ISS welcomes new robot crew member, but it’s not all here

SpaceX and NASA Partnership probably won’t slow down anytime soon. Falcon rockets keep launching into orbit, on missions to deliver payloads of seemingly random things to the International space station. The last launch mission had a particularly useful passenger on board, a space robot named S1.

The S1 was successfully delivered with a few other assorted goodies. A SpaceX Falcon rocket just made it to the ISS, according to Bloomberg, bringing with him fresh avocados and lemons for the hungry astronauts. He also brought a shipment of ants and brine shrimp, courtesy of the Girl Scouts, to use as test subjects in space. And, of course, the semi-autonomous robot, the S1.

Well, it looks more like part of a robot, or a robot arm to be precise. If you imagine a full humanoid robot, you might be disappointed. Don’t let the partial robot fool you, however. This robot appendix is ​​pretty cool:

Nasa said that in a recent demonstration, “the robot [conducted] joint activities and tasks of crews via supervised autonomy and remote operations from the ground. Not only that, but NASA too said that “the robot’s work could reduce the cost of spacecraft operations and improve safety by taking on tasks that could expose crew members to dangerous risks.”

The smart mechanical arm is made by a Japanese robotics startup, Gitai, specializing in space robotics. The company claims that the S1 has eight degrees of freedom, which is one more than a human arm. Take those sacks of meat.

Gitai also lists the range and power of the S1 at 1 meter (3.3 feet) and 100 Nm at 23.8 rpm. I don’t know how the strength compares to that of a human, but if I read the one from NASA human instruction manual on the right, which lists a maximum torque of 17.4Nm for humans, so, yes, the S1 can open a lot no more pickle jars.

It’s no surprise, but it’s still cool. Especially considering that Gitai says the S1 is for Moonbase development, among other space things. And it’s nice to see real useful missions, unlike the joy rides billionaires recently enjoyed aboard their rockets.