we re laymen here, what is a robonaut? it s a robotic astronaut. it helps astronauts do everyday tasks on the international space station and could potentially one day replace astronauts on the whole. it s a really, really cool, exciting experience down at nasa and it s one of my dreams. it was very, very cool. easton lacappelle your work is cool. 17 years old. when you win the nobel prize come back and show it off. definitely. thanks for joining us. thank you. folks do you have a big idea making a difference? do you know of a big idea making a difference? tell us about it. e-mail us to the address on your screen, bigidea.msnbc.com@nbcuni.com. could one of history s great mysteries finally be solved? after centuries of speculation a new excavation in florence,itily, might finally
john olson is live from houston right now. he s the director of nasa s exploration systems integration office. marty lynn is live from d.c. they is the principal robotics engineer for gm. i guess you guys are what we call rocket scientists. let s talk about this. john, i want to talk to you first of all. why are we why is nasa and gm involved in robotic astronaut? this is a partnership leveraging the best of both nasa and general motors for a win on all sides. we re essentially looking to take robots alongside of our astronauts, and further expand the realm of space exploration, first aboard the space station and then beyond. what can robots do that humans can t? why are we using robots instead of humans? well, robonaut is designed in a human sized fashion in order to be able to work side by side with astronauts. so essentially we can do simple or repetitive or in some cases