A Russian robot will visit the space station

The Russians were the first to send a dog in space, the first to send a man and the first to send a woman. However, NASA sent the first humanoid robot to the International Space Station. The Russians, however, want to send FEDOR and claim that while Robonaut is flying, a FEDOR – Skybot F-850 model – will pilot the next crewed MS-14 supply mission.

Defining the term robot can be tricky, some think that a proper robot needs to be self-sustaining, while others view robotics under human control as sufficient. We believe that the Russian robot FEDOR is primarily a telepresence device, but it remains an impressive technical achievement. The press release says that it can balance and do other autonomous actions, but it seems that to do something tricky, it probably takes an operator. You can see the robot in ground tests about a minute from the video below.

The robot uses stacks of an Orlan space suit and will operate in avatar mode, that is to say requiring a human operator, during the initial flight. It's easy to understand that using a remote-controlled robot outside the station while the operator stays inside the station is not a bad idea.

FEDOR robots were built for Earthbound rescue operations. However, its use as a robotic astronaut has attracted a lot of interest. The Skybot F-850 has its own Twitter feed, too.

If you want to visit the ISS, you can do it from your PC or with VR goggles. If space is not your thing, you may prefer the bottom of the ocean.