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Japan's zero-gravity space drone sends first pictures from ISS
- analyst74 9y agoSuper excited! Another inch closer to more viable space missions! Instead of arguing about robot vs astronaut effectiveness, let's just use robot to augment astronaut where it can, and go from there!
- gcb0 9y agoand no word on how it moves. even bbc is going downhill :(
- mikekchar 9y agoHere is an article straight from Jaxa: http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/kiboexp/news/170714_int_ball_en.html http://iss.jaxa.jp/en/kiboexp/news/170714_int_ball_en.html They also don't say, but they link to this article: http://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/electrical/triaxial.html http://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/electrical/triaxial.h... which has a lot more technical detail. Unfortunately I don't have time to dig deeper, but hopefully it will help you search a bit better.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoIt seems to be rotating via reaction wheels (via this[0]). I haven't yet figured out how it translates, though. EDIT: if you have gravity available, the video on that site illustrates a clever way to use those reaction wheels to move around by tumbling. EDIT2: "for maneuvering around in space there are twelve electric micro-fans or μFans"[1]. The SE thread has a screenshot of a video which shows the placement of those fans. EDIT3: Full video about the Int-Ball[2]. -- [0] - http://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/electrical/triaxial.html http://www.kenkai.jaxa.jp/eng/research/electrical/triaxial.h... [1] - https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22324/how-does-jaxas-int-ball-manage-airflow-to-optimally-navigate-inside-the-iss https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/22324/how-does-jax... [2] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtIARUS7Lqc&feature=youtu.be&t=40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtIARUS7Lqc&feature=youtu.be...
- venning 9y agoFrom a related video: the reaction wheels spin up while keeping total angular momentum at zero, then apply a rapid (magnetic) brake to transfer the momentum to the body (from the wheels). I'm assuming if you do that precisely enough (and in three dimensions), you can generate linear movement. EDIT: I'm probably very wrong about the movement. EDIT: The video: https://youtu.be/n_6p-1J551Y https://youtu.be/n_6p-1J551Y
- lordvon 9y agohow does conservation of linear momentum apply? edit: this question was asked when the parent comment claimed that this machine could "generate linear momentum" from the wheels.
- venning 9y agoImagine holding up a bicycle in the air from the midpoint. Now spin both wheels in opposite directions. No movement. Now apply one brake. Now you have movement. Now do that in three dimensions with precision and you have this thing. Conservation of momentum applies when there are "no external forces", which wouldn't be the case here when you apply the brake. EDIT: Yeah, my apologies. I didn't mean to write "momentum".
- averagewall 9y agoThe brake is an internal force though (the force and its reaction both act on the bicycle). The whole unit's only external forces are from the fans so that's all it can use to translate. That and bumping into things.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago> That and bumping into things. Come to think of it - in air you're constantly bumping into things - air molecules. I think it could technically be possible to steer in zero-g within an atmosphere by pure rotation (e.g. consider that a fast-spinning object is kind of a (crappy) fan).
- nashashmi 9y agoI was looking for the same thing. It has got a motor inside and uses some kind of momentum to rotate. Another motor makes it go forward, but at a snail's pace.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoIt has 3 motors for 3-axis reaction wheel set (for rotation), and 12 fans to move around.
- monort 9y agoAccording to their press release it has 12 propellers (推進用ファン): http://issstream.tksc.jaxa.jp/iss2/press/170714_intball.pdf http://issstream.tksc.jaxa.jp/iss2/press/170714_intball.pdf
- tlrobinson 9y agoI also found this quote amusing: "The drone can float in a zero-gravity environment"
- eeZah7Ux 9y agoForgive the stupid question: what makes the use of reaction wheels and fans preferred over fans installed at different angles? Energy efficiency or fan reliability perhaps?
- Retric 9y agoPrecision and speed, reaction wheels can go from start, rotate you one degree and then stop all motion. With fans your going to end up constantly correcting because you never hit zero rotation.
- eeZah7Ux 9y agoThe robot is exposed to the station airflow so it has to adjust constantly anyways.
- Retric 9y agoWhile non zero, the spherical shape and minimal ISS airflow generally makes this a non issue. You can use those reaction wheels to calibrate very precise adjustments over time, you can also just bump into something to get rid of excess rotation. Note, space telescopes effectively use both approaches.
