Science

See NASA’s Two-Ton Robot That Can Leap Over Asteroids

Gizmodo Features NASAs Giant ATHLETE Robot

NASA's Athlete rover (Photo: Gizmodo)

This article originally appeared on Gizmodo by Brent Rose as part of a series called Space Camp. 

Michael Jordan? Muhammad Ali? Joe Montana? Sit down. The world’s most amazing athlete works for NASA. Meet the gigantic, six-legged, tool-wielding robot that can hop around an asteroid. Tiger Woods ain‘t got nothin’.

The robot you see in the video (Blaze note: see Gizmodo’s original post for the footage) is a half-scale model of a vehicle that NASA wants to send on a human mission to the moon. Half. This thing is thirteen feet tall. It’s naked in the video, but when it eventually launches it’ll have a payload on its back. It’ll probably house a ton of tools and gear, and even temporary space for a crew of one or two. It‘s the lunar rover’s mutant, roboinsectoid big brother, and it’s incredible.

Athlete’s wheels are designed for benign terrain, which means normal, solid, not-too-rocky moon dirt. Ordinarily, a vehicle this size and weight (it weighs more 5,000 pounds and can carry a payload of over 32,000 pounds… well, earth-pounds) would need big fat wheels to prevent it from sinking in soft sand. Ditto for driving over larger obstacles. But larger wheels need larger motors, which require more weight, more power, and other headaches. The engineers who designed Athlete sidestepped this problem. Literally. By having the wheels on articulated limbs, it can just step over large rocks, or push itself out of soft sand. This means it can have smaller wheels and motors, which makes it far more dextrous. The limbs that drive the robot are the limbs that do detailed work, like drilling and taking samples. The motors that turn the wheels are the motors that actuate the tools. Genius. Or, perhaps more to the point: rocket science.

Here’s Athlete also shows how it can “bust a move”:

The tools (all of which hang off the sides of the vehicle and are swappable) attach to the arms with a standard half-inch square-drive, just like you’d find in a nice, burly ratchet set. The tool you see in the video is a counter-rotating auger-anchor. Because the augers are rotating in opposing directions, it effectively cancels out any torque on the arm—and more importantly, on the vehicle. When gravity is scarse, the force of a drill on Athlete’s arm could fling its body around like a ragdoll. On an asteroid, for instance, where there is almost no gravity, the Athlete could use two of these auger sets, embedding them then removing them in sequence, to essentially “walk” across the surface. Other tools currently include drill bits, grippers, and scooping devices.

It’s incredible to see. Then they fire up the Low-Gravity Test Bed, the monster soars over your head, and you lose the ability to form sentences.

The moon‘s gravitational pull is far weaker than Earth’s—and almost non-existant on an asteroid. In order to test how Athlete will perform in realistic situations, NASA built a series of computer-controlled winches that can effectively simulate micro-gravity. When the test bed is engaged, you can see how the rover can jump up and land. You can see how it would be able to maneuver off the ground, using small blasts from tiny rockets.

Gizmodo Features NASAs Giant ATHLETE Robot

NASA's first generation of Athlete showing its cargo transport abilities. (Photo: NASA)

Oh, and it does all of this in 3D. Athlete is a super-spider (with six legs, I know. Maybe it was in a fight?). Not only does it have tons of eyes, but the eyes all come in pairs, enabling perhaps the only useful implementation of 3D ever. The drive cameras, hazard avoidance cameras (haz-cams), and tool cams are all stereoscopic. When you’re navigating a foreign world, two dimensions aren’t going to cut it. You need depth-perception. You need to see the world as if you were standing there.

You would think that something as sophisticated as this would be impossible to control unless you went to MIT. You’d be wrong. Meet the Conductor Project. These are the people who are working on intuitive, natural interfaces for complex robotic systems. Their job: to take something extremely technical and put it into the language of humans. Remember those incredible Mars Exploration sites we unveiled last week that made you feel like you were on the surface of the red planet? Yeah, that was them.

