Send in the Bots: An Editorial
Robonaut 2, Humanoid Space robot meets astronaut. NASA.com
NASA is sending in some robotic type exploratory craft. Certainly Curiosity, on its way to Mars, is a magnificent application of robotic technology for space exploration. In fact, our entire Mars exploration program is a glorious history of robotic successes. Good beginnings, and now it is time for more advanced humanoid-style robots to be developed for the next step in our exploration of our solar system.
I hear your shouts about human spaceflight and the long history of human exploration. I acknowledge all of that including a great but furtive human exploration of Luna, but in my opinion, right now and for a considerable length of time human spaceflight, except maybe back to Luna, is beyond our future budget picture. By future, I mean the next two decades. You betcha, I hear those shouts too about how stingy the White House and Congress have been in funding space exploration programs, but right now we are nearly broke in a bad way.
There is no doubt we can do this. The energy, the imagination, the drive are in the wings right now vibrating with eagerness and extreme impatience. We must release this powerful and progressive force to begin to both return us back into real space exploration and also begin pulling America back up off the dirty, dingy, stingy floor.
I can cheer, even weep a bit, as I watch the launch of our first space-bot team. The thrill and the throb of that powerful launch renews my hope and my courage. How about it, will you join me?
In the meantime lets remember our first and only real human space exploration of our solar system and take inspiration from that. We will honor them by starting again with space-bots because those bots will emulate those great beginnings and successes.
I unfortunately must disagree somewhat with your statement "now it is time for more advanced humanoid-style robots to be developed for the next step in our exploration of our solar system".
Humanoid robots are interesting, to be sure, because there is a fascination of watching an inanimate object performing tasks and movements as an animate human does. Unfortunately, the physical human body, and other objects with humanoid shapes, are easily–far, far too easily–put off-balance. It would be extremely unnecessary to build space exploration robots with a humanoid shape, and potentially risky, depending on the robustness of the robot.
The human hand is possibly the only redeeming physical feature humans have that can set them apart in a physically superior way in regards to most other animals. With eyesight weaker than an eagle's, strength weaker than a chimpanzee's, skin less durable than an crocodile's, the only seemingly uncontested physical advantage humans have over other creatures in the animal kingdom are its two opposable thumbs.
When building a robot used to explore unknown extraterrestrial terrain, it would be wise to use all examples from the animal kingdom and expand on it, and not merely build something humanoid. After all, an insect, or spider, with 6 or 8 legs, has far more balance than a bipedal. if you're building a robot, and its supposed to have "hands" with opposable thumbs to manipulate objects, why stop at a replica of a human hand with only one thumb? Why not two thumbs? Why not 5 thumbs with 5 fingers?
And then you appreciate how prehensile an octopus and its tentacles are.
Good links.