NEWS
By Ellen Goodman | July 10, 1997
BOSTON -- Next thing you know they'll be making a Beanie Baby named Sojourner.I mean, the country has had a romance with space before, but this is the first time we've found a NASA space traveler quite so, well, adorable. Ever since the 2-foot-long, 1-foot-high, 23-pound robot rolled out of its air bags and onto the rusty Martian soil, it's become a national mascot.The scientists are so excited that one described himself as in ''hog heaven,'' though that may be an insult to the real thing.
NEWS
By Gregory P. Kane and Gregory P. Kane,Sun Staff Writer | June 9, 1995
The robot that helped police end a siege at a Linthicum motel Tuesday afternoon probably saved the life of the man who Anne Arundel County police believed had a bomb in his room.The suspect was huddled under a sink in the bathroom. C. Mark Van Baalen, the deputy state fire marshal who operated the robot, could see him -- courtesy of two video cameras attached to the robot and a 9-inch television screen in front of him."He reached up and grabbed something off the sink and then got back under the blankets," said Mr. Van Baalen, a balding, red-haired man of 35.When the suspect pointed the object toward the door, tactical police assumed the worst: that it was a gun. Had they stormed the room, they may have shot the suspect, Mr. Van Baalen said.
BUSINESS
By Ted Shelsby | March 15, 1991
It looks like a giant metallic beetle or maybe Star Wars' R2D2 after a diet, but the $337 million space robot being built by Martin Marietta Corp. is expected to become America's first full-time construction worker in space.The 6-foot, one-legged, two-armed mechanical creature is being designed and built by engineers at Martin's Aerospace Division in Denver and is to be used in the construction of the Space Station Freedom sometime later this decade.One big advantage the robot will have over other space station construction workers or crew members is that it will have "eyes," or video cameras, on each of its wrists as well as at the top of its oblong body.
NEWS
January 2, 1993
GREENBELT -- A spidery robot named Dante began inching its way down into an Antarctic volcano yesterday in a daring New Year's display of technology delayed earlier by cold weather and an unexpected eruption.But a computer glitch at the project's base camp brought Dante to a halt after the vehicle had traveled only about 21 feet. The setback dampened the initial excitement over the descent."Everybody watching it here is real excited," said Randee Exler, a spokeswoman at the Goddard Space Flight Center where scientists gathered to watch TV pictures transmitted by the robot.
NEWS
By Jonathan Bor and Jonathan Bor,Staff Writer | November 19, 1992
A robot that enables people to take a load off their feet could benefit victims of hip fractures, spinal disorders or back injuries as they rediscover the art of walking.Although it is being used at 40 nursing homes, hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals in Japan, a model now in place at the Bennett Institute for Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital is the first to be tried in the United States.Research on 20 patients will soon be conducted by Johns Hopkins researchers working at a biomechanics laboratory at Bennett.
BUSINESS
By Ted Shelsby | June 7, 1991
For the dangerous job of cleaning up the radioactive waste from the production of weapons, the nuclear industry has turned to T-REX, a robot being developed by Martin Marietta Corp. in Middle River.While T-REX (Teleoperated Robotic Excavator) may look a lot like the excavators used by highway construction contractors, any similarities end there.T-REX is strong enough to crush a bowling ball, Al Kamhi, Martin spokesman, said. But unlike its construction industry look-alike, "it has to have the delicate touch to pick up an egg without cracking the shell," he said.