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Uwakwe
Student
Los Ángeles, Bío Bío Region, Chile
1
Question
Updated
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Robonautics benchmarking
We have come a long way, we still have further to go. I see a future where we don't risk human lives on space station repair / constuction. When will this be in the forseeable future?
#human-resources #career #robots #nasa
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Joseph Neilson
Radiation Detection Physicist
219
Answers
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Updated
Joseph’s Answer
To some extent, we're already there, at least for construction. All long-range missions to date have been robotic probes, and they regularly fly automatic supply ships to the ISS which can attach themselves under robotic control - so basically we can already do modular space station construction robotically.
Repair is more complicated, granted - but if there's going to be humans on the station anyway, they might as well do the repairs. There's not that much additional risk in conducting repairs to being there in the first place; and there will be an argument for humans in space for a long time, regardless of the capabilities of robotics.
At some point in humanity's future, we will need to leave this planet and settle other worlds. That means humans will have to travel in space eventually, so we need to have humans in space to understand the effects of being in space on the human body, in terms of being in weightlessness and in with greater exposure to cosmic radiation; and to develop systems and technology to better deal with these hazards, so we need humans there to test these things. I don't really see a future where robotics can replace all human spaceflight.
However, regardless of whether it would be completely handed over to robotics, you're asking when robotics will be at a level to conduct all the maintenance tasks a human could do - and that's very difficult to answer. I think we have the capability today to build remote manipulator arms that could replicate all human motion, but with the lag of sending signals to orbit, full ground based human control is not practical for certain tasks - some things need instant feedback with no perceptible lag. That means at least some operations have to be completely autonomous with no human-in-the-loop; which requires an intelligence to make decisions; and that's where the big stumbling block is - we're a long way from human-level artificial general intelligence, and even if we were close, the route there is fraught with AI safety risks.
Perhaps by blending some human control with some automation, we would be able to achieve these sort of tasks, but that can be highly task dependent. The sort of things Boston Dynamics are doing with Spot and their other robots are good examples of the current technology here. For all the tasks needed on a space station, I'd guess those capabilities are still greater than 50 years away.
Repair is more complicated, granted - but if there's going to be humans on the station anyway, they might as well do the repairs. There's not that much additional risk in conducting repairs to being there in the first place; and there will be an argument for humans in space for a long time, regardless of the capabilities of robotics.
At some point in humanity's future, we will need to leave this planet and settle other worlds. That means humans will have to travel in space eventually, so we need to have humans in space to understand the effects of being in space on the human body, in terms of being in weightlessness and in with greater exposure to cosmic radiation; and to develop systems and technology to better deal with these hazards, so we need humans there to test these things. I don't really see a future where robotics can replace all human spaceflight.
However, regardless of whether it would be completely handed over to robotics, you're asking when robotics will be at a level to conduct all the maintenance tasks a human could do - and that's very difficult to answer. I think we have the capability today to build remote manipulator arms that could replicate all human motion, but with the lag of sending signals to orbit, full ground based human control is not practical for certain tasks - some things need instant feedback with no perceptible lag. That means at least some operations have to be completely autonomous with no human-in-the-loop; which requires an intelligence to make decisions; and that's where the big stumbling block is - we're a long way from human-level artificial general intelligence, and even if we were close, the route there is fraught with AI safety risks.
Perhaps by blending some human control with some automation, we would be able to achieve these sort of tasks, but that can be highly task dependent. The sort of things Boston Dynamics are doing with Spot and their other robots are good examples of the current technology here. For all the tasks needed on a space station, I'd guess those capabilities are still greater than 50 years away.
Jill Pineault
Technical Sourcer
1
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Weehawken, New Jersey
Updated
Jill’s Answer
My belief is that a person will always be good at what they love. And when you're good at something as a career, money will follow. When I chose my major in psychology I had no idea what I wanted later in a career to do with it. Upon taking a few classes, I realized my passion was in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. I wound up going for my masters in Human Resource Management. I love dealing with people and on a professional level there were so many different aspects to Human Resources; recruiting, employee relations, HR and the Law, policies and procedures, onboarding, performance management, training and development and compensation, to name a few. I also figured, every company has to have a HR department so there will always be jobs. However, there are so many different areas of Psychology that you could go into. It's an educational foundation that could be used in so many different areas of business. If you were to go into Abnormal Psychology (therapist, psychiatrist, social worker etc.) that is where you may see some challenges. For example, you will need further education than the four-year degree to make any decent earnings, which will require more money for school to obtain an MSW or PHD. But certainly, it can be done with student loans. I would explore the different areas of psychology further and the potential career paths a bit further. Again, always stick with what you love.