This past week I got to work with Robonaut 2 again (me working one of the R2 Ops). We got to pull out his taskboard, and though it was not the first time he had used it, it was the first time we used Task Panel B. The task panel is what we’re usign to teach him how to use different types of knobs and switches, so that when he’s able to move about freely inside and outside the space station, he will understand how to utilize the different buttons and knobs. It makes me think of the mobiles you put in baby cribs. 🙂 Here’s a prety cool video out there of him using Task Panel A the last time we did ops: R2 Operating a taskboard on the ISS.
In the back ground, a team of PLUTO flight controllers and Robonaut engineers work together to drive his hands to the right places and calibrate the robot to operate with the taskboard in space. The Robonauts we’ve learned how to use on the ground are of course calibrated for 1G (standard Earth gravity), and it is not a simple thing to teach the robot to now work in microgravity. You’d be surprised by all of the little subtle things that change without the complex effects of gravity on each of his individual motors and limbs.
As we drive the robot to these different places, the robot is learning. He has a very complicated vision set of 4 cameras that can pick out and recognize tools, and he will eventually be able to use things like drills, wrenches, etc. In addition to the cameras, he has an infrared sensor that allows him to judge distance. When he is fully calibrated for space and gets his legs some time next year, he’ll be able to freely move around the ISS and go out on EVAs (extravehicular activities, i.e. spacewalks) and judge for himself where things are.
– Robonaut’s Youtube channel.
– Robonaut’s homepage.
K. E. Andréa 
I heard an interview on NPR this week with Donald Pettit and Andre Kuipers about their experiences on the ISS. I’ll bet they would LOVE to play with Robonaut! Mr. Kuipers, the Dutch astronaut, was talking about how important it is to hang on to small things in space, because they don’t fall from your hand, they float away! Ha,ha! These two men were expecting to return to Earth soon, and they said that even though they miss their families and are looking forward to a homecoming, they both hope to return to the ISS. Robonaut appears to hold some wonderful future possibilities for science and medicine in his very capable hands!
Don has had a chance to work with him before. The astronauts get to set him up and put him back to bed, and they often float back and forth in the lab to watch him move. Don’s pretty funny when he gets his camera out and floats in and out of Robonat’s field of view with his finger on the camera taking a zillion photos a second. He and Andre also like to float in front of our secondary view of the Lab during ops. We use it to watch Robonaut while he’s in motion so we can stop him in case of a collision, and make sure no one’s nearby when we start motion. It’s always fun to have “astronaut butt” in the view taking photos when you’re trying to get work done! 🙂
THIS IS AWESOMEEEEE
😀