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Kids and adults alike came face-to-face with
cutting-edge robotics at the Robot Rocket

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Rally.

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The three-day event was hosted by Florida's
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and pulled

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together new robotic technology provided by
NASA, universities, high schools and private

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industry.

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The goal: encourage kids to pursue careers
in "STEM" fields of science, technology, engineering

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and math.

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One of the rally's star attractions was a
full-size mockup of Robonaut 2, or R2, complete

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with legs.

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The torso of the real R2 is already on the
International Space Station, and its legs

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are due to travel there later this month on
a cargo resupply flight.

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They're set to fly aboard the Falcon 9 rocket
on SpaceX-3, the third flight under the Commercial

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Resupply Services contract.

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Mock-ups of R2 formed the centerpiece of the
rally, with crowds gathering to see demonstrations

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of the torso and a completed version, including
legs.

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Those will be launched on SpaceX-3, and once
it has those legs, it will be able to move

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from one location to another and start helping
the crew with some tasks that the crew really

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shouldn't have to do.

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Things like cleaning handrails, measuring
the airflow, taking inventory.

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Also on display were tiny Cubesats – satellites
small enough for a child to hold in his hand.

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They're part of the Small Spacecraft Technology
Program at NASA's Ames Research Center in

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California.

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One just like these, called PhoneSat 2.5,
also is set to launch on SpaceX-3.

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It tests the capability of a smartphone to
handle the basic needs of a spacecraft.

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As the name implies, there's a phone inside
the satellite, which we use for the avionics

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and all the processing and communications
for the satellite.

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And we're learning that they can, that a phone
can work pretty well in space to do the things

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that a spacecraft needs to do.

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NASA's Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations
Robot is better known as RASSOR.

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Developed by Kennedy's SwampWorks laboratory,
it's designed to act as a mining, excavating

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robot.

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It's an enabling technology for NASA in that
it would allow us to collect and mine, ah,

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water on the moon or Mars, or maybe even other
things like asteroids.

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With its rotating drums, RASSOR attracted
questions from adults and kids alike.

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They ask lots of questions.

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They always want to know, "Well, when is this
going to go," "Has this already been there?"

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And they seem to get really excited about
it.

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So I think it really builds awareness.

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Virginia Tech Robotics brought along Charli,
a small humanoid robot, and the crowd-pleasing

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DARwin-OP -- which was short on stature but
long on charm as it walked and kicked a red

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tennis ball.

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iRobot showed off two of its designs, the
110 FirstLook and the 510 Packbot.

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It was all designed to give kids a chance
to get up close to new technologies -- and

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get them excited about a future in robotics.

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Humanoid robots are something that everyone
can identify with, because they're very much

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like a person.

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Especially children.