第2056期:NASA Aims to Put Human-like Robots in Space

The American space agency NASA's human-like robot Valkyrie looks powerful. It stands 188 centimeters tall and weighs 136 kilograms. 

美国航天局NASA的仿人机器人Valkyrie看起来很强大。 身高188厘米，体重136公斤。 

Valkyrie is named after supernatural females in Norse mythology. The robot is being tested at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. 

瓦尔基里（Valkyrie）以北欧神话中的超自然女性命名。 该机器人正在德克萨斯州休斯顿的约翰逊航天中心进行测试。 

The robot is designed to operate in "...damaged human-engineered environments," like areas hit by natural disasters, NASA said. 

美国宇航局表示，该机器人设计用于“……受损的人为环境”，例如遭受自然灾害的地区。 

But robots like Valkyrie could also work in space one day. 

但像瓦尔基里这样的机器人有一天也可以在太空工作。

Robots that look like humans, or humanoid robots, have a torso, head, two arms and two legs. Engineers believe that humanoid robots will be able to work similarly to humans and use the same tools and equipment. They just need the right software. 

看起来像人类的机器人，或类人机器人，有躯干、头部、两条手臂和两条腿。 工程师们相信，人形机器人将能够像人类一样工作，并使用相同的工具和设备。 他们只需要合适的软件。 

NASA Dexterous Robotics team leader Shaun Azimi said humanoid robots in space could do dangerous jobs. Such jobs include cleaning solar panels or dealing with equipment outside the spacecraft. As a result, human astronauts could pay more attention to exploration and discovery. 

美国宇航局灵巧机器人团队负责人肖恩·阿齐米表示，太空中的人形机器人可能会从事危险的工作。 此类工作包括清洁太阳能电池板或处理航天器外部的设备。 因此，人类宇航员可以更加关注探索和发现。 

"We're not trying to replace human crews, we're really just trying to take the dull, dirty and dangerous work off their plates to allow them to focus on those higher-level activities," Azimi said. 

阿齐米说：“我们并不是要取代人类船员，我们只是想把枯燥、肮脏和危险的工作从他们的工作中解放出来，让他们能够专注于更高级别的活动。” 

NASA is partnering with robotics companies like Apptronik, which is based in Austin, Texas. The goal is to learn how humanoid robots developed for purposes on Earth could help the development of future humanoid robots meant for space. 

NASA 正在与总部位于德克萨斯州奥斯汀的 Apptronik 等机器人公司合作。 目标是了解为地球用途而开发的人形机器人如何帮助开发未来用于太空的人形机器人。 

Apptronik is developing Apollo, a humanoid robot whose jobs on Earth will include working in warehouses and manufacturing plants. The robot can move packages and organize objects. Apptronik plans to start providing the humanoid robots to companies in early 2025.

Apptronik 正在开发 Apollo，这是一种人形机器人，其在地球上的工作将包括在仓库和制造工厂工作。 机器人可以移动包裹并整理物品。 Apptronik 计划于 2025 年初开始向公司提供人形机器人。 

Apptronik Chief Technology Officer Nick Paine said Apollo has strengths in comparison to humans. 

Apptronik 首席技术官尼克·潘恩 (Nick Paine) 表示，与人类相比，阿波罗具有优势。 

"We're targeting having this system online 22 hours a day," Paine said. "This does have a swappable battery, so you can work for four hours, swap the battery and then keep going.” 

“我们的目标是让这个系统每天 22 小时在线，”潘恩说。 “它确实有一个可更换电池，所以你可以工作四个小时，更换电池然后继续工作。” 

Apptronik chief Jeff Cardenas said there are many possibilities as new software and development increase Apollo's abilities. 

Apptronik 首席执行官杰夫·卡德纳斯 (Jeff Cardenas) 表示，随着新软件和开发增强阿波罗的能力，有很多可能性。 

"The approach is we're starting in the warehouse and on the manufacturing floor, but then it can move into retail...to delivery and out more into what we call unstructured spaces," Cardenas said. 

卡德纳斯说：“我们的方法是从仓库和制造车间开始，然后可以进入零售……交付，并更多地进入我们所说的非结构化空间。” 

In years to come, those "unstructured" areas could include space, Azimi said. He said the robots are being designed so they can be easily changed to do many different jobs. 

阿齐米说，未来几年，这些“非结构化”区域可能包括太空。 他说，这些机器人的设计使得它们可以很容易地改变以完成许多不同的工作。 

"Robots like Apollo are designed with modularity in mind to be able to adapt to many applications," Azimi said. 

“像阿波罗这样的机器人在设计时就考虑到了模块化，能够适应许多应用，”阿齐米说。 

Azimi added that NASA is aiming to find out what areas it needs to look into “to bring a terrestrial system into the space environment...” 

阿齐米补充说，美国宇航局的目标是找出需要研究哪些领域，“将地面系统带入太空环境……”