NASA CREATES ITS OWN R2D2
LIVE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY WITH ROBOTICS EXPERT

The Personal Satellite Assistant, (PSA) a cute little robot designed by scientists at NASA, could someday help astronauts handle mundane housekeeping chores aboard the space station.

"The PSA is an intelligent robot that serves as the eyes, ears and nose of astronauts in space and their support personnel on the ground," explained scientist Greg Dorais, the project's principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

"It's essentially a little, round wireless laptop that can be programmed for a variety of uses both on the ground and in space," said Dorais. "It's not inconceivable that in the future, something like the PSA could be used in the home to perform various household tasks."

Live interviews with Dorais will originate from NASA Ames on NASA TV. To book a window for an interview between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. EDT, on Wednesday, June 2, call Victoria Steiner at 650/604-0176 or e-mail her at: Victoria.L.Steiner@nasa.gov

NASA TV is broadcast on GE-2 (C-Band satellite), transponder 9C at 85 degrees west longitude, vertical polarization with a downlink frequency of 3880 Mhz and audio of 6.8 Mhz.

B-roll footage of the Personal Satellite Assistant will be available via satellite during the live shots or upon prior arrangement.
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