August 7th, 2008 by
Filed under: Robots
Don’t you hate it how simply moving a robotic arm in a microgravity environment can produce enough negative reaction forces to alter a spacecraft’s orientation? Well, a group of researchers from Cornell University have now devised a new type of robot arm that they say could make that pesky problem a thing of the past. To do that, they’ve employed a device known as a control-moment gyroscope (or CMG) instead of a motor to control the arm’s joints, which not only reduces the amount energy requied to move the arm, but lets it move faster as well. As you can see above, they’ve already tested the arm on board NASA’s famous Vomit Comet, but there’s no indication just yet as to when or if the arm will actually see action in space.
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Posted in space, vomit comet, VomitComet, robotic arm, RoboticArm, robot arm, RobotArm, cornell, cornell university, CornellUniversity | No Comments »
November 7th, 2007 by
Filed under: Robots
We were always of the opinion that robot surgery was edgy enough as it is, but you know how those science peoples always have to kick things up a notch. SRI International and the University of Cincinnati hitched a ride on NASA’s DC-9 “vomit comet” to pit human surgeons against semi-autonomous robots in suturing and incision tasks on simulated tissue — while experiencing periods of zero gravity and 1.8g acceleration. Surprisingly, the robots kept pace just fine until SRI’s fancy compensation software was switched off, which we’re guessing is exactly the point SRI was trying to prove. Right now SRI is building a robotic operating room for the battlefield called Trauma Pod, which is mostly autonomous, and they’re also working on a fully autonomous system for NASA that could treat an astronaut on Mars, where the 20 minute delay would make telesurgery not an option. Field testing for the trauma pod should begin in 2009.
[Via Slashdot]
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Posted in robots, surgery, sri, trauma pod, TraumaPod, university of cincinnati, UniversityOfCincinnati, vomit comet, VomitComet | No Comments »