In the video(Blaze note: see Gizmodo’s original post for the footage)  you see an Xbox Kinect controlling Athlete in simulation. Obviously, Athlete cannot move as fast as it does in the simulation. So what’s the point? It allows NASA engineers and scientists a broader picture and it’s extremely useful in mission-planning and target selection. A scientist who has had zero training can step into an immersive 270-degree wrap around screen (or just use the TV you see in the video) and control the Athlete. Want to go forward? Walk in place. Want to turn left or right? Shift your shoulders. Switch into manipulation mode? Just raise your hands. I got to try it, and I was up and running in mere second, though it did not appreciate my popping and locking (no, you can’t see video of that atrocity).

Xbox isn’t the only one getting NASA love. Every year NASA takes some of its projects to the deserts of Arizona for an outing called Desert Rats, so engineers can test their systems in adverse conditions. At Desert Rats 2010, Athlete traveled 60 kilometers controlled almost entirely by a Nintendo Wii.

Conductor is also working on ways to control NASA’s Robonaut (currently on the International Space Station). The idea is that the more intuitive the controls, the more astronauts can focus on the tasks they are trying to accomplish, rather than fussing with their tools. As these systems become more adept, we will be able to accomplish more with less risk, less time, and less cost. According to Victor Luo, the Technical Lead for the Conductor Project, it takes an astronaut about four-hours to prepare for a spacewalk, or EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity). Robonaut won’t have to worry about breathing, freezing, or radiation exposure, so if it can become as dextrous as an astronaut, NASA can save a lot of time and worry.

As Athlete touched down again, it was hard for us to wrap our heads around what we’d just seen. Are these the pickup trucks of the future? When our grandkids are all living on moon colonies, will Toyota be making things that look like this? If so, I hereby volunteer myself as test-driver #1.

Huge thanks to everyone at Athlete and Conductor for their time.

Check back later for NASA’s ingenius $200 answer to a $100,000,000 problem.

–

Blaze note:

Watch what NASA’s All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) can do:

Comments (33)

  • Secret Squirrel
    Posted on February 3, 2012 at 4:40pm

    .
    Okay, it can dance,
    but can it make muslims feel goo about themselves?
    Remember, that‘s Obama’s new goal of NASA.

    Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
  • grannyrecipe
    Posted on February 3, 2012 at 5:56am

    That would be a handy critter for the farm.

    Report Post » grannyrecipe  
  • BrotherWill
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:02pm

    And now you see why they are defunding NASA. They have nothing better to do than make dancing robots apparently.

    Report Post » BrotherWill  
  • TH30PH1LUS
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:16pm

    Listed for $19.95 at NASA’s Liquidation Sale

    Report Post » TH30PH1LUS  
  • miamisammy
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:13pm

    As a test, NASA can take it to DC in Feb of 2013 and see if it will transport all of the Obama belongings back to Chicago without breaking any of them.

    Report Post »  
    • Shrugged
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 7:58am

      Obama’s belongings should be repossessed and sold to fund some of the national debt he has racked up. He also should serve as an indentured servant until it is paid. ALL of Congress – and the POTUS – should have to take Medicare and pay for their health insurance too.

      Report Post »  
    • let us prey
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 11:07am

      Miami lol.

      Report Post » let us prey  
  • Miyegombo Bayartsogt
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:59am

    Built by GM, this electric green vehicle is designed to fly million of miles across the solar system, land on a space rock and this mysteriously catch on fire.

