Experimental Google Smartphone Becomes Brain of Space Robot

Since time is changing to a robotic one, techno savvy companies are introducing robotic interfaces in almost every device. But since robots are born to excel greatly in every repetitive and tedious task, they tend to bore humans at the same time as well. Hence NASA has come up with “Project Tango”, an experimental Google smartphone that is capable of taking 2, 50,000 measurements in every second for creating a 3D diagram of the environment it is exposed to. Currently the hacked edition of Project Tango would assist in providing navigation information for SPHERES. NASA has launched this robot cum phone hybrid on 10^th June in an Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft aboard an Antares. It was speculated that in case the test turns out to be a success then the robot would be capable of performing 24/7 tasks.

The director of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA, Terry Fong says, “Astronauts typically use handheld instruments for these tasks. And they have to be carried out all the time. A robot's not complaining if you have it working on something all the time."

SPHERES, has been encouraged by Star Wars who is a training robot. Star Wars was first installed in the year 2003 which was limited to a 2x2x2 meter cube in motion. In order to detect its location, an infrared pulse is emitted by SPHERES. It further gives out an ultrasound “chirp”. The robot then determines the location by measuring the time taken for chirps to reach SPHERES. SPHERES are non movable in the external zone of ultrasound box. Scientists at NASA have been planning to increase the range of robot for moving the entire ISS. Space Battery is used in the phone for easy functioning in space.

It is really a hassle oriented job of programming the system for creating a portrait of an unstructured environment. However, it becomes all the more difficult for comprehending those objects later. Hence in order to simplify this, NASA decided to contract out the problem of computer vision to Google. Google alongwith its smartphone took the responsibility of this problem. However, Google is lip tight about this internal operation of Project Tango.

Zachary Moratto, research engineer at NASA says, “The phone emits infrared and then interprets video from a second camera in order to create a real-time map of the nearby environment, with objects color-coded according to depth. By using depth-sensor readings from the infrared-generated 3-D map, and knowledge of the robot's own thruster firings, SPHERES will be able to float slowly around the entire ISS.”

In order to track inventory, Project Tango can use an RFID sensor for tracking 20000 different objects on space station. Fong said, “The ISS is about the size of a 6-bedroom house and it's a 6-bedroom house where you can put stuff on the ceiling.”

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