"That thing should look more like a four-legged humanoid spider crab" is something you can say if you've ever looked at a moon rover. A new lunar robot prototype created by GITAI in collaboration with the country's space agency JAXA is a nightmare creation.
The claw-handed Moon Centaur was shown in a video.
The droid is seen navigating a lunar terrain with speed and ease, stopping intermittently to perform a variety of Moon chores with surprising dexterity. It does a zig-zag maneuver along with a few twirls.
According to CNN, R1 is a space robot currently in development at GITAI, which is part of the organization's push to follow a similar privatization model to that of NASA.
"Our goal is to achieve success in the commercialization of space robotic and thereby reduce the cost of space labor to a one-hundredth," GITAI CEO Sho Nakanose said in a 2020 statement. Success will contribute to space commercialization.
The international race to get humans back to the Moon is no secret, and countries from all over the world are vying to build outposts on Earth's only natural satellite.
There have been controversial steps towards moon mining. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty forbids any one country from reaping the rewards of any such efforts, but it doesn't explicitly outlaw the privatization of companies.
The company said in a statement that the demand for robotic labor, which is cheaper and safer than conventional human astronauts, is rapidly increasing.
The prototype looks like a centaur.
The new moon rover looks like a giant baby stroller for astronauts.
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