Life in space might be a lonely one. That’s the problem that a group of Grade 8 students from the Glen Ames Senior Public School in the Beach is trying to solve as part of their First Lego League robotics competition entry.
Calling themselves the Guardians of the Galaxsee, they built a robot – Home Away from Home – that helps astronauts keep in touch with their families on Earth and see familiar faces and surroundings. “The theme this year is space, so we had to come up with an idea to help astronauts in long space flights,” said student and project manager Shane Edelstein, adding that their goal is to help decrease the impacts of being and feeling isolated in space.
The autonomous robot can capture moments – stills and videos – from home using a 360-degree camera and sending the photos to space for the astronauts to view using a virtual reality headset.
“If you put the phone in the headset … it lets you experience being with your family,” Shane added.
Team captain Finn Harding said they’re now on version 2.0 of their invention, as the first one wasn't “very balanced” and “stable" to place on the tripod.
The plan is to offer two operating modes.
The remote control mode gives astronauts the ability to control the camera and get live video stream; the other one is a pre-recorded mode where the captured memories are saved on the device for later viewing.