Robonaut

May 23, 2004 7:17 PM

Enter the Robonaut. A truly science-fictioney NASA robot. (Note DARPA.)
posted by kablam (12 comments total)

ugh, they need to call in the japanese to design something cooler looking.
posted by luckyclone at 7:27 PM on May 23, 2004

dang, that thing's scary looking! I dig it.
posted by GriffX at 8:32 PM on May 23, 2004

looks like bobba fett
posted by banished at 8:37 PM on May 23, 2004

here
posted by banished at 8:38 PM on May 23, 2004

Paging Uncanny Valley. White courtesy telephone please.
posted by daver at 8:49 PM on May 23, 2004

Why does the head look like it's photoshopped on in every picture? Surely it would have been easier just to put something else over the "head" portion of the model?
posted by whoshotwho at 8:59 PM on May 23, 2004

It's frustrating. In a real spacefaring society, there would be a much more modular approach to the design of satellites, stations, and other craft, obviating much of the need for a humanoid robot. Unfortunately, the high cost of space missions combined with one-off design approaches and design teams spread across (in many cases) five continents means that the bespoke quotient is very high. For example, how dumb is it that Hubble wasn't designed with appropriate grapples for even the Shuttle's robotic arm? Even when Station's super-robotic arm is all online and track laid from end to end of the solar array, there won't be a whole lot it can do.

The model?
posted by dhartung at 9:06 PM on May 23, 2004

Can we cool it with the uncanny valley? It's just a theory, and not a particularly well supported one. Treating it as fact is inappropriate.
posted by NortonDC at 10:01 PM on May 23, 2004

It's cool and all, but I can't help feeling that, apart from the space-hardiness and great range of operating temperature, it has been done before and better by the japanese.
posted by spazzm at 10:27 PM on May 23, 2004

"The panties have this way of just mobilizing, energizing, inspiring,"
funny that.

*slap*
hey, I was just trying to get a closer look miss, I couldn't make out the words.

But seriously, stop taking this so seriously. Why do you have to create a second stereotype of feminists just as bad as the first to fit these women into? Aside from the fact that the article at least mentions nothing about them being feminists, it seems like boxes are being strained to fit people in so their beliefs can be thrown away with the stereotype. Why can't this just be a unique way of protesting? Sure, there are some things wrong with it, but there always is. Why does there have to be anything more to it? Sex sells, and I guess the left always had that over the right ;) Hippie movement throwback, fun, profitable, and as well as popularizing the "Bush is a dick" meme, in some small way it does a little to combat some of the sexual repression that still exists within modern society.

Hey, it's not the best idea ever, but it seems pretty cool. Why all the hang ups?
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 11:06 PM on May 23, 2004

That robot sounds friskier than this robot.
posted by NortonDC at 11:10 PM on May 23, 2004

The videos of cooperation with humans (although not as cooperative as Dillonlikescookies would like) are really something.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:41 AM on May 24, 2004