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NASA's RASSOR robot shape-shifts to haul lunar soil, help make fuel and water
NASA believes our return to the Moon could be sustained by extracting water from the lunar soil to produce air and even fuel. But how to get large amounts of that soil without bringing heavy, failure-prone machinery? The agency's RASSOR (pronounced "razor") excavator robot might do the trick. Rather than wield big scoops, it has a pair of arm-mounted drums that can change the robot's profile and dig with far more efficiency than RASSOR's 100-pound weight would usually allow, using one drum as a grip. The robot's sheer flexibility is also key to its working for the estimated five years of NASA's plans: if the crawler ever overturns or gets caught, it can flip over and keep the main treads out of the ground while clearing out soil-related jams. There's enough refinement needed that a RASSOR 2 follow-up should be in testing around early 2014, but the sequel will be close enough to the ideal design that long-term Moon missions could have the little hauler as a passenger.
Motorola's UK Defy+ gets rugged JCB-treatment, still useless for excavating
Everyone loves diggers: Motorola's let that natural fascination get the better of it by teaming up with digger-maker JCB to produce a ruggedized version of its Defy+ "life proof" phone. The limited-edition handset comes pre-loaded with branded-applications for the construction site including a spirit-level, theodolite, decibel meter and a DIY store locator: although we're more interested in seeing if you can use the tough device to hammer in nails. The Gingerbread-with-Motoblur operating cellular telephone has a 1GHz processor, 2GB internal storage / 2GB microSD card (up to the usual 32GB) and a 3.7-inch Gorilla Glass display. There's also a five megapixel camera for snapping pictures of diggers and digger-related items -- best of all, you can use the handset as a walkie-talkie with group call functionality. It'll be available in the UK (sorry, America) for £260, meanwhile you can pneumatically drill-down into the PR we've got after the break.
Discover a free Digger HD demo soon
Didn't check out Creat Studios' Digger HD when it released on PSN last year? Don't worry, as you'll be able to get a free taste soon. A free downloadable demo will be added to the PlayStation Store on February 18th in Europe, and February 25th in North America. For the uninitiated, Digger HD is (unsurprisingly) an HD remake of the classic Digger arcade game from the 80s. You control a construction vehicle that must go through an underground maze, digging to collect treasures and power-ups, while avoiding monsters.
Digger and Mushroom Wars coming to PSN this summer
Creat Studios continues its growing library of PSN games. The studio behind Cuboid, Magic Ball and the upcoming Smash Cars, is planning on releasing two more games on the PlayStation Network this summer. Digger is a true HD remake of the classic 80s PC game. Players must navigate an underground maze, digging horizontally and vertically to create a path, collecting power-ups, jewels and coins whilst avoiding monsters. The game will be available in both remade and classic modes.Mushroom Wars is an arcade-inspired RTS. The visuals have a PixelJunk look to it, albeit a bit more sinister. Players can play through Skirmish and Campaign mode with four difficulty levels. Custom music support, VoIP and YouTube recording support will all be included.%Gallery-64650%%Gallery-64654%
Air Force looking to develop foot-long subterranean defusers
While it probably won't matter much once we're pitting one robot army against another, it appears that the US Air Force is looking into new "subterranean vehicles" that could be used to navigate to underground bombs, traps, or nuclear pods and defuse the situation from beneath. Although we figured the USAF would focus the majority of its attention somewhere above the Earth's surface, the newfangled moles would be deployed a safe distance from the target and "autonomously navigate itself to the target" while cleverly avoiding buried obstacles on its route. While larger digging machines can certainly accomplish the same task, the catch here is that the life-saving worm must not exceed "12 inches" in length and be able to run off of minimal battery power. Similar to other "teams" of robotic creatures feeding off one another to accomplish complex goals, the Air Force envisions swarms of these diggers penetrating and neutralizing potential hotbeds for underground explosives, all without sacrificing human lives. Now if we only had one of these bad boys to sneak up into Best Buy's PS3 holding closet last night, we'd have a winner.[Via Defense Tech]
