NASA turns to crowdsourcing for help building future space projects

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is turning to a powerful source in solving the problems faced by astronauts: the public at large.

 

NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation has joined forces with Freelancer.com to crowdsource such solutions.

 

Freelancer's more than 16 million registered users in 247 countries and territories may thus contribute to space exploration.

 

The goal of NASA and Freelancer is to work on CAD (computer-aided design) models of tools to be used by the Robonaut 2 (R2), the first humanoid robot in space, on the International Space Station.

 

"CAD models that will be developed on Freelancer.com will be used in this supervisory control interface, and will be representative of tools that R2 may use on the ground or on orbit," Freelancer said.

 

R2's tools may include RFID scanners, drills, and scopemeters.

 

For its part, NASA is examining the benefits and costs of using crowdsourcing sites like Freelancer.com to perform development tasks.

 

"We are honored to welcome NASA to the 16 million strong user Freelancer.com community. NASA Tournament Lab working with Freelancer.com clearly shows that crowdsourcing solutions has become an essential part of creativity and innovation and that there is a strong demand to develop ingenious and world-leading solutions online," Freelancer.com’s CEO Matt Barrie said.

 

Barrie added they "look forward to collaborating with NASA on the cutting edge of space exploration, and seeing the CAD designs our freelancers produce for Robonaut 2.” — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News