Robonaut To Get New Legs Early Next Year

Robots certainly come in handy when it comes to helping us humans out in difficult situations, such as doing repetitive work without getting tired at all, ferrying heavy items from one point to another without breaking a sweat, and best of all, not complaining about long working hours as well as organizing a strike as a union. They are good workers, and it remains to be seen whether an apocalyptic vision will pan out when robots become self-aware and want to eliminate humans. NASA’s Robonaut assistant is touted to be on the receiving end of its most major upgrade to date, which would be a new pair of legs.

The long of it all is this (pun intended), the Robonaut would end up at a massive 8 feet in height, tipping the scales at 500 pounds. This mobilized machine will definitely be a whole lot larger compared to the rest of its human teammates, and there is a very good reason for its extra large set of limbs. According to astronaut Cady Coleman, the new pair of legs will enable the Robonaut to be able to climb swiftly through hatches on the International Space Station, where it would gain the stride of an “antelope” instead of taking smaller steps. First things first though, the improved automaton will need to know how to move before it’s ready so that it can help out us humans.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Robots
Tags: NASA