Crew cooperation will always be
vital in any manned space exploration mission, even if some of those
crewmembers aren't human.
With a current mandate to return
human explorers to the moon no later than 2020, then push on to Mars, NASA
researchers are developing better robots for the humans who will work alongside
them on space missions.
"It's just enough time if we're very
aggressive," said Illah
Nourbakhsh,
robotics group lead at NASA's Ames
Research
Center
in California, of the
2020 deadline. "If we're able to really focus on robot perception and
manipulation, yes, I believe we can have robots build habitats on the moon."
The goal of using robots in
conjunction with human astronauts on lunar and planetary missions is to free up
the living members of the crew for exploration and science. The two astronauts
aboard the International Space Station (ISS), for example, spent the bulk of
their time just maintaining the orbital facility, researchers said.
"Humans could end up speeding a
massive amount of time just dealing with upkeep [in future missions]," Nourbakhsh said. "We
can't afford to do that,
you'd need more humans to be there, eating food, breathing air."
At Ames Research Center,
scientists and engineers are constructing an indoor laboratory designed to mock
a manned moon or Mars base, with an inner control room looking out over
simulated lunar surface where humans and robots will cooperate to build
structures, test equipment and use digging tools. In November, researchers will
use the site to test their system with NASA's wheeled humanoid-like automaton Robonaut B and
other robots.
Nourbakhsh and his team hope their tests will
lead to space-flying assistants capable of taking instruction from human
astronauts, responding in a human-like manner or even offering suggestions and
asking for help when needed. They envision robots that can be both controlled
remotely and function autonomously.
"That doesn't mean the robot will be
as smart as a human, but it has to be able to ask questions and you have to be
able to answer it," Nourbakhsh
told SPACE.com.
Complex communications
Streamlining communications between
humans and robots is a first step towards building a better space team.
"Human teams use very colloquial
language," Nourbakhsh
said, adding that air traffic controllers, for example, have their own set
vocabulary designed specifically to direct pilots and aircraft. "Robots are not
first-class citizens and they won't necessarily understand every word."
Ames researchers are focusing on
enhancing robot spatial reasoning skills to ease routine tasks, such as handing
off tools and equipment, and allow automatons to understand hand signals and
gesture on their own during communication with human astronauts.
Nourbakhsh said his project works in tandem
with other robotics research with similar goals of developing smoother
human-robot cooperation.
NASA researchers led by Ames
scientist Bill Clancey,
for example, have developed intelligent computer software called mobile
agents to work as a data management bridge between human astronauts, rovers
and base computers during a moon or planetside extravehicular activity (EVA).
"What we do is give the [robotic
assistant] another computer running the agent system," Clancey has told SPACE.com. "It brings the robot into the voice network, and it can
speak to astronauts."
Instilling robotic instincts
One of the major challenges facing
robot-human cooperation is safety, project researchers said.
"When you have robots and humans
working side-by-side, there have to be safeguards," Nourbakhsh explained. "It's not just a
piece of software anymore."
A spacesuit-clad astronaut working
in the vacuum of space or on the lunar surface is already in a potentially
dangerous situation, and the addition of a robot working in close quarters
could prove disastrous if the automaton is not equipped with measures to
prevent injury or accidental damage.
"It's like [Isaac] Asimov's laws,"
Nourbakhsh
said. "[The robot] should never endanger the human being."
Lunar and Mars robots must also be
able to multitask, not only to adapt to their surroundings but also to increase
utility.
"We need robots that can be team
players, and switch to a different role as needed," Nourbakhsh said. "You want a robot that
can see an object once and recognize it in the future, robots that dig through regolith, and robots
that can create oxygen on the moon."
Conditioning humans for robots
Changing how humans and robots interact
does not solely depend on developing better machinery and ever-more
sophisticated machinery. Humans will have to adjust, too.
"It will be a challenge for humans
to work down at a specific robot's level," Nourbakhsh said. "Humans tend to either
decide that the robot is sort of perfect and I can trust it, or the robot is
unbelievably stupid and I shouldn't use it."
Built in responses to indicate
confusion and understanding in a robot can act as audio cues for human
operators to adjust their directions, Nourbakhsh said, adding that developing
the proper mental models for humans to use when addressing robot helpers can be
reinforced through field tests.
Tens of small field trials and up to
four major simulations in the Utah
desert will likely be required before the first robotic astronaut partners are
ready for a space mission, but the automatons won't fully supplant human
explores, researchers said.
"We as explorers, as scientists, are
always going to want to have situations where we want to scrape that rock, or
hand drill that sample," Nourbakhsh
said. "We're not going to always go to a robot, we want that first-hand
experience."
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