WASHINGTON -- NASA will launch the first human-like robot to space this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station.
Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors to work alongside humans, whether they be astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth.
The 300-pound R2 consists of a head and a torso with two arms and two hands and will launch on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission planned for September.
Once aboard the station, engineers will monitor how the robot operates in weightlessness.'
R2 joins another station robot, known as Dextre. That robot, built by the Canadian Space Agency, consists of two, long arms to perform tasks that normally require spacewalking astronauts to complete.
While Dextre is on the station's exterior, R2 will be confined to operations in the station's Destiny laboratory. However, future enhancements could allow it to move more freely around the station's interior, and it could one day be modified to operate outside the complex.'
"The use of R2 on the space station is just the beginning of a quickening pace between human and robotic exploration of space," said John Olson, director of NASA's Exploration Systems Integration Office. "The partnership of humans and robots will be critical to opening up the solar system and will allow us to go farther and achieve more than we can probably even imagine today."
The dexterous humanoid robot not only looks like a human, it is designed to work like one.
With human-like hands and arms, R2 is able to use the same tools that station crew members use. In the future, the humanoid robots may be used as assistants or stand-ins for astronauts during spacewalks or for tasks too difficult or dangerous for humans.
For now, R2 is still a prototype and lacks adequate protection to work outside the space station in the extreme temperatures of space.
R2 will be tested in zero gravity, as well as being subjected to the station's radiation and electromagnetic interference environments. The interior operations will provide performance data on how a robot may work side-by-side with astronauts.
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