It’s Alive!
Robonaut 2—powered up
Robonaut 2—the humanoid robot soon to be tested as an astronaut’s helper on the International Space Station—is being powered up for the first time this morning (screen shot at left). Since arriving on the space shuttle last February, the robot has been sitting on its pedestal, lifeless. It won’t be commanded to move for a couple of weeks (this is a slow process, partly due to limited crew time for testing). And it will be many months—and several upgrades—before we see a robotic spacewalk like the one below.
Still, it’s a start. Follow the action at Robonaut’s Twitter feed or Facebook page.