KSC Wants To Buy A Cornish Robot To Greet U.S. Visitors

I vote for the Futurama method, great idea. However, as much as I'd love to see Bender abusing tourists we must remember that his full name is Bender Bending Rodriguez and he was made in Mexico!

I dunno, the RoboThespian seems pretty cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQDQKqO44QI

I'm not aware of any other off-the-shelf robot that can be motion-programmed that easily (just fire up Blender) and has those sorts of capabilities, and also would cost that little. Using something akin to Robonaut would be -way- too expensive and complete overkill for something like this.

A *robot* to greet visitors to KSC?? Well, OK, so a human being in a space suit isn't cool enough or inspirational enough, I guess. But perhaps robots can do things that astronauts can't? Hmmm.

I really find it surprising that NASA has to rely on a robot to effectively interact with people. Just goes to show how public-relations challenged the agency really is.

> I really find it surprising that NASA has to rely on a robot to effectively interact with people.

I'm guessing you've never seen how excited kids get in response to a robotic greeter in a museum...

i think http://www.sallycorp.com/
should do it....

they are located just up the road in jacksonville and specialize in animatronics. they'd be perfect for this.

"I'm guessing you've never seen how excited kids get in response to a robotic greeter in a museum..."

You help my point. Kids get excited about these in a museum because they're, well, robots. Robots are cool! But when you use a robot at KSC, you're doing it because, well, robots are cool! Not because space exploration is cool. See the problem?

The first thing I'd wonder getting greeted by a robot at KSC is what's so uncool about space exploration that they had to use a robot to get my kids excited.

A visitor to KSC might like to be excited about something that KSC represented. My kids could be excited by robots in a museum, or at a used car lot.

Gee whiz. Why doesn't KSC use dinosaurs to greet people? They excite kids too!

But seriously, these robot greeters at KSC are sending a message about the relevance of humans for space exploration. That may well be intentional at KSC, but I doubt if you'll ever see robotic greeters at JSC.

Perhaps it was only a lunch menu change and they are adding Welsh Rarebit to the menu

Since Apollo, forty years now, NASA has been trying to interact with the public to inspire the next generation and to secure funding or increased funding, promote advocacy of the many space missions that have come and gone. It ain't working any better, cowboy. This is a dead horse if ever I've seen one.

Maybe a better ploy would be to loan out NASA astronauts in spacesuits to Domino's and Little Caesar's to stand on roadsides and promote specials. You could not imagine how many Philly Cheese Steak Pizzas I'd buy for a chance to meet Neil Armstrong.

NASA has plenty of robots for inspiring the next generation. Some examples - MER, LRO, DAWN, NEAR, SDO. The data returned is both scientific and inspirational. We hardly need a robot winging a sign on the street to attract customers to our monthly special.

There is a serious educational rift widening. A particularly large portion of the American public is unable to fathom the most basic laws and principles of the Universe. Do you think that Robothesbian will stop to hold a visitors popcorn bag while they tie their shoe lace? No. Loss of Mission. The public will become no smarter or wiser from their brief encounter with an automaton.

Stop struggling with a Chinese Finger Puzzle (CFP). Robothesbian? Even Commander Data had trouble getting the CFP off. The solution is simple, maintain a steady budget for public outreach - no, increase it then maintain it. There is no off-year for reducing that portion of the NASA buget, never a generation that needs less. Forget Robothesbian. We already have such a wealth of discoveries, history and vision to offer and the means to present it. And really. Aren't those roadside kids in Gorilla suits swinging today's special just pitiful to watch. The family just spent 3 days at Disney World. How incredible will what-its-name be to them?

It appears the Buy .vs. Make question once again.

I'm mean why does KSC want to purchase a Robot when they are trying to bootstrap their research park.

I guess it is the rocket launcher thinking they cannot escape.

"Quite frankly, at a cost of between $54,000 to $119,000 wouldn't you think that KSC could find an American company that offers something that will fit the bill?"

In Europe we call this protectionism!

I think this wins the "pathetic" prize for the month, at least.
Rather than go to the best technical and motion picture minds that the US has, and asking them to come up with something on their dime, strictly as a "vanity" project, we contemplate buying something like this gizmo, because it's yet another thing that we somehow can't manage to do ourselves anymore.
This is not only pathetic, it's sad. Walt Disney was on speaking terms with Von Braun. What happened? "Man in Space"
Today? Pathetic.

