Japan sending humanoid robot to the moon by 2015

As the US prepares to send NASA’s humanoid Robonaut2 up to the International Space Station in September, Japan’s private SOHLA (Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association) is gearing up to send its own two-legged robot to the moon by 2015. The $10.5 million robot named “Maido-kun” is being developed in coordination with the Space Exploration Agency of Japan (JAXA), an organization that has been trying to send robots to the moon since at least 2006. Oh sure, there’s little reason to send a wobbling two-legged robotic rover to the crater-pocked face of the moon when four-on-the-floor would be much more practical — other than it’s awesome.

Japan sending humanoid robot to the moon by 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  Pink Tenticle  | Email this | Comments

This post is tagged: 2 legged, 2Legged, 5 million, agency, akihabara-news, Association, coordination, digg, Engadget, exploration, face, Higashiosaka, humanoid, international, international space station, Japan, jaxa, Leading, legged robot, maido-kun, moon, NASA, nbsp, Organization, Oriented, reason, robonaut, robot, robotic rover, Robots, rover, september, sohla, space, space exploration, Space Station, tenticle, two legged, TwoLegged, url, us