Sunday, February 6, 2011

NASA and General Motors built Humanoid robot



NASA and General Motors built a humanoid robot to be an astronaut assistant onboard the International Space Station will make a special guest appearance on the Fox Network's Super Bowl XLVpre-game show on Feb. 6. The robot named Robonaut 2 or R2 will appear on Fox's pre-game show with sports analyst Howie Long during the network's festivities before kickoff. 

The R2 robot was designed and constructed to help NASA on the International Space Station. Somewhat resembling a person, the R2 has a human-like build, but most importantly, the machine has hands designed similar to those of us with a pulse: its fingers and thumbs can full articulate and react similar to human hands.

With the potential capabilities of the R2, NASA is bringing its example on the next trip to the international space station to perform mundane tasks such as wiping down handrails. In doing so, astronauts have more time to spend on more important jobs than keeping house. The R2 can use the same tools as a non-robotic person and can adapt its grip accordingly.  NASA’s R2 is sitting aboard the Discovery awaiting a February 24th launch.

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