Dextre Heralds a New Age in Robotics
Published on 18 Mar 2008 at 9:39 pm.
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Filed under Exploration, Intelligent Systems, Research, Robotics, Space, Technology.
During the second spacewalk of the STS-123 mission, the crew began assembling Dextre. Dextre is the newest member of the International Space Station’s Mobile Servicing System, and will act as a repair and construction robot for the ISS’s exterior. Dextre is enormous “standing” or rather floating at 12 feet tall. He has an 8 foot shoulder space and two 11 foot arms!
From National Geographic News, Astronaut Garrett Reisman stated,
“Now I wouldn’t go as far to say that we’re worried it’s going to go run amok and take over the space station or turn evil or anything because we all know how it’s operated and it doesn’t have a lot of its own intelligence,” Reisman told the Associated Press last week.
“But I’ll tell you something,” Reisman said. “He’s enormous, and to see him with his giant arms, it is a little scary. It’s a little monstrous, it is.”
Dextre is provided by the Canada Space Agency, who has for years supported the robotic arm on the shuttle.
This is a video of the installation:
High resolution – 50.3 MB
Low resolution – 2.6 MB
More videos and images can be found here.
Kevin Knuth
Albany NY
