Saturday, September 01, 2007

WOTF JPL Tour

During the WOTF workshop, we got to visit the JPL.

We got to see a Mars Rover, which are much larger than I originally thought. Probably the coolest thing about the Mars Rover is that it e-mail its route as a map to its drivers on Earth, which they can look at on their cell phones.

We also got to see the prototype ATHLETE, a 2000 pound, hexagonal robot they want to use to explore the moon.

This thing doesn't move quite as fast as is implied by the video, and you can see it here. . .

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/technology/athlete-20070806/

It's still wicked cool and I want an army of them to do my shopping for me.



Obligatory quote:

John (eyes set in Evil Genius Mode): "Wow. I want a house made out of ATHLETEs."

JPL Guy (who programs NASA robots): "Gee, you trust robots a lot more than I do."

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