Space Robot

The first to lose their job because of robotics have been the astronauts

The first humans to suffer the competition of the automatons have not been the taxi drivers nor the stevedores, but the astronauts. The first space robot was sent to the Moon just 50 years ago, in the North American Surveyor 3 mission, and was dedicated to take samples of our satellite. The Soviets soon launched the missions Luna 16 and Moon 17, which used the first robotic arm and the first lunar rover. Since then, space robots have grown in autonomy and importance until, in many cases, expensive and risky manned missions become unnecessary. In fact, most of what we know about the Moon and Mars is the result of robot exploration. So you see, the first to lose their jobs because of robotics have been the astronauts, perhaps the most skilled workers that exist on the planet, and off the planet.

An extended criticism of space science argues that we should be concerned before the problems of the Earth, and particularly those afflicting their human inhabitants, than to embark on high-tech missions to obtain a useless knowledge of our suburb of the cosmos. This is a very respectable opinion, but unfair and misleading in the case of space robotics. The amazing advances of these technologies in the last years are of direct application to the most diverse earthly problems.

For example, robots initially designed for planetary exploration will be extremely useful whenever a nuclear power plant needs to be shut down, cleaned of its waste and demolished, and this will happen many times over the next few years, starting with France. Another example are robot surgeons and artificial intelligence applied to diagnosis and therapy, who are also benefiting from advances in space robotics. And emergency services, where there are now people who play life, as in the deactivation of explosives and the extinction of fires.

Engineers Yang Gao and Steve Chien cite more applications in an exhaustive review for Science Robotics. One is deep-sea mining, where robots will be crucial for exploration, excavation, inspection and maintenance; This will not only save lives, but also greatly improve the efficiency of the process. Another increasingly important industrial activity is the exploration of the ocean floor, from which an increasing amount of natural gas and mineral resources are extracted. And also inspection and maintenance of water distribution networks and aid for agriculture.