a history of cybernetic animals and early robots
Lunar Construction Vehicle with manipulator arms. Above image from “The Next 50 Years on the Moon”, 1974. NASA Study Summary: “Project Horizon, Vol 2, Technical Considerations and Plans” Here’s a big study from 1959, done by the US Army, right about the time NASA was just becoming a going concern. There was a lot of …
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An OMV leaves the payload bay of a Shuttle to deliver or retrieve satellites in orbits beyond the reach of the Shuttle itself. The basic OMV configuration. Any manipulator arm attachments are via appropriate kits, such as Integrated Operations Servicing System (IOSS) and Tumbling Satellite Recovery (TSR) both shown below. These are front-ended to the …
Read More “1984-7 – Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) + Kits – NASA (American)”
The 1982-4 – Telepresence Servicer Unit (TSU) Concept. Free-Flying Teleoperator 1. Thrusters 2. Vision sensors 3. Anchor arm 4. Manipulator arm 5. Vision sensor 6. Gripper 7. Thermal insulation 8. Light 9. Light 10. End effector rack 11. Spare part rack 12. Anchor arm 13. Communications and navigation antennas. As awarded under the Space Applications …
Read More “1982-4 – Telepresence Servicer Unit (TSU) – Akin/Minsky (American)”
Illustrations from the book “Travel To Distant Worlds” written by Karl Gilzen. The illustrations are dated 1955 and are by Nikolay Kolchitsky (Ðиколай Кольчицкий) . The Space Tugs are manned and have what appears to be simple mechanical arms. The covers to both the Soviet version and the English version of the book. Another similar illustration …
Read More “1955 – Space Tug (Illustration) – Nikolay Kolchitsky (Soviet)”
1985 – Manned Autonomous Work Station (MAWS) by Brand Griffin. For more detail see Griffin’s pdf here. Image and text sourced from drell-7. “With restrictions put on by current EVA technology, there’s no such thing as being able to put on your spacesuit, go out the airlock and deal with an emergency these days. A …
Read More “1985 – Manned Autonomous Work Station (MAWS) – Brand Griffin (American)”