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You misunderstood. Astronauts in Mars orbit need radiation shielding. So: dig their spacecraft/habitat into one of the Moons. Humanoid robots: put them on Mar
by cstross 5y ago
You misunderstood.
Astronauts in Mars orbit need radiation shielding. So: dig their spacecraft/habitat into one of the Moons.
Humanoid robots: put them on Mars, instead of landing astronauts. That way, you don't need to bring them home afterwards. Meanwhile, with a good AR/VR rig, the astronauts (dug into the Phobos base) can control them remotely with no lag.
- user-the-name 5y agoBut why humanoid robots, rather than robots with a shape that is actually optimised for the task?
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y agoI'm now picturing "humanoid" only in the loosest sense, e.g. a head and arms only, for remote operation by a human inside the Mars (or Phobos) base, mounted on the outside of a cybertruck, like some Terminator Centaur. The operator would be able to toggle between "drive the truck" and "pick up rocks" modes, depending on which shape is appropriate for the task at hand.
- user-the-name 5y agoBut that is not what was announced, and very little of the hard problems involved in building an actual humanoid robot like the one Musk announced are relevant to building what you suggest.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago> But that is not what was announced yes, so what? We expect that. Previous comment here touches upon the connection and inevitable gap between the inspirational BS "what was announced" and final outcomes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28255768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28255768