Watch astronauts use futuristic robot ‘SuperLimbs’ to avoid falling on the Moon – they avoid epic falls like the Apollo crews

A NEW system from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology could help astronauts conserve energy and make missions to the Moon last longer.

In a hilarious video, a team of Apollo astronauts tested the system, showing themselves trying and failing to walk on the moon.

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The video, provided by NASA, shows the astronauts stumbling as they jump in slow motion.

“Astronauts are physically very capable, but they can fight on the Moon, where gravity is one-sixth that of Earth, but their inertia is still the same. Additionally, wearing a spacesuit is a significant burden and can restrict their movement.” , said Mechanical Engineering. Professor Harry Asasa said MIT News.

“We want to provide a safe way for astronauts to get up if they fall.”

Asada said he and his team are creating a pair of robotic limbs that astronauts can wear that will physically support their weight and pick them up if they fall.

The system was called Supernumerary Robotic Limbs, or SuperLimbs.

It was designed to extend from a backpack, which would carry the astronaut’s life support system, a controller and motors that power the limbs.

A physical prototype was created along with a control system to tell limbs where to go based on feedback from the astronaut using it.

The team tested this version on healthy volunteers who wore clothing similar to an astronaut’s spacesuit.

As volunteers tried to stand up from a sitting or lying position, they were able to do so with less effort when using SuperLimbs compared to trying to do it alone.

The team hopes SuperLimbs will help astronauts after a fall, saving energy for more essential tasks.

The project could be useful in the future with the launch of NASA’s Artemis mission, which aims to send astronauts back to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

However, unlike the Apollo missions, which were largely based on exploration, the Artemis astronauts are tasked with building the first permanent lunar base.

The mission is expected to be physically demanding, requiring multiple prolonged extravehicular activities.

“During the Apollo era, when astronauts fell, 80 percent of the time it happened when they were doing excavation or some kind of work with a tool,” said team member and MIT doctoral student Erik Ballesteros.

“The Artemis missions will really focus on construction and excavation, so the risk of crashing is much higher. We think SuperLimbs can help them recover so they can be more productive and extend their EVAs.”

Asada, Ballesteros and the rest of the team presented their project and study this week at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

HIGH HOPES

This is just the latest version of SuperLimbs, developed by Asada about a decade ago.

They have been adapted for a variety of uses, such as helping workers in aircraft manufacturing, construction, and shipbuilding.

Recently, Asada and Ballesteros wondered if SuperLimb could help astronauts as NASA plans to send them back to the lunar surface.

“In communications with NASA, we learned that this Moon crash issue is a serious risk,” Asada said.

“We realized we could make some modifications to our design to help astronauts recover from falls and continue their work.”

The team studied how humans naturally recover from a fall, asking volunteers to try to stand up after lying down in various positions.

The researchers then looked at the different ways the volunteers tried to stand when their movements were restricted, similar to the way astronauts’ movements are limited due to the spacesuit.

A suit was created to mimic the rigidity of traditional spacesuits and given to volunteers to don before they once again attempted to rise from various slumped positions.

The movements were similar, but required much more effort with the costume on.

The team mapped each volunteer’s movements and found a common reference point, or sequence of movements from one person to another.

“These ergonomic experiments helped us directly model how a human stands up,” Ballesteros said.

“We could postulate that about 80% of humans stand up in a similar way. So we designed a controller around that trajectory.”

The team created software to generate a path for a robot using a sequence that could help a human get back on their feet.

This was applied to a heavy, fixed robotic arm, which was attached to a large backpack and finally attached to the bulky suit.

Once the volunteers donned the suits, they were asked to lie down and try to get up.

The robot noticed their movements and adapted to help them get up.

The volunteers were able to get up with less effort when helped by the robot than alone.

“It feels like there’s an extra force moving with you,” said Ballesteros, who also volunteered in the experiment.

“Imagine wearing a backpack and someone grabs the top and pulls you up. Over time, it becomes kind of natural.”

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