Astronauts to Test Space Station’s Robotic Handyman
Every once in a while we hear about the Space Station that is floating around out there. The last few days I have been seeing reports about this new robotic handyman (VIDEO). This thing has 11 foot long freak arms that will be tested. They will also continue outfitting the station’s new Japanese room and preparing for a Monday spacewalk. No golf equipment this time I would assume, but you never know. They like to have fun up there I think. Space is freaky to me. Floating away into oblivion and all that.
“Tomorrow, the crew will use it for the first time,” Dana Weigel, space station flight director, said of testing planned for Dextre’s joints. “We’ll start off by running the brakes to make sure they’re all working.”
The robot itself is called Dextre. Not a misspelling. It is Dextre, and not Dexter like you would think. Spacewalking astronauts attached Dextre’s limbs outside the ISS late Saturday after engineers succeeded in routing power to the 3,440-pound (1,560-kilogram) robot via the station’s Candarm2 robotic arm. A flawed cable in the carrier pallet that ferried Dextre’s many pieces to the space station previously blocked power from reaching the robot, though astronauts were able to attach its mechanical hands in an earlier spacewalk.
Rise of the Machines is getting closer. Prepare for battle.
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Filed under: Space, Space Tech by JMH
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So many individuals are focusing on space and it is interesting although I really do not see what big benefits we will get from the fact that this robot works.