Astrobee Robots Will Help Astronauts on the ISS

The International Space Station will soon welcome new crew members: a trio of cube-shaped floating robots called Astrobees. Reminiscent of the robots from the sci-fi classic Silent Running, the Astrobee is about a cubic foot in size and comes equipped with several sensors and cameras. The robot, which will use fans and its vision-based navigation to get around in the zero-gravity environment of the ISS, can move in any direction and turn on any axis. The Astrobee also includes a touchscreen, a speaker and a microphone. The robot is battery powered, and recharging occurs automatically: when its battery runs low, the Astrobee will maneuver by itself to its docking station to recharge.
The robot can operate fully autonomously or can be remote controlled by astronauts on board the ISS or by mission control staff on the ground. It features a removable robotic arm for handling cargo and helping out with experiments. The Astrobee is being developed at NASA’s Ames Research Center, where it was tested inside a special mock-up of the ISS’s interior.