Robot Helper Design Challenge
Preliminary Designs

Preliminary Design
Expert Response

Our robot can be useful to NASA because it can go places the astronauts might not be able to go. When the Astronaut is busy the robot can take pictures of what the astronaut is doing and send it back to NASA. Even though our robot can not go outside of the ISS it can still be very useful around the ISS and on the space shuttle. Dude makes it easier forstronauts to communicate with one another, send information, check the temperature of various modules and take pictures

Back

Top

Side

Dude is made out of fiberglass. We chose to use fiberglass because it is lighter, so it will not cost as much to take in to space.

Thrusters – The thrusters are placed in strategic locations on the Dude and allow the robot buddy to move in all directions. Each thruster is a 2” fan that can spin in either direction. This minimizes the number of thrusters that are needed to move the Dude and also reduces the overall noise.

Camera – The camera is used for “seeing” in the ISS, the shuttle and through the windows into the vacuum of space. The camera will allow an astronaut on the ISS, shuttle or on earth to see what the robot buddy sees. It is located on the front of the robot just above the screen of the robot. We heard about satellites that can read newspaper headlines from space. Vanguard's powerful 44X Zoom is just like that. Instead of seeing only what's in front of you, you can see 20, 40, 80 feet away and more with greater detail and clarity than if you were standing right there. The camera that we are using also has digital zoom.

Lights – The lights are used to allow the astronauts to see things in the dark and for looking in small places. There is a light on the front and the back of the robot.

Screen – The screen is used to show astronauts the pictures the robot has taken. It is also used to communicate with other astronauts on the ISS around the space shuttle and the ISS.

Thermometer – For our thermometer we are using a small digital thermometer with large digits.

Speaker – The speaker is used to hear what astronauts are saying so that others in the International Space Station can hear them. The speaker that we have chosen is 2” in diameter but powerful enough to do the job.

Microphone – The microphone is used to allow astronauts to communicate with one another. It is too small to provide a picture.

Two-way radios – We have a two-way radio in our DUDE so that 2 astronauts can talk to each other, if they each have a DUDE or to mission control or the shuttle. It will help the astronauts to know what is going on in other modules. We are using a transmitter/receiver inside the Dude along with the speaker and microphone.

Proximity sensors – We are using Keyence self contained Proximity Sensors. These proximity sensors will allow DUDE to move through the International Space Station and avoid running into something or someone!

Our robot DUDE is the same size as a standard basketball. This size will allow the robot to be large enough to do the job, but small enough for cost efficiency.

More Designs