Sending human crews to space to repair satellites is expensive, dangerous and not possible for satellites in distance orbit. Surgical robots, which can be controlled from a distance, provide a solution. Two graduate students at Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus in Baltimore used a modified da Vinci to manipulate an industrial robot at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., last month.
“The long-range goal is to be able to manipulate a space robot like this from any location to refuel satellites, for instance,” said Jonathan Bohren, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. “A lot of satellites have the potential to have their lives extended if we can do that.”
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