Robonaut 2 enters final preparations before flying off into space

Tests, upgrades and final checks are being carried out on the Robonaut 2, the humanoid spacefaring robot that has been in the works since 2007. The baby of NASA and General Motors, this sack of metal and wires has already produced a catalog of 34 new patents and, according to GM, is setting the stage for new safety features in forthcoming generations of its road vehicles. Sensor technology being developed in the R2 could deliver better lane departure warning systems, adaptive cruise control, and more intelligent parking assistance. That's good news and all, but can we ship it out to the ISS already -- we'd rather it be off-world when its instruction set switches from "serve humans" to "serve human meat."

NASA's unmanned Global Hawk completes key test flight

It's not the miniature robotic space shuttle that NASA's planning to send into orbit this month, but another of the space agency's unmanned vehicles has edged closer to its beginning its mission, with the "nearly autonomous" Global Hawk aircraft having completed a key test flight bright and early on April 2nd. While the aircraft has flown before, this was the first flight for it after being loaded up with eleven different scientific instruments, which will be used to examine trace gases, aerosols, and dynamics of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. This flight will shortly be followed by another test run to ensure that everything checks out, after which it will begin its first long-duration mission sometime later this month.

International Space Station gets 'Man Cave,' Robonaut 2

In the narrow confines of the International Space Station, every cubic inch counts, but that won't necessarily keep NASA from building a rec room. When the Leonardo Pressurized Multipurpose Module (PMM) launches in September 2010, NASA is considering turning it into a internet-connected "man cave" isolated and quiet enough for astronauts to tweet in privacy. The connection's nothing special -- science officer T.J. Creamer compared it to that of a 14.4K modem capable of only tweets, text articles and basic browsing -- but Universe Today reports that they will also have a robotic servant, the Robonaut 2, to play with. Imagine a cramped world without fresh water or YouTube, but where you can program a state-of-the-art robot to perform monotonous tasks... We think that's a fair tradeoff, don't you?