It is indeed worrisome that the current Republican controlled U.S. Congress has publicly gone on the record that cutting funding for NASA is on their agenda. While as a CEO of a for-profit company I am deeply concerned with our national debt, I believe cutting funding to NASA (and any other national organization conducting public R&D for that matter) is extremely short-sighted and carries grave consequences for the longer term viability of our national economy. It is no secret that innovation has been the key driving force of our economy and if we are to remain competitive in the globalized marketplace, it is vitally important that we continue to be a nation of innovation. And without public investments in large-scale abstract and directed research, we will be severely and measurably cutting the very lifeblood that has sustained our economic viability since World War II.
R2 is a great first step… and to the extent it helps to inspire us to ever greater achievements, and inspires an entirely new generation of our youth into science and engineering, I’m all for it, wish it luck, and hope to see it do great things in the very near future.
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 Crew
Best,
/F
Space Shuttle Discovery STS-133 Launches for her Final Journey
Stunning video captured on iPhone from airplane
Tags: Astronauts, Discovery, General Motors, International Space Station, ISS, Launch, NASA, R2, Robonaut 2, Space Assembly, Space Exploration, Space Shuttle, Space Walks, STS-133, US Congress
Posted in Commentary, Policy, Robots | Comments