Our society is working very hard in order to reach new places and explore new planets. GM and NASA are trying to do all they can to fulfill the dream of going to space and they created a humanoid robot called Robonaut 2. What the Robonaut 2 does is that it helps humans explore and work in space.
The robot on its own has a very good dexterity and it manages to bring in front some interesting capabilities. If there are any risks or the task is too challenging for a human, the robot will immediately take its place and complete that particular task without any problem.
Robots are dexterous and they are able to manipulate a variety of situations without any issues. The Robonaut 2 is an improvement over the previous version as you would expect. It can still handle a multitude of EVA tools as well as plenty of EVA interfaces, but it does come with some great benefits.
The overall speed of the robot is up to 4 times faster and the robot is a lot more compact. In addition to that, the Robonaut 2 has a wider range of sensing and has a deeper understanding. The better technology is integrated all over the robot and it features an overlapping dual arm, an extended finger as well as thumb travel, redundant force sensing, some very good speed joint controllers, a high resolution camera, an extreme neck travel and even some IR systems.
The Robonaut 2 is indeed a robot focused more on dexterity and speed, which is something that the first particular model did lack to be honest. In fact, Robonaut 2 is actually approaching the human dexterity and that’s what makes it so powerful in the first place. The robot can perform a variety of tasks such as changing air filters or anything similar. It can also set up investigations and it can place the necessary tools on the ground. These are some very important tasks that sometimes can be challenging for astronauts but Robonaut 2 can do them without a problem.
Sometimes, a space mission does need a robot like this and with enough help the outcome can be very good. The Robonaut 2 is receiving an even better reception than its predecessor and in case we will see an improvement over the first one, it will certainly be the ultimate value that you can get here.
I personally think that the Robonaut 2 is a solid investment from GM and NASA, and I do feel that it will be an important part of the colonization and exploration of other planets. Even so, it can work quite well on Earth whenever we have to reach specific places that are hard to access, so either way it’s an amazing piece of engineering with a lot to offer!
YouTube: First Movement of Robonaut 2 on ISS
Photo credit: NASA
