the New “smart glove” allows you to control appliances through simple hand movements, even in hard space suit. It is expected that the development will be useful in the exploration of Mars and the moon.
Cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy in his book “How to hammer a nail in space and other questions about space” described the thrill of working in outer space. According to him, in each hand as if trapped in pound dumbbell.
the fact that inside the space suit pressure of atmospheric, and the outside is emptiness. In the end, with every movement the astronaut has to overcome the resistance of pressurized hard suit. Over time, these efforts get tired, even a trained person. It is especially difficult in open space to make subtle movements with their fingers.
Conquerors of the moon, where virtually no atmosphere, and the red planet where the atmospheric pressure is 1% of the earth will surely face this problem. Meanwhile, they will definitely have to manage complex technology.
“a Spacesuit is equipped with a “smart gloves” could be a solution to the problem – suggests Pascal Lee (Pascal Lee), Director of the NASA project “Haughton-Mars”. With the help of which astronauts will be able to easily control a number of robotic tools, conducting scientific and research work on the moon, Mars and other places and thus making them more efficient and productive.”
Mindful of the problem space engineers drew attention to the interface control drones developed by Ntention.
“Our philosophy is to create technology that makes human interaction with the machine is intuitive and seamless, explains Tamuli Moina (Moina Tamuly), chief operating officer and co-founder of Ntention. We are pleased to see that our technology has potential application in space exploration”.
System that is integrated into a glove, keeps track of the most subtle motions.ia the hands of the astronaut.Photo Haughton-Mars Project/P. Lee.
the Glove was designed by engineers, allows you to control flying drones with the help of simple movements with one hand. (Staff of the project “Conduct.Science” recalls images from the movie “blade Runner 2049” and already anticipating what pleasant the application the technology will get on the Ground.)
“When I first saw the “smart glove” Ntention in action, I immediately thought about the third law of Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” recalls Lee.
Lee suggested to combine the interface Ntention with the space suit. Thus was born the concept of “smart glove for astronaut” (Astronaut Smart Glove, or ASG). Subsequently, the engineers have integrated the device in a space suit manufacturing company Collins Aerospace.
the Idea is to position sensitive interface elements inside ordinary gloves of the suit. The system keeps track of even slight movements of the hands and turns them into commands for the drone. The user thus receives information about the movement of the drones using augmented reality.
the Prototype ASG was tested in the summer of 2019 on the basis of the project “Haughton-Mars”, which is engaged in the development of future missions of mankind to Mars. The station is located on Devon island in the canadian Arctic. Due to the severe temperature conditions and desert terrain of the island is one of the most similar to the Red planet places on Earth. Prototypes of space technology being tested here more than 20 years.
Research station on Devon island is almost ideal for testing of such developments.Photo Haughton-Mars Project/P. Lee.
during the tests the researchers tested the control using a new system different flying drones on the market.
Note that the first mini-helicopter will go to Mars in 2020. On the moon, with its almost OTCwcstoumax atmosphere winding machine is useless, but it is not excluded the use of drones with rocket engines.
“Flight and operational tests show that the smart glove and the man-machine interface, augmented reality will allow the astronauts to easily and accurately control the drones and other robotic means, including suit under pressure,” reports Brandon Dotson (Dotson Brandon), an aerospace engineer and test pilot for the US army, which was the main operator of the system during testing.
Now engineers are going to experience similar control system for cars moving on the surface of the Earth. For the Mars and especially the moon it should be more relevant than control of the aircraft.
By the way, earlier “News.Science” (nauka.vesti.ru) wrote about system that allows you to control a swarm of drones with one hand. We also talked about the new spacesuits that will be used during the landing on the moon in 2024.
Text: To.Science