his doesn’t sound like it will end well for humanity: A Japanese government panel has produced a draft paper outlining how humanoid rover robots will begin surveying the moon by 2015, according to a report by the prime minister’s office. As part of the $2.2 billion project, the droids will begin construction of an unmanned base near the south pole of the moon that will be powered by solar panels, according to the panel chaired by Waseda University President Katsuhiko Shirai. The robots weigh 660 pounds, will be solar-powered, are autonomous, have arms … and, oh yeah, they look remarkably like prototypes of the HK Tank from The Terminator (concept sketch below ). So long, pesky humans. We got starry-eyed last month about Japanese plans to send humanoid robots to the moon, but now we’re, well, over the moon to see that the Japanese want to build a whole robot base on the heavenly body by 2020. Japan’s Kaguya lunar probe has sent back stunning high-def images of the moon in recent years, including a panorama of the Earth rising from lunar orbit. Such postcards will look so much cooler if they include a few little bots waving to us Earthlings.
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