NASA and General Motors have developed a humanoid robot that
will be the first of its kind to travel into space and never
return. robot, Robonaut 2, or R2 for short, is a $2.5 million
project that will be flying into space tomorrow afternoon on the
space shuttle Discovery. R2 will be sent to the International
Space Station where it will assist human astronauts in orbit and
take over cleaning-related responsibilities at the station.
1997, NASA designed a similar humanoid robot named Robonaut 1,
but the project ended in 2006 due to financial problems. General
Motors soon joined the design team and together, they created an
improved version of Robonaut 1, and unveiled R2 earlier this
year. consists of an upper torso, head, arms, hands and fingers.
It is 3 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. R2 is made of
aluminum and nickel-plated carbon fiber, and has padding on the
torso, arms, hands and fingers for protection. The joints
contain springs and 350 electrical sensors for grabbing and
touching, and the "bra