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I'm Sandeep Yayathi,
a robotics engineer
at NASA Johnson Space Center
in Houston, Texas.
This is Robonaut 2.
He's a friendly robot
to work around.
Robonaut 2 is a humanoid robot
that we developed to assist
astronauts in space
on various types of tasks.
Eventually we'd like to see
this robot going EVA,
which is outside in space.
Perhaps if we're exploring
the moon or Mars or an asteroid,
you could send a robot
out ahead of an astronaut
to maybe assess the situation
or go to areas
that may be questionable
and too dangerous
for a crew member.
He's able to have
the dexterity of a human,
but also has strength.
Robonaut 2 has
the arm span of Yao Ming
and biceps of Arnold
Schwarzenegger in his prime.
The difference is Schwarzenegger
can't hold this weight out
at full arm's length
indefinitely.
So we studied the human
anatomy and the hands
and used that to start
designing this robotic system.
That was one
of the biggest challenges.
So the robot likes to show off
his guns from time to time.
About the same
as a human being.
There's science-fiction movies
that all of us grew up watching
and kind of inspired us.
The idea was to make this robot
use the tools and interfaces
that were designed already
for the astronaut crew members
to use aboard
the Space Station
and with
the Space Shuttle program.
It was natural to gravitate
towards a human-type design.
This is a Robonaut 2 forearm
without all the shells
and skins on it.
You can see the actuators
in the hands moving.
We actually use tendons,
similar to human tendons,
in order to allow it
to move like a human hand.
And because it doesn't have
skin and nerves like we do,
we developed sensors
so the robot can feel
what it's grabbing onto.
The robot's vision system
is cameras in its head
to replicate your eyes.
We're trying to mimic
human biology,
but with electronics.
His brain's actually
in his chest.
That's where the computer is
that does the computation.
Many tasks inside the Space
Station seem simple and mundane,
but the International Space
Station is like a home.
You have to do maintenance,
clean filters.
These are things
the robot could do
without the crew around,
eventually,
and allowing them to focus on
complicated science experiments
to benefit research
on the ground.
As a kid, you always
think about NASA
as exploring space,
as being so up there,
so far out that maybe
it's not a reachable goal,
like I could never be
a movie star sort of thing.
All of a sudden,
a switch flipped
that NASA's like any other
company anywhere else,
except that its got
all these awesome goals.
The best part is seeing
the entire design process.
I go from being at a desk
doing design work
to assembling things
on a workbench behind me
and making sure they work.
Going from being a kid fooling
around with stuff at home
to now working here,
this is my job,
it's pretty incredible.
I never thought
I would end up here.
Just learn the right skills
and follow your dream.
Accessibility provided by the
U.S. Department of Education.
