TECHNOLOGY ROBOTICS

Settlement needs to be self-managed. As challenge is to launch from Earth with least resources available and regenerate resources in space needed to maintain life, robots can be programmed and assembled while in space. Technology is constantly evolving, and robots are already part of our daily life on Earth and space. However, as many repetitive tasks can be performed by robots with great precision, human’s feelings and creativity cannot be replaced by robots. Therefore, Aphrodite habitat will use robots to replace humans for repetitive activities. Robots will be in charge with processing machine-learning capabilities, giving predictions based on algorithms that manipulate and process big data of rules. Beyond human brain abilities to deal with volumes of data processing, robots will be able to process data. Humans will have control on the programming rules while robots will report data statistics and predictions. Humans on the settlement will use data to take decisions while keeping human feelings, emotions or use creativity and leadership. There are several categories of robots that offer great support for the settlement:

1. Construction and space explorer robots

International Space Station (ISS) was built with help of Canadian team who developed robots with long arms, so there is already a precedent in using robots in space. Several rovers for space exploration, including Venus and Mars have already been built, therefore assembly on the settlement will be part of the planning.

2. Therapeutically and entertainment robots

Living in space is for humans a risk, not only due to physical challenges but also to psychological needs. Less human and animal beings in space lead to mental exhaust as humans are, by their nature, social. Japan already built animal robots like Paro, that proved to be therapeutic for coexistence with humans, offered communication and proved to bring same improvements as those obtained from animal therapy. There are already robots that play violin, drums, and all sorts of music thanks to Toyota in Japan that offer great concerts to comfort soul. Honda in Japan developed android ASIMO that can walk, talk, run, hop, kick a football, sing, and do sign language. Therefore, we can build ASIMO in space to play sports and communicate with or enjoy the concert played by robots.

3. Agriculture robots

Robots for planting seeds, irrigation, measuring temperature, humidity, harvesting, or vegetable picking are to provide great help in Aquaculture and green houses of the settlement

4. Medicine robots

A human being living in space has to be a highly skilled individual in a vast area of domains, including medicine. However, it is only a high-level overview of expertise in medicine for people who train for space, like astronauts. Specialists on the other hand, like surgeons, dedicate whole of their life for getting highly skilled in one specialty, therefore is very difficult for a space scientist to become highly skilled in certain specialties. Besides, as machine learning and artificial intelligence advances, robots play a role in giving more accurate predictions than a highly skilled doctor, as data analyzed is huge and cannot be processed by a human mind with such accuracy. Robots like DaVinci Surgical System, developed by United States or “Shadow Hand” developed by United Kingdom, are to be built in space to offer surgeries and proteases. Nano-robots can be used to identify and destroy cancer cells for people who fall sick. United States research team is currently researching robots to be used in nanomedicine.

5. Laboratory research robots

Robots in the laboratory are to follow a repetitive process like sampling, heating/cooling, mixing, shaking, testing. Therefore, the laboratory will be self-managed by robots that will constantly perform tasks for human manager to have enough data for running reports and take decisions.

6. Household robots

Robots for house cleaning, clothes cleaning, garbage disposal, cooking, gardening and even babysitting will provide assisted support while on settlement.

7. Transport robots

Drivers of the future will be available continuously. Rovers and ships will be driven by robots that will be equipped with GPS signals and understand voice command

8. Educational robots

During coronavirus pandemic, we all understood the importance of digitalization in education. Apart from educational platforms that enables communication remotely, there are robots, like Elias in Finland, that can help with practical assignments on math or languages. Advantage is that robots are not judgmental, they can repeat the same answer at student’s pace of learning, without getting tired and, in the near future, they will be able to read facial expressions. Just as pilots use flight simulators, same robots can produce simulators for training without taking risks, by practicing medical skills like first aid. Even only humans will create pieces of art and writing and cannot be substituted in creativity, robots on Aphrodite will have the ability to perform tiring and monotonous tasks.

How robots work

There is a strong similarity between a robot and a human body. Just as our brain is the main controller of regular activities, acting like a computer, similarly a robot needs a microcontroller or microprocessor to get information, process it and command action. Our body needs input from sensorial system, like hands that touch sends signals to brain if surface is hot, mouth that tastes so that we know when food it salty, nose that smells so that brain tells us to move our body in another location if it smells bad, ear that hears music and enjoy, or eyes that see and understand. Similarly, robots need sensors, like sound sensor (microphone), optical sensors, video camera or photocells for sight, temperature, pressure a.s.o. Therefore, sensors get input data from environment to send over to microcontroller for processing. Just as our muscular system responds to commands from brain, so do robots need motor system that use mechanics to support motor functions, like movement. To engage into movement of arms, robot also needs a small engine to put components into action, to simulate muscular system in human body. When it comes down to programming, a microcontroller can be programmed with different integration platforms, like Arduino, that has two sections: setup() to be run once at startup and loop() to run continuously until an exit condition is reached.