Challenge:
Home
News Archive
Forums
CPMA
Maps
Smackdown2
People
Coverage
Features
Interviews
Links
Help Wanted
Powered by:
Columns:
Hosted
3.A.C
Interfaced
QWF
Affiliates:
Cached
Methos
Killer Instincts
Tuesday, 24 July 2001 -
Luke Skywalker's Sparring Droid ? $comment_count ?>
It's funny, I just watched Star Wars again a couple of days ago, and then this story comes out:
NASA's Ames Research Center is building a "personal satellite assistant", powered by a Pentium III with the Linux operating system, to help out astronauts on space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) missions.It makes sense that in the weightless space station, something like this is easily possible, and with the fans it could float around checking out all modules and monitoring the environment. Put a microphone and a speaker on it and you've got true life being stranger than fiction.The robot is a six-inch sphere inspired by the sparring droid that Luke Skywalker fights in the movie "Star Wars", but NASA engineers say its functionality is closer to the "tricorder" tool used in Star Trek: it senses the pressure and temperature of the ambient atmosphere, and detects concentrations of gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen.
It will also contain fans for movement and video cameras for sight, and will be able to be controlled from the ground, making it possible for mission controllers to have a "virtual presence" in orbit. Engineers also envision speech capabilities, a small LCD screen for displaying lists and a wireless network connection to the on-board computer.
Three words: Cool as Hell.
Comments
| cool beans | |
| Comment #1 by on 03:19, Wednesday, 25 July 2001 | 66.20.150.253 |
| I wonder if TV shows got that stuff from Real Life or vise versa..... | |