Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: A Robot Invasion of the Solar System

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Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: A Robot Invasion of the Solar System (1989)

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by Rodney A. Brooks , Anita M. Flynn

Venue:	Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Citations:	47 - 1 self

BibTeX

@ARTICLE{Brooks89fast,cheap,
    author = {Rodney A. Brooks and Anita M. Flynn},
    title = {Fast, Cheap and Out of Control: A Robot Invasion of the Solar System},
    journal = {Journal of the British Interplanetary Society},
    year = {1989},
    volume = {42},
    pages = {478--485}
}

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Abstract

Complex systems and complex missions take years of planning and force launches to become incredibly expensive. The longer the planning and the more expensive the mission, the more catastrophic if it fails. The solution has always been to plan better, add redundancy, test thoroughly and use high quality components. Based on our experience in building ground based mobile robots (legged and wheeled) we argue here for cheap, fast missions using large numbers of mass produced simple autonomous robots that are small by today's standards (1 to 2 Kg). We argue that the time between mission conception and implementation can be radically reduced, that launch mass can be slashed, that totally autonomous robots can be more reliable than ground controlled robots, and that large numbers of robots can change the tradeoff between reliability of individual components and overall mission success. Lastly, we suggest that within a few years it will be possible at modest cost to invade a planet with millions of tiny robots. 1.

Keyphrases

solar system robot invasion large number modest cost complex system tiny robot overall mission success launch mass fast mission add redundancy simple autonomous robot mobile robot individual component mission conception autonomous robot high quality component complex mission force launch building ground

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