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Silicon Valley CA (SPX) May 12, 2005 Will robots that help astronauts in space be as friendly and likeable as the fictional "R2-D2" android portrayed in the original "Stars Wars" motion picture? NASA scientists say robots will behave more like human beings in the future, even if - like R2-D2 - these machines do not look like people. NASA researchers envision futuristic robots that 'act' like people, enabling these mechanical helpers to work more efficiently with astronauts. Human-robot cooperation, in turn, will enable exploration of the moon and Mars, and even large-scale construction in extraterrestrial places, according to scientists. Because human crews will be limited to small teams, astronauts will need robot 'helpers' to do much of each team's work, scientists reason. "Our goal is not for robots to have the same 'thought process' as humans, but rather for them to act, respond and interact more 'naturally' in ways that humans do with other humans. This requires that robots possess traits such as self-awareness (recognition of their limits and when they need to ask for help), and human-awareness (knowing to whom they are talking, and when it is an appropriate time to ask a question)," said Illah Nourbakhsh, a scientist who leads a group developing human-robot teams at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. Though remotely-controlled machines and robots that work entirely on their own are valid goals, the NASA-Ames team plans to focus on robots that are partly controlled by people and operate independently the rest of the time, Nourbakhsh said. There are three main areas that Nourbakhsh's team will develop. One is called 'collaborative control,' during which the human being and the robot will speak to one another and work as partners. "A key benefit of collaborative control is that the robot is able to ask questions of the human in order to compensate for (the robot's) limitations," Nourbakhsh explained. A second area that NASA Ames researchers will develop is to build robots that have reasoning mechanisms that work similarly to human reasoning. "Of primary interest is making the human and robot understandable to each other," Nourbakhsh said. Thirdly, the researchers will conduct field tests of people and robots working together. Many experiments also will occur in a special, indoor laboratory under construction at Ames, featuring a control room with a window looking out on robots working in a large area that will simulate the surface of a moon or planet. The control room will imitate a human habitat on the moon or Mars. Scientists are targeting completion of the robot laboratory for the fall of 2005.
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