“Robothespian” to greet visitors at NASA
A robot actor created in the UK has beaten off international competition to become the public face of NASA's Kennedy Space Centre.
First developed in 2006 by Cornish company Engineered Arts, "Robothespian" stands 5ft 9in tall, with a full range of upper body movement and 'startlingly human' eyes. He can even recognise movement and speech.
Now space agency NASA has decided to employ the £79,000 robot's third generation as a figurehead – meeting and greeting visitors to its futuristic Cape Canaveral base.
The robot's lifelike, humanoid movements are powered by a combination of compressed air 'muscles' and maxon motors. High performance A-max and neodymium magnet powered RE-max motors are used to give the robot's hands, arms and torso a performance that is reliable and realistic.
Engineered Arts director Will Jackson, said: "Robothespian 3 is at the cutting edge of bringing technology into the arts. For him to appear natural and engage the audience, his movements need to be as quiet and precisely controlled as possible – but he also has cope with long hours, greeting over 1.5 million visitors per year."
