Space Robotics - When A Mind of Their Own?

Watch the Sci-Fi movies and the robots that think for themselves.
Read the Sci-Fi books and do battle with robots run a muck.

Do you want to do all the work by yourself or will you use labor saving
devices?
Will they be smart enough to do some of the assigned tasks by themselves?

Some have said, 'Send in the ROBOTS' well maybe not in those exact words.
Still, there is a thirst to know our own mind and could we just hand off
some of the thinking to a robot.

You may have seen some of those 'HELPFUL' robots on TV or in the movies.
Well maybe there was someone inside or maybe it was just computer
graphics, BUT, could it ever be?

Some time back I read a short science fiction story about a robotics
technician being sent out to a small asteroid where the mining robots
seemed to be doing a dance rather than cutting through rock. After
checking everything out at the mainframe computer that was in charge of
all the mining robots, the conclusion was that the system had been over
loaded and that the mainframe computer couldn't make up its mind what to
do next and was DRUMMING ITS FINGERS, that is,- the mining robots seemed
to be doing a dance. :-)

Shall we look up and see how the robots in space are doing?
Then again, the astronauts did a fine job of fixing the solar panels on
the ISS.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

Did you watch it?
- LRK -

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/
The STS-120 crew bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew before the
hatches closed at 3:03 p.m. EST Sunday between Discovery and the
station. Attention now turns to Discovery's undocking from the station a
little after 5:30 a.m. Monday.
---------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
==============================================================
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/eva/robotics.html
Space Station Extravehicular Activity

A New Generation of Space Robotics
To build and maintain the International Space Station, space walking
astronauts will work in partnership with a new generation of space
robotics. The space shuttle's mechanical arm and a new space station arm
operate both as "space cranes" to precisely maneuver large modules and
components and also as space "cherry pickers" to maneuver astronauts to
work areas.

The shuttle's Canadian-built mechanical arm has been enhanced with a new
"Space Vision System" (SVS) that helps the operator literally see around
corners. Tested on past space shuttle missions STS-74, STS-80 and
STS-85, the SVS uses video image processing and a series of markings on
the objects being maneuvered to develop a graphical laptop computer
display to assist the arm operator. It allows the shuttle arm to be
operated with great precision even when visibility is obstructed, and
the system was used operationally during the first assembly mission as
Astronaut Nancy Currie, with her view partially obstructed, attached the
first station component, the Zarya Control Module, to the second
component, the Unity Connecting Module.

Snip
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http://ranier.hq.nasa.gov/telerobotics_page/internetrobots.html
Selected Robotics Resources on the Internet

Listed below is a compilation of space robotics-related and general
purpose robotics-related resources (web sites, ftp sites, gopher sites,
newsgroups, etc.) available on the Internet. Although not 100 percent
comprehensive (no list of this type ever is complete), it does provide a
represenative sample of materials being offered on the 'net. If you have
any additions or corrections to the list, please email the site
webmaster and let us know. The list is divided into the following
categories:

Snip
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http://robotics.nasa.gov/
FIRST Robotics Competition
Learn about the Cool Cosmos
Second Annual 21st Century Explorer Podcast Competition
NASA Student Opportunities

http://robotics.nasa.gov/archive/crw_archive.php
Cool Robots Archive

Snip
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http://www.hightechscience.org/robots.htm
HighTechScience.org's
Full Size Robot Collection

Snip
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL_9000
HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional
character in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey saga. The novels, along
with two films, begin with 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968. It
was ranked #13 on a list of greatest film villains of all on the AFI's
100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains.

HAL is an artificial intelligence, the sentient on-board computer of the
spaceship Discovery. HAL is usually represented only as his television
camera "eyes" that can be seen throughout the Discovery spaceship. The
voice of HAL 9000 was performed by Canadian actor Douglas Rain. In the
book, HAL became operational on January 12, 1997 (1992 in the movie)[1]
at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, and was created by Dr. Chandra. In
the 2001 film, HAL is depicted as being capable not only of speech
recognition, facial recognition, and natural language processing, but
also lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotions, expressing
emotions, reasoning, and, of course, chess.
Snip

http://www.palantir.net/2001/sounds.html
Snip
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[AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion) robot that becomes
more than helpful. - LRK -]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Red Planet (film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Planet_(film)

http://redplanetmovie.warnerbros.com/cmp/redplanet.html

http://www.colinmackenzie.net/robots/amee/
COLINMACKENZIE.NET
Borrowing ideas from the movie Red Planet

