The Internal Ball Camera

The World’s Cutest Space Robot

Omar Hage-Hassan
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read
Futuristic robots on a faraway planet.

Since the dawn of our species, technology has, and continues to be, about making society more efficient. This goal can be illustrated from the development of iron tools, to printing presses, to computers. We as a species have always used the information of the day to turn raw materials into something that would help us accomplish tasks and add to our ever-growing knowledge base.

The Internal Ball Camera (Int-Ball for short) was made just for that purpose. The Int-Ball will travel to space with astronauts, take pictures and videos, and send the images back to the ground. The task of taking pictures and recording videos was something that astronauts previously had to spend a lot of time doing on their own, taking further time away from doing more important activities in space exploration. The Int-Ball was also designed to help a great deal with capturing images from different viewpoints that would otherwise be very difficult for astronauts to capture. This will allow astronauts to get the most out of every test and experiment that they run while in space.

Aside from being very efficient, there are also a few other aspects of the Int-Ball that make it very interesting. The entire drone was manufactured using 3D printing. 3D printing has been available for the past few years, but rarely is it used to make such intricate robots with the level of sensory machinery and electromagnetism that the Int-Ball contains.

BB-8

It glides around and takes pictures, and also serves as a cute little companion, kind of like BB-8 from Star Wars (although it is not yet known if the robot will have any personality). Despite its cute design though, there are still more details about the further functionalities of the Int-Ball that are yet to be revealed. However, if the Int-Ball ends up being a success, this may be a new feature that is seen in many space missions in the future.

It is always exciting to see new technology like this. The scientific community is constantly growing and developing new ways to be efficient. The Int-Ball is more than just a spherical floating camera; it is an indication for what is to come in the near future. Robots in space are no longer a science fictional concept since the Int-Ball is far from the first space robot, and is surely far from being the last. We are living in a world that wants to travel and learn more about our universe. In order to do this, however, we must progress and become more efficient as a society. Robotics may be the key to doing so. We need drones, such as this one, to make science fiction our reality.

I think it’s fair to say: the Int-Ball is definitely the droid we are looking for.

Not these droids.

Further Reading:

4Thought Studios

A collection of articles and musings of a small app development company.

Omar Hage-Hassan

Written by

WSU Master of Science, Biologist

4Thought Studios

A collection of articles and musings of a small app development company.

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