Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) Micro-Robot

Space Camp, CA   
Feb 26, 2001

by SFRSA Mediamister Cliff Thompson

February 26 2001 NASA Ames, California Air and Space Center  (CASC), Friends of CASC (FOCASC)  & Space Camp presented "Building Intelligent Robot Systems for Space" by Guest speaker Yuri Gawdiak, NASA Ames Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) Micro-Robot Project Principal Investigator.

Held in Space Camp California, the highlight of this talk for roboticists was Yuri’s close-up look at the PSA Micro-Robot  & it’s work on the Int’l Space Station .  Yuri passed-around a prototype of the PSA & explained it’s origins as a mobile PDA for astronauts in space.  He discussed several design variations of the PSA’s ducted-fan propulsion system, including a way of reducing the number of fans by using an Inertial Drive design featuring a centrally mounted gyroscope to handle turns.  

SFRSA Mediameister Cliff Thompson videotaped the talk, after which, during the Q&A period, he was able to handle the PSA for close-ups while Yuri pointed out additional features  & discussed further capabilities.  Yuri’s enthusiasm was quite contagious as he outlined prospects for PSA evolution.