Lego robot controlled from space

Researchers from the METERON space project have for the first time ever successfully controlled a LEGO robot at ESA’s Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, from the International Space Station (ISS) using Nasa’s Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol.

On October 23, American astronaut Sunita Williams had ~1.5 hrs to set up the ESA METERON (Multi-purpose End-To-End Robotic Operations Network) payload and conduct an initial Operations & Communications Test Part 1 (OPSCOM-1) of the Rover Control Software, time-sequenced with an actual LEGO rover on the ground in Germany (constrained to a 2.5-hr battery life).

METERON is an ESA led international space project for advanced telerobotics technology demonstration involving the International Space Station. METERON is targeted at validating autonomous and real-time telerobotic operations from space to ground.

METERON is being carried out in partnership with DLR (Institute of Robotics & Mechatronics), NASA (Johnson Space Centre, AMES Research Centre, Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and Roscosmos with Russian partners (RTC Institute St. Petersburg, Energia).

Check out the video trailer below.

Wolfgang Heller

Wolfgang Heller