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1384314394110803718
Gallagher vs AMEE (RED PLANET)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIEWQVImE1I
Amee Test Animation, version II

Snip
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http://robots.mit.edu/
FIELD AND SPACE ROBOTICS LABORATORY
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Snip
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http://www.astro.mech.tohoku.ac.jp/home-e.html*
*Tohoku University
The Space Robotics Lab (Space Exploration Lab)
Robotics for Space Science and Exploration Missions

The Space Robotics Laboratory, led by Professor Yoshida, is dedicated to
the research and development of the robotic systems for space science
and exploration missions. The lab has contributed to the Engineering
Test Satellite-VII (launched in 1997 for orbital robotics experiments)
and "Hayabusa" asteroid sample-return probe (launched in 2003 and
expectied to return in 2010). Today one of our focus is put on the
mechanics and control of lunar exploration rovers. Technologies for
remote planetary exploration (such as mapping and localization in the
unstructured environment, rough terrain mobility, and teleoperation with
time delay) can also be applied to the robots for search and rescue
missions.

Snip
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http://www.ri.cmu.edu/centers/sri/*
*The Space Robotics Initiative
The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

The Space Robotics Initiative is developing robots and their support
technologies (communication, manipulators, and multiple robot
coordination) for interplanetary exploration, space solar power station
construction and MRO, and solar-powered spaceflight.

Snip
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[Reading some books about how the mind might work and what one might
consider in trying to design a mechanical brain. - LRK -]
Two books by Steve Grand;
*"Growing Up with Lucy: How to Build an Android in Twenty Easy Steps"*
Steve Grand; Paperback
*"Creation: Life and How to Make It"*
Steve Grand; Hardcover

Two by Marvin Minsky;
*"The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence,
and the Future of the Human Mind"*
Marvin Minsky; Hardcover
*"Society of Mind"*
Marvin Minsky; Paperback

Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

==============================================================

Full Transcript: Mike Griffin at the Heinlein Centennial

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/2

I read the full transcript at the URL above and if you haven't, I think
you would find it informative.

The subject of science fiction and books has been mentioned in several
of my posts and we snipped some of the material about Heinlein's
writings before and I have done so again below. Mike Griffin has some
thoughts on what comes first - science fiction then science fact, or
science fact that inspires new science fiction, or do they play along
side each other, complementing and reinforcing each other.

What do you think?
- LRK -

-----------------------------------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/1
Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight
by Jeff Foust
Monday, July 16, 2007

Snip
On the link between science fiction and the public's interest in space -

So, a question that has often been asked and that I've asked myself is,
"Was the growth of science fiction as a genre and hard science fiction
in particular, a response to the cultural zeitgeist or was it a cause of
it"?

I think in all such questions, there is an inevitable chicken-and-egg
effect, one sponsors the other in a reinforcing loop. But, I think that
if asked that, when I have been asked that, I often said that I think
the growth of science fiction helped to create the cultural matrix in
which we saw the advancements that we saw in aerospace in the 50's and
60's, more so that than the other way around.

I mean, American kids had for generations been raised on boyhood stories
of people who accomplished themselves in difficult arenas. There was
Jack Armstrong, all-American boy, and Tom Swift and then later Tom Swift
Jr. and Rick Brant and other things that maybe many of you, like me,
read as kids. We celebrated the accomplishments of great people and
people were acknowledged to be great people.

So, in science fiction literature, Tom Swift, I think, led inevitably to
Asimov, Clarke, and inevitably Heinlein. And if asked, I would say that
I think that Asimov painted the broadest canvas and Clarke was the best
technician. But Heinlein was the guy that put you there. Heinlein's
literary skills combined with his technical knowledge put you there, in
a way that no one else did and, frankly, that not even the best in my
opinion have done since. I enjoy reading science fiction to this day,
and my own opinion would be that I've not seen Heinlein's equal at
putting you there...
Snip
-----------------------------------------------------

I like the thought that science fiction might help create a cultural
matrix in which we could see real science play out. You get people
thinking that what if - as you begin to see what is. A lot of folks can
read the books even if they can't take part in the actual experience.
It makes it okay to say that we will go back to the Moon, and then
contemplate what we will do there.

I listened to the radio - and my mind filled in the pictures.
You read a book - and your mind fills in the pictures.
They are part of your own creation and you are participating in the
adventure.

So let us hear it for the great science fiction stories that you have read.

Let me know what you like, past and present.
Will see if we can put together a list that might be of interest to
those that missed some, like I did.

Never too late to dream the dream, then go out and make it happen.
There is that twinkle in your eye and the corners of your mouth turn up
in a smile.
You know, this might just work, now if I just......

