NASA's android astronaut assistant prepares for launch

Finally robot's have their day, replacing us humble humans in the quest for space exploration.
At leats they wont have to pay the robot astronaut's for their time in space, lucky NASA, saving on all that overtime

'' R2 comprises a humanoid head and torso with highly dexterous arms and hands. It was developed by NASA in conjunction with roboticists at General Motors. After being bolted to a piece of ISS infrastructure, R2 can use the same tools, such as screwdrivers and wrenches, as the astronauts.

One reason for the mission, NASA says, is to see how Robonaut copes with the cosmic radiation and electromagnetic interference inside the space station. ''

Continued in article below:

www.newscientist.com...

it took them long enough to launch the thing! This thing's been worked on for like 6+ years or something.

reply to post by wylekat


Just the next step in phasing out human worker's. Today astronauts, tomorrow production lines and manual labour

reply to post by Havick007


....which means freeing up human lives to pursue even further productive efforts than to perform mundane repetitive activities!

Education is the key. There are still many scientific fields that need mankind to research upon such as pharmacy, bio-tech engineering space related studies. Fortunately humans can be taught and if properly motivated, can and will excel beyond the farming fields.

The young have a brighter future, the older workers can upgrade, and the national leaders who don't give a hoot about human capital and their own citizens will be left far behind on Earth.

A toast to the future and future generations of mankind! :-)

reply to post by SeekerofTruth101


Yes fair enough but you have to remember the capalist structure we have. What are we to do if we cannot work? We do not receive handout's for free, some are lucky, maybe you. Some have moneyhanded to them and can focus on whatever they want, and some cannot and have to work for a living to pay their bills and mortage etc. What happens when their job is taken by automated labour??
The government is not going to make them wealthy and happy. The US goverment cant even cover healthcare let alone people that are not able to work on a permanent basis.
I say that because you have no idea what it's like here, i don t have private healthcare, yet i can goto the GP whenever i want, get an xray or MRI or surgery. I dont have to pay for it, the goverment here does, and they are not going broke doing it.
I had micro surgery on my hand 7 years ago for nerve damage, i swiped my medicare card and got immediate entry at the ER, all the morphine etc, micro surgery etc and were discharged 2 dats later.
Yet the goverment their cannot pay for it's citizens healthcare but it will spend almost a trillion dollars on a war that is pointless and none of the USA's business.

Let me ask you this as a US Citizen, Why did America goto war with Iraq when it was Afganistan that was the issue and the cause of 9/11. Yet your government has spent alot more time and money in Iraq than Afganistan.

We have troops their as well, to support you guys. Alot more in Afganistan than Iraq though, because we know where the troops belong and for what reason they should be there.


Sorry i am going on abit, dont get me wrong i am not some anti american blah blah blah, but i am anti crap, and all the bushII govt did was lie and profit from shares in defence contractors and oil links.

If you had an outside perspective on what is happening you may have more clarity on the issue. I dont want to start any arguments at all, just know that an outside view on what has been happening their in the US and how things have been run makes you see things much more clearly.

This is abit off topic nut kinda in line with what you were saying, if the US goct can afford this trillion dollar war, spend billions annually on defence contracts and R&D then why cant it spend the money on it's citizens and helth for them.

We have it great here and Aus is no:36 on the UN world health chart, 5 above the US. There are many more above us as well. All these countries spending more on their people and health than on war and paranoia. Please you guys have to see that many other countries see America as some world police but really in the past 10 years due to your leadership your govt has lost alot of credibility.
To me personally, citizen health and welfare should be formost and most important in any govt strategy. Yet for the US govt, that it is not the priority. Pres Obama has made these healthcare reforms...yeah great but how does that help the unemployed or handicapped that cannot affored healthcare still?

Yet the govt is spending 100's billion on defence, Stealth Bombers, Black budgets, missiles, warships, spcaecraft and R&D and so much more, yet 70-80,000 people die every year of preventable death, but beacuse they have a pre existing condition the insururs wont touch them. Then what? what do they do if they cannot afford $100,000 for an operation or much more for cancer treatment or a brain op. What do they do? they could die at the gate of the Whitehouse and no one would care.

It is a sad world. From the outside it is clear but from the inside it is the norm.
If you came and lived here, Canada or France for 2 years you would see how bad things really are there

I am no hate monger but pitty how things are and how ignorant people can be when they are ill informed.

reply to post by Havick007


Hey look, I understand how you feel. I've been there too and understand from the ground what's it like, as well as seeing from the top at the stupid mistakes most govts around the world does.

But for the sake of ourselves and the next generations, we cannot and must not give up hope for change to happen. And change can only happen with you and me.

As for the present living, after the financial crisis, life as we know it will no longer be the same. We must eradicate greed. A bit of greed here and there is ok, for without greed, the capitalsit machine aint gonna work. But excessive greed such as those we saw yesterday will only doom our civilisation and almost brought us all the the brink.

Today we are recovering and determine not to make the same mistakes again, and you and I must not allow our elected representatives repeat them.

In order to battle cheap labour and cheap resources from China and 3rd world nations, it will be tech and quality that will help us get jobs. For example, China can produce a car that looks exactly like the Bently and cheaper, but it breaks down often and is no way in quality compared to Western production.

It can fool their own people, but not many in the Western world will buy that cheap model, cause the repair bills will be astronomical, and worse, lives may be at stake. There's where the marketing emphasis of western models must be to ensure sales - productivity, safety and quality, not design anymore.

It is easy for me to talk, but to keep to topic, it will be high technology that will improve our productivity which in turn will help us all get our jobs back. Spend some time looking for growth areas, or create jobs where you can use tech and productivity to compete, and you will never lose out again.

Never give up hope, for you are a human, the dominant species that survived through it all.

Did NASA pay Lucasfilm royalties for using the name "Android"?