Robonauts are go!


So NASA has developed these robots to basically do the work of humans. There was a previous version, which the R2 you see above (yes, “R2”) is a refinement of, and now as you can see he’s quite a performer. Is he doing a tango move there?

Check out this video. The money shot is at 3:30, where you can really see how gentle and precise the movements are.

How cool is this? It’s a joint operation with GM, since when you think about it, certain stages of car building and certain parts of space exploration are similar. Actually, I guess it’s kind of a stretch to put it like that. Really, it’s just nice for any hazardous operation in any industry to be handled by a robot with the same agility as a person.

Too bad it doesn’t have any legs, though — but at that point you’re pretty much just asking to be robo-strangled in your bed. Excellent, another addition to the Robocalypse tag. It’s been a while.

[via CNET]