Google's new 3-D smartphone will soon be used in space robots.
The tech heavyweight's Project Tango 3-D mapping smartphone is being integrated into autonomous machines used in the International Space Station, PCMag.com reported.
Google's Advanced Technology and Projects group has been teaming up with NASA to implement the device into the space agency's SPHERES, which are zero-gravity robots under development to assist astronauts.
Besides helping the astronauts, the autonomous machines will be able to fly around the space station to perform maintenance tasks independently.
The SPHERES and Project Tango are expected to launch this summer after undergoing a zero gravity test. In the prototype test, the systems will be tested as they would be used in space.
"The 3D-tracking and mapping capabilities of Project Tango would allow SPHERES to reconstruct a 3D-map of the space station and, for the first time in history, enable autonomous navigation of a floating robotic platform 230 miles above the surface of the earth," Google said in a blog post.
An acronym of "Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites," SPHERES are round and about the size of a bowling ball, according to the NASA website. Three of them will zoom around the cabin to go through a set of instructions.
Self-contained machines with individual power, computer and navigation, the SPHERES will assist with satellite servicing, vehicle assembly and formation flying spacecraft configurations, and their technology could be used even more in the future.
"The development that we're doing is just getting started. And this is the first device that we've built," said Joel Hesch, an ATAP software engineer. "If you can do sensor fusion and perception on a mobile phone, you can enable so many use cases that can be used on other devices like SPHERES, that benefit the lives of people, that can really impact in a way that wasn't possible before."
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
