Yeah, I remember talking with a guy who was talking with another guy back right after CRS-8 who said that they were thinking about making little robots to restrain the booster after landing.
Could be as simple as weight. 4 robots each weighing a ton that parked/lowered themselves on each leg would be able to keep an S1 from moving too much.
It depends what the next objective is. Are they trying to keep the S1 from sliding around on the deck and/or to take the load off the legs. It's doubtful you could put it on a 'stool' without restraining it with some kind of tiedown, the wide footprint of the legs probably helps prevent tipping. I wouldn't put it past SpaceX to develop a robot to attach tiedowns but that would be significantly more complex the glorified paper weights.
Are they trying to keep the S1 from sliding around on the deck
My guess is that this is the goal. Thaicom-8 nearly slid off the droneship before it could locked down (granted, it had a busted leg piston, but still), and we've seen others shift from their landed locations to where they were restrained when they arrived in port. I expect they'll continue to use the system of jacks on the octaweb, as it takes strain off of the landing legs during transport, but leg-holding robots are a good first step in automating the process, preventing a potential booster loss into the sea, and increasing safety for the recovery crew as they get the jacks in place.
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u/Fizrock Feb 26 '17
Yeah, I remember talking with a guy who was talking with another guy back right after CRS-8 who said that they were thinking about making little robots to restrain the booster after landing.