Submission + - GM's R2 Robonaut Headed To Space Station Next Week (motorauthority.com)
thecarchik writes: General Motors is in th business of building cars, and it's also in the business of building androids. Real, space-going humanoid robots. That's right, the NASA-GM built Robonaut 2 is finally going up to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Discovery November 1. So why, exactly, did GM build a space-going android when it's ostensibly in the business of making and selling cars? According to Alan Taub, GM's vice president of global R&D, "We envision the R2 technology transfer will enable GM to build better, safer, higher quality vehicles in a more flexible, more competitive and safer manufacturing environment."