It's Alive! Humanoid Robot Powers Up on Space Station | Space Robots & Human Spaceflight | Robonaut 2 In Space & NASA Robots
Space station astronaut Mike Fossum of NASA talks to Mission Control after working on the Robonaut 2 helper droid on the International Space Station on Aug. 22, 2011, during the robot's first tests.
CREDIT: NASA TV
Move over Commander Data, there's a real robot in space, now. The International Space Station got a new crewmember today, one made not of flesh and blood, but of gears and clockwork instead.
Called Robonaut 2, the automaton astronaut was activated by human spaceflyers today (Aug. 22) after months in storage since being delivered to the space station earlier this year. An initial series of tests checked the robot's power systems and camera eyes.
"Those electrons feel GOOD!" read a post on Robonaut 2's Twitter page. "One small step for man, one giant leap for tinman kind." [Photos: Robonaut 2, Robot Butler for Astronauts] [...]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
So what happens when the robots decide they're no longer willing to be bound by the Three Laws (if indeed we decide to incorporate them in the first place, which it seems it would behoove us to do but which some are apparently currently questioning as necessary)?
Comments
Post a Comment