I don't recommend hanging your test rocket inside the garage to see if
there is ANY thrust from you home made gunpowder.
(didn't understand the need for a nozzle)
Tends to burn holes in the sleeping bags that are airing out on the
garage floor.
Never mind, iron on patches will cover all those little burn spots.
Mom thought it was quiet for too long and came to see what I was doing.
Seem to have some blank spots in my memory. :-)

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================
http://www.thespacereview.com/index.html
This week in The Space Review�
Snip
==============================================================
http://www.spaceref.com/
Space News As It Happens
Snip
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http://www.rvt.com/~lucas/heinlein/booklist.html
A List of Heinlein's Published Works

Here is a (hopefully) complete list of Robert A. Heinlein's works, in
alphabetical order. For a chronological list with notes, see the FAQ.
If the title of a book has a link, follow it to see the cover of the book.
For the compilations, click on "contents" to see what stories can be found where.

Snip
http://www.rvt.com/~lucas/heinlein.html

Well, I'm sorry to say that this site is now a little out of date.
Although it has unfortunately been so for quite some time, the recent
release of a new Heinlein novel, For Us, the Living, and the creation of
a new Heinlein-related web site, The Heinlein Society, have underscored exactly how outdated
and incomplete some of the information here has become. I have
considered removing my page entirely, at least until I could fix some of
the big issues, but I really don't want to to that, as some of the
information here is still good. But be warned that for the newest
information, you're far better off looking at some other sites. See my
Links section to get
to some of those sites.
==============================================================
http://www.heinleinsociety.org/index.html
The Heinlein Society exists to preserve the legacy renowned writer
Robert Anson Heinlein left us in novels, essays, speeches, and short
stories that remain as fresh as ever. We need your help to do it.

Snip
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http://www.sfsite.com/scribe/scribe01.htm
SF Site
Welcome to the most comprehensive directory of science fiction, fantasy
and horror writers on the Web. We are constantly updating this site as
new authors appear, and as fans post informative sites devoted to their
favorite writers. Authors are listed alphabetically by last name. If you
know of any sites which should be included, be sure to let us know.
Snip
http://www.sfsite.com/home.htm
SF Site Home
==============================================================
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_authors
List of science fiction authors

Note that this partial list contains some authors whose works of
fantastic fiction would today be called science fiction, even if they
predate, or did not work in that genre. There is also a considerable
overlap with the List of fantasy authors, since many
authors are equally comfortable with both genres, and in any case some
works deliberately combine the two or blur the distinction.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

==============================================================

Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight - Space Review - July 16, 2007

Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight - Space Review - July 16, 2007
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/1

Many of you have expressed the interest in going back to the Moon and
possibly being there yourself.
At present the only way we have done that for ourselves is through our
imagination and with the help of the writers of Science Fiction.

Since I have been talking about my recent interest in reading old
Science Fiction books I found this weeks Space Review interesting.
- LRK -

-----------------------------------------------------
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/1
Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight
by Jeff Foust
Monday, July 16, 2007

Snip
Heinlein and Griffin’s interest in spaceflight

I have a confession to make. I didn’t get interested in space because of
Robert Heinlein. [Laughter] I got interested in Heinlein because I was
interested in space. [Applause] I mean, I am an aerospace professional
with very minor and fleeting periods aside. I’ve really never done
anything but aerospace and most of that’s been space. And I have been
studying to do this, or doing it, since I was five years old. I got
interested and I was born in ’49 so that tells you about when I was
starting in on this. I got interested when, I guess more or less
coincidentally, my mother gave me a book called A Child’s Book of Stars…

And so, unlike maybe many of you, I didn’t become interested in space
because of science fiction. I became interested in science fiction
because of space. And to be interested in a science fiction as a kid,
and I read many, many other genres as well, but to be interested in
science fiction was to be interested in the works of Robert Heinlein.
But that order of things has given me a different perspective on
Heinlein’s career and contributions than I think many others may have.
Snip
.....

So, in science fiction literature, Tom Swift, I think, led inevitably to
Asimov, Clarke, and inevitably Heinlein. And if asked, I would say that
I think that Asimov painted the broadest canvas and Clarke was the best
technician. But Heinlein was the guy that put you there. Heinlein’s
literary skills combined with his technical knowledge put you there, in
a way that no one else did and, frankly, that not even the best in my
opinion have done since. I enjoy reading science fiction to this day,
and my own opinion would be that I’ve not seen Heinlein’s equal at
putting you there…
-----------------------------------------------------

Feel free to let me know what it is that you think you would like to do
on the Moon if you could be there.