Obama advisor Steve Robinson said in 2008...

“Kids actually understand robotics in an amazing way. If NASA said they were going to land monster robots on Mars and crash them into each other we would have a huge pool of kids who were interested in science and engineering.”

So true.

"Obama advisor Steve Robinson said in 2008..."

Yup. And Steve would probably be appalled that instead of landing monster robots on Mars, we're buying one to greet people at KSC. One that in virtually no respect represents what we would ever send to Mars.

This would make a huge pool of kids interested in science and engineering? No. It would make a huge pool of kids interested in acting like a humanoid
robot, and doing robot shows for an appreciative audience. Hey, if NASA can buy a robot like this, someday so could I!

Give me a break. This isn't about Mars.

Pathetic.

Not so minor point. the solicitation is for "...a 5'9" Life-Like Robot, brand-name Engineered Arts Limited, RoboThespian, or equal." Those last two words are critical since it means that NASA has found something that it likes, but other companies are welcome to bid in response to the RFQ. This is not a sole source contract as is implied by the comment.

If Project M is fully approved and funded, and in 1000 days we have pictures/video of a Humanoid robot on the surface of the Moon with all that magnificent desolation, I think this debate will about how KSC spends $100k on a "for the kids" robot will matter little. As long as KSC's visitor facilities still have rockets and Astronaut lectures and tours that include real hardware, I think most people will be as happy as I was when I visited a few years ago. In 1000 days, however, older kids and adults like me, might want to see and interact with that Robonaut that will be all over the news when it is deployed. Perhaps that interest will even be there after the next Shuttle mission when the R2 goes up.

BTW, before reading this article and thread, I was not fully aware of what the Robonaut is. Whoa, pretty cool and a little scary. If computers gave the economy a boost in the last decade or two, it might be robotics that plays a part in the next economic boom. And, for the first time, I am considering, just as autoworkers have done over the years, that I might one day loose my job to a robot.

NASA taking anthropomorphic robotics to the next level could be the ultimate spin-off technology of this generation.

When I grow up I want to be a robot, so I can explore space and do cool stuff...

RoboThespian would just like to correct a few facts for the record...
RT is not Welsh - but is made in the UK in Cornwall
300 miles south of wales.
With over $2 million spent on R&D building a one off to the same spec is not a great economic idea.
RoboThespian is not an anmatronic it is a fully programable self contained robot.
OK it aint R2 - but it can still do some cool stuff.

Keith, just as a head's up, NASA is a covered entity listed on the U.S. schedule to the World Trade Organization's Government Procurement Agreement ("GPA"):
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gproc_e/usa1.doc

What this means is that NASA has to treat companies from other WTO-GPA members (including the UK) as if they were American, and can't discriminate on the basis of national origin. There's an exception if the purchase is less than 130,000SDRs, which is just shy of $200k. So if NASA is buying just one of these robots, it would escape under the threshold and NASA would be within its right to limit the procurement to U.S. suppliers.

I get the eerie feeling that RoboThespian will be able to pound on the table and say, "I did not murder him!"

The hand design of Robonaut owes a fair bit to the Shadow robot company (UK) who supplied a hand to NASA for research on the project.
And finally speech is not a Robonaut capability - so its hardly approriate as a communication tool.
Disney, Sally Corp etc do not have a flexible programmable robotic communication platform.
Robotics is a tiny niche area, and entertainment / communication robots are a tiny sub niche of thi

The hand design of Robonaut owes a fair bit to the Shadow robot company (UK) who supplied a hand to NASA for research on the project.
Speech is not a Robonaut capability - so its hardly approriate as a communication tool.
Disney, Sally Corp etc do not have a flexible programmable robotic communication platform.
Humanoid robotics is a tiny niche area, and entertainment / communication robots are a tiny sub niche of this niche - the companies that operate in this area operate globally as it is the only feasible way to achive significant sales volume. (10's of units)
You will be happy to know that RT uses a lot of US technology in its design as we would never be foolish enough to reject good tech because of its country of origin.