Robohouse

--- In spacesettlers, giorgio gaviraghi wrote:

> to evaluate extraterrestrial construction systems we
> must etablish some common ground, ie evaluation
> parameters
> in our case they could be:
> -minimize payload from earth
> -simple assembly
> -maximize local materials utilization
> -maximum flexiblity
> -expansion capability
> -use of light construction equipment
> -maximum safety to satisfy remote and hostile environmental
> conditions
> the proposed system, in accordance with this
> parameters has several drawbacks

I pretty much agree with this list of parameters. As to whether the
proposed system is any good, considering them, well let's see.

> first it needs extremely heavy construction equipment

That the "whole-house robot" might be prohibitively heavy has
occurred to me. Some of the other problems you list stem from this.
The mass of the system could well be a deal breaker. We need to
consider:

1) just how heavy *is* the system, and
2) can it be minimized in any practical way, and
3) is it really any heavier than alternatives that do the job as well?

> it must be sent to the locality

Until we have genuine von Neumann machines, any system will have to
be sent to the locality. Indeed, the first von Neumann machine would
have to be sent. This is a drawback to building moonbases in
general, not of the proposed system in particular.

> unloaded and assembled locally,

Pretty much anything has this drawback.

> probably with help of other heavy equipment to be already there,

If the robot is heavy, yes. If the robot is not heavy, then no.
Also, what other system can do what the robot can do, but would be
lighter?

> and human presence as well .

Again, pretty much anything that will work in the near term (twenty
years or less) needs people on site.

> second the "concrete" locally produced, we call it concrete for
> simplification purposes, will require for vaults or slabs, a
> structural steel reinforcement which must come from Earth unless
> there is a local steel production unit

No. It would be easy enough to design a base that does not need
these things. Is it likely to have larger interior spaces than the
Pantheon in Rome? If it does, redesign it so it does not.

Although, an aluminum smelter might be useful, but then we are back
to the "anything that is likely to work in the near term" situation.

> third for construction you would need door, windows, electrical,
> plumbing and other equipment which must be produced somewhere

What system does not require these things? And if these things are
not needed using another system, then why would you need it for this
one? I think the house robot could extrude basalt pipes, just by
having a different nozzle.

> we can add many more drawbacks to this list.

But can we add many more drawbacks that do not apply equally to
anything else that is likely to work in the near term? IOW, things
that are drawbacks to this particular system, rather than drawbacks
to working on the Moon in general?

> The system proposed is basically a variation of the tunnel
> construction system utilized in the sixties for low cost housing
> ineurope.

I didn't know about this. I'll have to look it up. I'm not sure how
a robot that builds structures in an automated fashion can be a
variation of sixties-era tunneling, but then, like I said, I didn't
know about the Europe thing.

> To perform construction in extraterrestrial environment, we need
> radically new systems based in satisfying the design parameters
> listed, at least in the preliminary phase before we can build a
> local construction capability.

Yes. On this we are agreed. Except...

We might get into the trap of waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for
the perfect system and fail to use something that, while not perfect,
is "good enough," as well as being available in the near term.
Perhaps it is because I am about to turn forty, but I'm getting a bit
impatient. Even if I don't get to go myself, I'd at least like to
see it happen while I am still alive.

> the self replicating system is another goal but it will follow the
> preliminary requirements listed above

The RepRap system does, except for needing humans to assemble it.
See above about not being able to get rid of humans in the near term.

> We can also consider a completely automatic and unmanned system to
> build bases for future human utilization in et environment but i
> haven't see any serious proposal yet.

Neither have I.

Look, I too long for that one kilogram package that we can crash-land
on the Moon, leave it to itself for a while, and then move into a
spacious, fully-furnished moonbase a year later. But I'm also quite
willing to soft-land 500 tons on the lunar surface, if that's what it
takes. Heck, I'd even go for 1000 tons, if necessary.

Xenophile the 39-year-old impatient geezer