DAISY: For the heavy lifting involved in exploring the
universe, NASA has the right stuff...
it's the TRIATHLETE Robot and we've got it's moving story...
next on Real World...
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DAISY: NASA recently spent the better part of a month in the
desolate plains of Northern Arizona, testing systems that
will one day be used to explore other places in the universe.
The event is known as Desert RATS...
that's Research and Technology Studies.
And one of the stars of this show is a heavy lifting
super robot with a very sporty name.
JULIE TOWNSEND: Well behind me, here is the TRIATHLETE.
It's the new generation of the ATHLETE vehicle.
DAISY: Julie Townsend is an engineer working with robotics
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.
JULIE: ATHLETE is the All-Terrain, Hex-Limbed, Extra-
Terrestrial Explorer. And this one is called the TRIATHLETE
because it has a new feature. It can actually split
into two three-legged robots. The reason that we split it
into two three-legged robots is because that's very
convenient for moving cargo around.
DAISY: So the TRIATHLETE works like a forklift on
steroids picking up cargo on a palette.
JULIE: Each of those three legged robots comes up
and docks the side of that palette and can carry
it around. It's very easy for them to set it
down and drive away.
DAISY: This makes it very easy to offload cargo from a lander,
and organize it at the landing site. And it's versatile, too
doing lots more than just heavy lifting. TRIATHLETE can be
fitted with special tools, to accomplish all sorts of tasks.
JULIE: The reason we call the ATHLETE hex-limbed rather than
hex-legged is because each leg can also be used
as a robotic arm. So what we're going to be doing is
we're going to drive up to that cliff face behind us, and we're
going to pick up one of the arms, and we're going to put a
gripper on the end of it. And we're actually going to pull
rocks off the cliff face with the gripper as if we were doing
a geologic survey of the cliff.
DAISY: Geologists can learn a lot about a planet
by examining cliff faces.
JULIE: They show the layers of the rock in the order that they
were laid down in history. So they can get a lot of the
history of a planet or a moon from seeing the rocks in cliff
faces like that. But normal rovers can't reach the top of
the cliff faces. So that's a unique capability that ATHLETE
has is that it has a really long reach and so it can sample
all the different layers of that cliff
all the way up to the top.
DAISY: Another tool that got put to the test in Arizona
is a special attachment that turns TRIATHLETE
into a soil-moving machine.
JULIE: We put this scoop on and it can reach out and dig a
trench in the surface and dump that material elsewhere,
just like you would do with a backhoe. It's one of the
things that makes the ATHLETE such a utility vehicle.
DAISY: When we last checked in on this project, we talked
about the mathematical concept of scaling.
The precursor to this robot, known as ATHLETE
was a 1/3 scale model. This version is Ĺ scale.
The one that would be used for exploration in other places in
the universe will stand 8 meters tall.
JULIE: So it would be twice as big in every dimension.
But this one really gives you the sense of exactly how
huge that would be.
DAISY: So you can see the progression, from the first
ATHLETE, built in 2005 to this new TRIATHLETE, which is larger
and can split into to separate robots.
Other additions to this latest version include stronger joints
and a new power system.
The TRIATHLETE was developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in
Pasadena California, where they know a thing or two
about operating robots and rovers.
JULIE: We have a lot of experience with remotely
operating robots on the surface of other planets. We operate
the Mars Exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.
We're developing new rovers to go to Mars right now.
So we operate ATHLETE, very similarly to how we operate the
Mars Exploration Rovers. Generally when I'm operating
the robot, I sit behind a workstation where I list out
all the different thing I want the robot to do, then I send
those to the robot to be performed.
DAISY: Julie organizes the days commands on a block schedule
similar to the one you might use to see your class schedule,
or to look up TV programs for the day.
In Arizona, at Desert RATS, TRIATHLETE performed many of
the tasks it will do on other planets one day.
It moved cargo, did geological surveys and even performed a
docking with the Lunar Electric Rover.
You can learn more about Desert RATS, Robotics
and all of NASA at www.NASA.gov.
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