How Fedor, the humanoid robot sent by Russia into space

The spaceship that transported to FedorThe first humanoid robot put into orbit by Russia, was paired Tuesday with the International Space Station (ISS) after an unsuccessful first attempt over the weekend, the Russian Space Agency said.

"I'm sorry for the delay, I'm ready to continue the work," said the robot on his Twitter account.

The robot, with Anthropomorphic body made of silvermeasures 1.80 meters and weighs 160 kilos. Fedor is a Russian name and the acronym for "Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research".

Able to imitate human movements, Fedor will have the mission to help astronauts to do their homework, although they can not move freely in the station.

Fedor left last Thursday aboard the Soyuz MS-14 rocket launched from the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Dangerous tasks

On board the ISS, Fedor you have to test your abilities in microgravity conditions, under the supervision of Russian Alexander Skvortsov. His main skills include imitating human movements, which means he could help astronauts do their homework.

Among the operations he is able to carry out, the handling of the screwdriver and the key is distinguished, according to Alexander Bloshenko, director of promising programs at Roscosmos, in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

This robot was designed to work in the most difficult, dangerous conditions for humans, said Bloshenko. Russian authorities intend to use Fedor in the future for space exploration.

Fedor is not the first robot to visit space: in 2011, NASA had sent space to a humanoid robot called Robonaut 2 with the same goal of putting it to work in a high-risk environment. He returned to Earth in 2018 due to technical problems.

In 2013, Japan launched a small robot, Kirobo, in space, which coincided with the arrival of the first Japanese commander of the ISS, Koichi Wakata. Kirobo could talk, but only in Japanese.

Russia, which is still the only country capable of transporting people to the ISS, is seeking to reactivate its space industry, a huge source of pride since the Soviet era, but has experienced significant difficulties since the fall of the USSR.