Collins Aerospace and Ntention, a Norwegian startup. are developing “smart gloves” that hopefully will allow astronauts to direct the movements of drones on the Moon and Mars.The collaborators recently conducted their first field test of the gloves at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station in Canada’s high Arctic, reports Forbes.
The smart glove, embedded with a microcontroller and sensors, allows the the drone to respond to small motions of the fingers, hands, and head.
The vision behind the research project is to equip human explorers on the Moon with machines that can explore, scout, inspect, sample and fetch, reaching lunar caves, flying over mountains, or traversing terrain too tricky for humans to navigate.The robots might be equipped with appendages to do delicate work or bulk up to take on heavy lifting.
“The next generation suit will incorporate intelligent technologies that will take current capabilities to a new level,” says Greg Quinn, advanced spacesuit development lead at Collins Aerospace.
The atmosphere on Mars is dense enough to support rotorcraft drones. On Moon, which lacks an atmosphere, drones would rely upon gas thrusters.
More field tests will be needed to convince NASA that the technology will be ready for prime time when the space agency hopes to put humans back on the Moon but it could be ready potentially by 2033 to 2035.
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