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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s humanoid robot has finally
awakened in space.
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Ground controllers turned Robonaut on Monday for the first time
since it was delivered to the International Space Station in
February. The test involved sending power to all of Robonaut’s
systems. The robot was not commanded to move; that will happen next
week.
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“Those electrons feel GOOD! One small step for man, one giant leap
for tinman kind,” Robonaut posted in a Twitter update. (All right,
so a Robonaut team member actually posted Monday’s tweets under
AstroRobonaut.)
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The four visible light cameras that serve as Robonaut’s eyes turned
on in the gold-colored head, as did the infrared camera, located in
the robot’s mouth and needed for depth perception. One of
Robonaut’s tweets showed the view inside the American lab,
Destiny.
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“Sure wish I could move my head and look around,” Robonaut said in
the tweet.
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Robonaut – the first humanoid robot in space – is being tested as a
possible astronaut’s helper.
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The robot’s handlers at Mission Control in Houston cheered as
everything came alive. The main computers – buried inside
Robonaut’s stomach – kicked on, as did the more than 30 processors
embedded in the arms for controlling the joints.
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“Robonaut behaved himself,” said deputy project manager Nicolaus
Radford. “Oh, Robonaut definitely got an ‘A.’ He won’t be held back
a grade, if that’s what you want to know.”
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“It was just very exciting,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming
to get this thing turned on.”
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The robot was delivered on space shuttle Discovery’s final flight.
It took this long for the operating software to get up there, and
for the astronauts to have enough time to help with the
experiment
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On Sept. 1, controllers will command Robonaut to move its fingers,
hands and arms.
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“It’s been asleep for about a year, so it kind of has to stretch
out a little bit,” Radford told The Associated Press. “Just like a
crew member has to kind of acclimate themselves to zerogravity, our
robot has to do a very similar thing, kind of wiggle itself and
learn how it needs to move” in weightlessness.
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For now, Robonaut exists from the waist up. It measures 3 feet 4
inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. Each arm is 2 feet 8 inches
long.
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A pair of legs currently are being designed and should be launched
in 2013.
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Radford said if everything continues to check out well, the robot
may be able to take on a few mundane chores – like taking air
velocity measurements inside the space station – early next
year.
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For now, Robonaut – also called R2 – is designed to stay inside the
space station. Future versions might venture out on spacewalks,
saving astronauts time while keeping them safe.
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During Monday’s two-hour test, U.S. astronaut Michael Fossum and
Japanese spaceman Satoshi Furukawa took Robonaut from its sleeping
bag, placed it on its fixed pedestal, then floated away as ground
controllers took over. The robot went back into its bag following
the test.
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Because Robonaut has some flammable parts, NASA wants it stored in
its fireproof bag.
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Controllers were tempted to make the robot move, but held
off.
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“We want to be respectful,” Radford said. “It’s a very complicated
piece of hardware.”
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—
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Online:
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NASA: “http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/default.asp” target=
“-blank”>http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/default.asp
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