    Report Post »  
    • Awakening Day
      Posted on February 2, 2012 at 3:04pm

      What an absolute waist of time and taxpayer money. They pretend it’s cool by playing the footage forward and backward quickly. This monstrosity probably cost the tax payer 100 million to develop. Leap over asteroids? Right.. more like clumsily crawl over some small hills..Get the Federal Government out of developing Space exploration tech. The private industries are already doing it better. Brandson and his company is sending people up into space at 100th of the cost and he’s going to be making a profit. His innovation alone has closed down NASA’s manned space mission. Right now you can pay Russia to take you to space.. but not here. There’s no provision in the Constitution to steal our money (tax) and explore space. But I‘m sure the do a great job in over regulating business’s to do so while inefficiently wasting money on crap like this. Get the government out of the way of transportation and flight and in less then 20 years you’d have a spaceship in your own driveway instead of a crappy government regulated car.. I looked up the fuel mileage of a model T and it got 25 mpg. Government has stopped innovation while pretending this piece of crap is somehow going to be useful in ten years carrying some unknown 2 ton something or other on the moon for some unknown reason.

      Report Post »  
  • mapgirl10
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 11:48am

    Our scientist have been chopped and then Obama says we need more scientist! For what I may ask?

    Report Post »  
  • zman173rd
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:59am

    Not “leaping over asteroids” like superman in sapce. Does it seem like a total waste of money we don’t have to invent this thing that will probably sit in a warehouse someone finds an EXCUSE to send it to space? Doesn’t look SHOVEL READY to me. I like the PTO idea however. Should invent soemething like that for a tractor….

    Report Post » zman173rd  
  • CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:09am

    it was originally a five legged creation but ATQLETE didn’t sound as good

    Report Post »  
  • Wyratt
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:00am

    Yah, but, will it blend??

    Report Post » Wyratt  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:51am

    Its a muslim outreach vehicle……

    Report Post »  
    • Sirfoldallot
      Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:58am

      GM is buliding this 4 us, not funny @ all.

      Report Post » Sirfoldallot  
    • Shrugged
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 8:01am

      @sirfoldalot Where? in China? That’s where theey have outsourced many of their parts since it became Government Motors. Will Obama fine himself for outsourcing US jobs overseas?

      Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:40am

    .
    What you gonna Launch it with? NASA can’t launch a Paper Air Plane right now…….

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • DD313
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:39am

    In the video, when the “astronaut” stepped out of the vehicle, it looked like the world’s most expensive Porta-john.

    Report Post » DD313  
    • Shrugged
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 8:04am

      I am sure when Bruce Willis went to that asteroid he had to use the toilet at some point. I guess those scenes were edited out.

      Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:36am

    Neat robot; for a moment I thought it was a probe sent to here from the homeworld of Pelosi to make sure she had not escaped.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • ozchambers
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:30am

    Is that a BOV?

    Report Post » ozchambers  
  • teamarcheson
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:25am

    Who is going to pave Mars?

    Report Post »  
    • Ialmostforgot
      Posted on February 2, 2012 at 10:07am

      This is for the Moon, and they are planning on using cement!

      Report Post »  
    • Shrugged
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 8:06am

      Union labor. The 5-month trip to Mars will be their morning coffee break.

      Report Post »  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:24am

    For navigating the DC BS?

    Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
  • Stoic one
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:18am

    nice tool,

    Report Post » Stoic one  
    • teamarcheson
      Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:25am

      Obama scraped Space Shuttle and is dismantling Kennedy Space Center. Before he leaves office Kennedy will be plowed under and restored to how it looked before Columbus arrived. Obama is insuring America never goes into space again. SO, how will this thing ever get launched?

      Report Post »  
    • TROONORTH
      Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:52am

      I am sure that the French or the Chinese will be happy to launch it for America as soon as they can fit it into their busy schedules.

      Report Post » TROONORTH  
    • timber wolf
      Posted on February 3, 2012 at 1:36am

      This is the new charter vehicle that will run back and forth from Mexico to the US for those seeking residents in America. Oh yeah, it not only leaps craters, it leaps border fences too, cool huh?

      Report Post » timber wolf  
  • Sirfoldallot
    Posted on February 2, 2012 at 9:13am

    Is it “ Green ” and planet friendly ? After all we have billions invested in this.

    Report Post » Sirfoldallot  

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