VR controlled robots designed to colonize Mars
The US-Startup SpaceVR works on humanoid robots, which can be remote controlled via Virtual Reality. The machines are to be used on Mars and pave the way for mankind to colonize the red planet.
Currently, SpaceVR has still less ambitious goals: The startup wants to shoot a 360-degree camera into earth orbit, so that every human being can experience the blue planet once as astronauts. After a kickstarter campaign and investment by HTC and other donors, SpaceVR plans to implement this plan soon.
For the time after that, the startup has a bigger goal. At the beginning of September, a robot developed by the start-up was working near San Francisco. He didn’t do this independently, but was managed by the CEO, Ryan Holmes, from Mexico City, using HTC Vive and data glove.
The young visionary believes that remote-controlled robots are the best way to get into the vastness of the universe. After all, it would be easier, less dangerous, to send robots than humans to Mars.
Remote controlled robots are changing the labor market
Until the technology is mature enough, there are more than enough uses on the earth for such robots, Holmes believes. The CEO wants to produce 10 million copies over the next three years. They are to be used by cheap labor and thus offer unrivaled low labor costs.
The CEO of SpaceVR thinks that with remote-controlled robots, one can temporarily deal with the great hurdles that hinder the development of a perfect AI. The work of the human robotic army is to be automatically recorded and evaluated so that it can be automated step by step, to the point where the robots can perform the work without external help.
Until then, the technology should be sufficiently sophisticated to allow space operators to send remote-controlled robots on a mission to Mars. There they could be used to perform heavy, physical work and prepare the colonization of the red planet.
The fact that Holmes vision is not so far-fetched is shown by a robot developed by NASA called “Valkyrie”, which was built for such missions. However, a remote control by means of VR view was not yet implemented.
Featured Image: NASA