ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- Just like building towering structures here on Earth, assembling future "space-scrapers" in orbit demands balance, dexterity and skill from any girder-walking construction worker.
Peering into the 21st century, piecing together huge space facilities will require both human and robotic muscle. Thanks to those mechanical-minded engineers at
The Robotics Institute, a research unit of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they’ve got just the automaton for the job. Better yet, it doesn’t need a hard hat or lunchpail for that high-noon break.
Make way for Skyworker, an assembly, inspection and maintenance robot.
Skyworker is being designed to softly and autonomously transport and manipulate payloads that weigh from a few pounds (kilograms) to several tons. It can carry material a thousand times heavier than itself. Much like a waiter balancing a heavy tray on his hand, this robot walks with a hand-over-hand biped gait. It can do so over long structures, walking and working on the facility it is building.
 |
 |
 |  | Images |
| |
|
|
| Maxwell Art of Skyworker and LEMUR(JPL)
|
| | | |
|  | More Stories |
| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|  | Related Links |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
 |
Sarjoun Skaff, a mechanical engineer at The Robotics Institute, detailed the high-tech skills of Skyworker here at the
Space and Robotics 2000 Conference, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Skaff said that Skyworker is a NASA-sponsored effort, ideally suited for creating large space structures, such as energy-beaming solar power satellites.
"This is a big challenge. We’re also equipping Skyworker with new grippers. That will allow it to grasp tightly, but very softly. It is likely that future space structures will be very light and very fragile," Skaff told SPACE.com.
A gravity compensation system is in operation at The Robotics Institute, permitting Skaff and his colleagues on the project to mimic the zero-gravity conditions and put the robot through its paces. At the institute, the robot is counterbalanced like a puppet on strings, allowing it to operate as though in space.
Future testing of Skyworker may involve use of NASA’s parabolic-flying airplane that yields tens of seconds of microgravity time during special maneuvers. A smaller-scale version of the robot might also find its way aboard a
space shuttle for shake-out purposes, he said.
Skyworker offers several advantages over other type robots. Free-flying robots expend too much fuel for large-scale construction. Fixed manipulators, like the shuttle’s robot arm, lack sufficient reach for huge facilities -- plus they need strong attachment points.
Skyworker is being developed to keep a payload at a constant velocity while walking. That reduces the forces exerted on the structure while increasing the robot’s power efficiency. When a manipulation is required, the robot can stand on one gripper and use another gripper to position tools and payloads.
Several fleet-footed Skyworkers could enable reality to catch up with science fiction, Skaff said.
"It’s probably the only way we will get to the really big space facilities that we dream of, like Star Trek ships," he said. "No astronaut could build those. You would need an army of astronauts working around-the-clock for numbers of years. Skyworker opens up broad possibilities for space construction," he said.
advertisement
)
