Cosmonauts Anna Kikina and Dmitry Petelin took part in the testing of an anthropomorphic robot with a mobile platform as part of the research project "Constellation - LMO", which has been ongoing at the Cosmonaut Training Center for more than 10 years. The cosmonauts' partner is now the Russian robot Marfa.
Marfa — also known as a mobile anthropomorphic robot operating autonomously — is a development of "NPO Android Technology", where they have already created more than one such machine related to the conquest and exploration of space. In particular, the same team created the robot Fedor, who in August 2019 became the world's first robot-cosmonaut to complete a full cycle of flight into space. He completed the planned scientific program and safely returned to Earth.
Cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Anna Kikina, and Dmitry Petelin, using a master device of the copying type (ZUKT) and a virtual reality helmet, then controlled Fedor's "hands" during experiments on Earth. Specialists took background readings from the cosmonauts before and after their flight to the ISS to identify changes that occur in the work of cosmonaut-operators depending on changes in the conditions around them.
Marfa received some control principles from its predecessor, but its functionality has been significantly expanded. In particular, the robot can collect soil and perform other tasks, lifting objects weighing up to 5 kg. These skills may be useful on the Moon. So far, Marfa lasts only two and a half hours without recharging, but in the future, it is planned to create energy sources for the robot that will ensure its round-the-clock operation.
Marfa has several control modes. The robot can act automatically, but in the event of abnormal situations, the cosmonaut controls it manually. To do this, the operator needs to put on the ZUKT and work with a tablet. In addition, there is a supervisory control mode: that is, Marfa independently drives up to the object according to a pre-set program, recognizes (on the test site) buttons or switches and presses them, performing certain actions. Also, as befits an anthropomorphic creature, the robot reacts to voice: having received a command, it goes to execute it.
During the experiment, Marfa had to drive up to the functional panel to perform manipulations with the controls, pick up a simulation of scientific equipment, place it on the cargo platform, and transport it to a specified point. In addition, the robot had to unfasten the carabiner from the stand. Two operators worked: one controlled the mobile platform, the other directly controlled the robot through a copying device.
According to the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, when controlling Marfa with the help of ZUKT, there is a discrepancy in the actions between the robot's "hands" and the exoskeleton in which the cosmonaut-operators work. The fact is that each person has individual physical indicators, for example, arm length, grip size, and the android has such indicators unchanged. Interns from MAI, third-year students Victoria Epikhina and Alexandra Ivanova, are studying the discrepancies. Their calculations, among other things, will form the basis of recommendations for the robot developers. The recommendations of the cosmonauts will also be taken into account.
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