- venning 9y agoIt may also minimize the impact all of that moving air has on everything else in the station. Without gravity, fans blowing your things around could get annoying.
- wubbfindel 9y agoBeing able to operate with no atmosphere (e.g. outside of the ISS) would be an advantage I suppose.
- eeZah7Ux 9y agoYet, the translation movements are done using fans. Perhaps it's a prototype and future version will operate outside.
- fspeech 9y agoAny reason why it couldn't use air jet to create linear motion? It is floating in air after all. Okay, just saw EDIT2 of TeMPOraL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14795857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14795857, it appears to move around using micro fans.
- alex_duf 9y agoI can understand how it rotates, but how does it moves? as in going from one module to the next one?
- Andreas7798 9y agoit needs an atmosphere (not mentioned what minimum pressure) to move using its propellers between the modules.
- baq 9y agoSame way an airplane works - push against the air.
- konart 9y agoHaro v0.1
- diegoperini 9y agoFirst thing I did when I clicked the comment section is cmd+f to search for it. Thank you random person on the internet. :)
- LostCharacter 9y agoSo, they (almost) made a Kino? Now, if they can just get it to float on Earth, too...
- etiam 9y agoLove the robot, but I'm uncomfortable at what I see as an implication in the article that now the astronauts should stop taking pictures and do more productive things instead. I'm pretty sure there's values to that activity beyond having photographic registrations to show afterwards. (I'm also not convinced the little ball of cuteness is anywhere close to matching their choice of scenes yet)
- jamesvandyne 9y agoThey'll should still have plenty of time for taking photos. Astronauts usually work a regular 8-ish hour work day up in the ISS and have weekends etc... 2 of those working hours each day are blocked out for exercise, too, so this should be a real boon.
- bostonpete 9y agoThey work 8 hours a day including exercise? That seems bizarre to me. I know we don't want them burning out, etc., but if we're sending astronauts up there at great expense I'd think we'd want to ask them to put in a little more than 8 hour days. 16 hours a day plus weekends seems like a ridiculous amount of free time given that there's no commuting, family time (other than calls), yard work, social engagements, etc.
- Tade0 9y agoBear in mind that in space exercise is mandatory, because the lack of it considerably reduces the time a given person can spend there, which in turn would require more frequent launches, which are expensive. Also - they're the best of the best. They sort of earned the privilege of not doing overtime.
- CodeCube 9y agoAlso, let's not forget that overworking them has literally led to a "mutiny" in space before ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_mutiny https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_mutiny
- cntlzw 9y agoThis is the future. Every employer need this. <sarcasm/>
- meerita 9y agoWhy the quality is so poor? Looks like taken from a digital camera from 2000.
- lawless123 9y agoDoesn't look that bad.
- HyperMassive 9y agobandwidth perhaps?
- mrtri 9y agoits fake. these space agencies can never show live video of the whole earth spinning in real time. these weightlessness shows are all made during parabolic dive flights, that's why it never last longer than 60seconds.
- lasermike026 9y agoSqueal! I don't care what it does!
- lukasm 9y agoFirst association https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afHt_1sVQ14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afHt_1sVQ14
- spthorn60 9y agoWhy is the astronaut wearing a belt?
- noonespecial 9y agoIf you put a fabric covering on any flexible structure and then flex it, the fabric has a tendency to gather at the joints. I'm surprised he has not elastic straps on his ankles as well as I'b bet without the usual forces in play I would think his pants would ride up his calves towards his knees as well. There is an entire community of people however who collect "evidence" that the ISS is a hoax! This would be exactly the kind of "proof" they'd love!
- fredley 9y agoFirst thought: GLaDOS personality core. > Fish shaped volatile organic compounds and sediment shaped sediment.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- pillar_of_autum 9y agoNASA is working on a similar (but more capable and larger) robot right now, with plans to open-source all the code. I'm curious what the internals of JAXA's robot look like. That thing is pretty small.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoIt's great to see automation save on expensive human labor for taking picture. Now the trick is to automate a lot of the human labor up there. No need waste tons of money for what amounts to glorified lab assistants.
- zitterbewegung 9y agoWait they finally came out with the drone? I remember this was being teased when the ISS first launched. This is awesome! NASA / JAXA should make a plush toy or regular drone that could be used on the ground for fundraising.