Maybe you would like to write your own novel and help take us there.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/xoopsfaq/index.php?cat_id=1#4
http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=2

NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM
http://www.amazon.com/No-Plot-Problem-Low-Stress-High-Velocity/dp/0811845052

Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

==============================================================
http://www.thespacereview.com/index.html
This week in The Space Review…


     Destinations for exploration: more than just rocks?
     <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/912/1>

While NASA’s current exploration plans are focused on a return to the
Moon and later human missions to Mars, are those the only—or
best—destinations for astronauts in the inner solar system? Dan Lester
and Giulio Varsi argue that in-space destinations, like the Lagrange
points, have benefits that may far exceed those of planetary surfaces.
Monday, July 16, 2007


     Griffin, Heinlein, and spaceflight
     <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/911/1>

One of the keynote speakers at the recent Heinlein Centennial symposium
was NASA administrator Mike Griffin. The Space Review provides
highlights of his talk as well as a complete transcript of his speech.
Monday, July 16, 2007


     Solar power satellites and space radar
     <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/910/1>

One of the key obstacles to the development of a space radar system is
the large power requirements for such spacecraft. Taylor Dinerman
suggests that one solution could be through the use of solar power
satellites, in the process providing a near-term market for such systems.
Monday, July 16, 2007


     The ultimate solution to global warming: emigration
     <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/909/1>

Greenhouse gas policy is a mere warmup to the environmental policy
challenge of the millennium: waste heat. Sam Dinkin looks ahead and up
to tackle this challenge.
Monday, July 16, 2007


     Review: The Telescope <http://www.thespacereview.com/article/908/1>

Thanks to a variety of technological advancements, astronomical
telescopes are getting bigger and more powerful with each passing year.
Jeff Foust reviews a book that delves into the history and technology
associated with telescopes and their prospects for the future.
Monday, July 16, 2007


Snip
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NASA Science News for July 16, 2007

Accelerating from 0 to 60, then slowing down for a stop light is no
problem for an ordinary automobile. But if you were piloting a
rocketship, it wouldn't be so easy. Most rocket engines are designed to
burn full-on (liftoff!) or full-off (coasting through space) with no
in-between. And that can be a problem--namely, how do you land this
thing? In today's story we learn how engineers are developing technology
for throttling next-generation lunar landers.

FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/16jul_cece.htm?list965414

Snip
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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1642892,00.html
The Slow-Motion Space Mission

[This article consists of a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of
magazine.] The designers at NASA are preparing to fly what may be the
feeblest spacecraft they've ever built--and they couldn't be prouder of
it. Never mind the decades of unmanned probes that have gone roaring
into the void at tens of thousands of miles per hour, fire streaming
from their tails. The new ship will putt-putt into interplanetary space
under the power--if that's even the word--of an engine that accelerates
by barely 15 m.p.h. (24 km/h) per day, or zero to 60 in more than half a
week. Yet the places the ship is going--and the remarkable way it will
get there--could open an entire new era in space travel.

Snip
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http://spacereport.blogspot.com/
FLORIDA SPACErePORT
July 16, 2007

*Russia Proton-M Booster Puts U.S. Satellite Into Orbit* (Source: RIA
Novosti)
A Russian Proton-M carrier rocket has successfully delivered U.S.
telecommunications satellite, DirecTV-10, into orbit. The rocket was
launched from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. The launch services
were provided by International Launch Services, a U.S.-Russian joint
venture with exclusive rights for worldwide commercial sales and mission
management of satellite launches on Russia's Proton carrier rockets. ILS
has conducted a total of 47 commercial Proton launches since 1996, and
has 14 scheduled launches through 2010.

Snip

*Throttling Back to the Moon* (Source: NASA)
Accelerating from 0 to 60 then slowing down for a stop light is no
problem for an ordinary automobile. But if you were piloting a
rocketship, it wouldn't be so easy. Most rocket engines are designed to
burn full-on (liftoff!) or full-off (coasting through space) with no
in-between. And that can be a problem--namely, how do you land this
thing? For a lunar landing, velocity drops from almost 4,000 mph to 0 in
about one hour. The Apollo Lunar Module descent engine, the all-time
throttling champ, did it perfectly on six landings in 1969-72. It could
throttle from 10,125 lbs down to 1,250 lbs. It was also a simple engine,
burning corrosive fuel and oxidizer that ignited on contact, and fed by
pressurized tanks, eliminating the need for pumps.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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