Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Ryan A Lannom/Jet Propulsion Laboratory

On the Moon, several moonwalkers stumbled and fell onto the lunar surface.

One technological out to this issue could be a pair of wearable robotic arms that extend out from a backpack. The arms could also crab-walk around a spacecraft’s exterior as an astronaut inspects or makes repairs.

Yes, this sounds a bit like “Inspector Gadget” or “Doctor Octopus,” but MIT’s Erik Ballesteros and his advisor, Harry Asada, have developed a system dubbed SuperLimbs.

Ballesteros is working with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers to improve the design, which he plans to introduce to astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in the next year or two, hungry for practical testing and user feedback.

Ballesteros and Asada are continuing the work and refining the SuperLimbs concept.