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Dante II is an eight-legged
robot designed to walk spider-like into live volcanoes, looking for clues
as to whether an eruption is likely. In 1994, Dante II rappelled down
the nearly vertical crater walls of Mt. Spurr in Alaska. Eight cameras
allowed scientists stationed 80 miles away to control Dante’s
movements, though the robot was able to operate without human help
about a quarter of the time. Dante collected some useful data but crashed
to the crater floor when a tether supporting the 1700-pound robot snapped.
At the other temperature extreme,
Nomad is a self-guiding robotic vehicle that wanders the frozen Antarctic
in search of meteorites. The four-wheeled gasoline-powered Nomad cruises
autonomously, navigating with the help of laser range-finders that make
a map of the surrounding terrain. Its camera eye searches for rocks and
identifies them by analyzing their color, shape, and size. A built-in
metal detector identifies the presence of iron, often a major component
of meteorites. The technologies used in Nomad are expected to pave the
way for future mars missions, in which rovers are expected to help bring
rock samples back to earth.
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Stanford Cart was an early (1970s) example a somewhat autonomous vehicle.
It could be remotely operated, but would also follow a white line.
A prototype vision system added in 1979 enabled it to cross a thirty-meter
room dotted with obstacles. Travel time: a whopping 5 hours. [Click
for
a larger image.] Image
courtesy of Hans Moravec, Carnegie Mellon University. |
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Robots that explore for us
are divided into two categories. A remotely-operated vehicle (ROV, or
rover) is controlled by human operators who make decisions about how the
robot should proceed. An autonomous robot is one that can make its own
judgements and act accordingly. Autonomous robots are desirable because
they can venture forth without constant supervision. But the future will
likely hold a place for ROVs. Improvements in ROVs might someday enable
us to experience telepresence, the sense of actually being in distant
place. Details like the texture of surfaces, breezes, odors–all would
be sensed by the robot and transmitted to us in a way that seemed perfectly
real.
A telepresence robot currently
on the market is the iRobot-LE, a rolling eight-wheeled "avatar"
that gives you a (limited) physical manifestation in a distant place.
The idea is simple: you log into a special site on the web, from which
you remotely control the iRobot-LE. You can hear, speak, and see through
the robot’s sensors, as well as rove around and turn your "head"
to look right and left. You can stray as much as 150 feet from home base,
and even climb stairs. The makers of iRobot recommend it as a home sentry;
check up on pets or babysitters, or make sure you turned the coffee pot
off.
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