a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
In the early ‘60s, as part of the preparations for the Apollo manned moon landing mission, the Jet Propulsion Lab planned a follow-on program to its very successful ‘hard’ landing ‘Ranger’ program, which gave the first close-up views of the moon’s surface. The proposed ‘soft’ lander program was called ‘Surveyor’. An initial concept was for …
Read More “1961 – Sperry Rand Hybrid Moon Walker – (American)”
In the early ‘60s, as part of the preparations for the Apollo manned moon landing mission, the Jet Propulsion Lab planned a follow-on program to its very successful ‘hard’ landing ‘Ranger’ program, which gave the first close-up views of the moon’s surface. The proposed ‘soft’ lander program was called ‘Surveyor’. An initial concept was for …
Read More “1961 – Sperry Rand Plodding Moon Walker – (American)”
Pat Rawlings’ Rendering of the “Habot” Mobile Lunar Base Concept (courtesy of John Mankins, NASA HQ, and Neville Marzwell, Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Mankins’ Habot John Mankins introduced the Habitat Robot concept, “Habot,” in 2000 as a radical departure from traditional lunar base studies. The strongest attribute of the Habot is its “small is beautiful” emphasis. …
Read More “2000 – HABOT Lunar Habitat Walker – John Mankins (American)”
Space General designers have built an insect-like vehicle with six legs, two arms, a triangular body, a solar-cell panel, and an antenna. The left arm, ending in a claw, picks up objects to examine. The right one holds a TV camera to do the looking – and to see where the vehicle is walking. This …
Read More “1961 – Moonwalker Lunar Rover – Space General Corp. (American)”