登录查看更多内容

Farewell Peregrine... and SLIM!

Andra Keay

Robotics Innovation and Commercialization | RobotsAndStartups.substack.com

发布日期: 2024年1月23日

Sadly, Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific on Jan 19.

This afternoon Astrobotic received independent confirmation of Peregrine’s safe, controlled re-entry yesterday in the South Pacific.

Why is it so difficult to land on the Moon?

The Mission was doomed early on due to a propellant leak, however a everything else worked well and the Peregrine orbited for 10 days before being safely ditched. Ironically, the final maneuvers cleverly used the propellant leak itself to steer the spacecraft. We’re all looking forward to the next missions:

The Nova-C lander built by the Houston company Intuitive Machines is scheduled to launch toward the moon atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in mid-February.

The Griffin lander from Astrobotics is scheduled to launch toward the moon atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in November 2024. Whether or not that mission proceeds and includes the NASA Viper depends on the results of the current Peregrine inquiry.

Image from Astrobotic and ULA as the Peregrine separated from the Vulcan Centaur capsule.

Japan’s SLIM lands successfully but suffers power issues.

Meanwhile, Japan has become the 5th country to successfully land on the moon, however the lander appears to have run out of power. Two small rovers, LEV 1 and LEV 2 , were initially sending signals, and there is hope that a change in the sun’s alignment over time might restore some power .

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed the moon's surface at around 12:20 a.m. (1520 GMT Friday), but its solar panels were not able to generate electricity, possibly because they are angled wrong.

Did you just switch to a paid subscription at Substack ? Thank you! It makes you an angel investor in the work I do at Silicon Valley Robotics as a startup advisor, and accelerator. If you are a robotics company, January is a great time to join Silicon Valley Robotics .

Wizard of Oz and the Tin Men

Optimus can fold shirts? Not really.

You can briefly see the robot operator’s hand in the lower right of the shot. When questioned about this Elon Musk responded that the robot would soon be operating autonomously.

We all know that folding laundry autonomously is not a simple task.
Soon is a very stretchy word. Sooner than the heat death of the universe perhaps?

Figure robots are about to start working at BMW? Not really.

If you read the Figure release and the Reuters article more closely then it’s clear that;

Initially the agreement is for Figure to simply work out just what the robot COULD do and then to train it.
IF successful then a trial deployment COULD start in 12-24 months.
Figure HOPES to have a robot ready for commercial release in 2024.

Also, the Figure-01 has learned how to make coffee video from Jan might be autonomous, but actually just involves the robot standing still, opening a lid, picking up and inserting a single nearby coffee pod, and then pushing a button. Nothing else.

Dark Magic anyone? (the coffee pod blend)

Great product placement opportunity though for Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee

Self-driving cars drive themselves? Not really.

As per Rodney Brook’s 2024 Predictions Scorecard

Whoa! Driverless means that there is no human involved in the actual driving. Here the story says that there is an army of people, 1.5 persons per car, who intercede remotely every 2.5 to 5 miles of travel. I thought I had been taking Cruise vehicles that were driving themselves.

Remote operation can be a feature NOT a bug! For example, Imperium Drive launched a remote retrieval vehicle rental service in Milton Keynes in 2023, something that Germany based Vay has just launched in Las Vegas .

Hindustan Times 1 年前

Titans Utility Vehicles: Enabling Permanent Human…

Neal Lachman 6 个月前

What Does Catching a Rocket Booster Mean for the…

BIS Research 1 个月前

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Best Practices for Robot PR (researchers amp; startups)

Had to speed up the videos? Include “4x” or “16x” prominently on the video.
Had to do multiple takes? Include “Take 8” on the video and release bloopers.
Tele-operating the robot sometimes? Include autonomous vs remote ratio.

These are all very common situations when demonstrating robots in action and understandable. What’s most important? Massive youtube views or actual customer awareness and satisfaction? Audiences that matter are probably aware of all the tricks, and won’t appreciate being faked out.

https://youtu.be/Thpjk69h9P8

Famous PR2 folding laundry video from UC Berkeley in 2011, incl. 2010’s towel folding video.