Fans of sci-fi franchises will be intrigued to hear a robot caretaker could soon board China’s Tiangong Space Station. Resembling more a robot stormtrooper than C-3PO, the humanoid bot stands about 1.6-metres high, has anthropomorphic jointed arms, legs and hands, and is capable of undertaking tasks to assist the human crew.
Walking, pushing, flying, parking
The robot, known as Taikobot, has been developed by China’s National University of Defence Technology in Changsha. It moves around thanks to a suite of sensors and cameras. Under the effects of gravity, it can walk, and in space’s microgravity conditions, it can adopt a compact form to save room and use a “push-flight-park” motion, floating and touching surfaces just like its sentient colleagues.
As well as simple fetching and carrying, which were the initial tasks it was developed for, it has now been “trained” to maintain equipment and accomplish more delicate handling of tools such as hammers and electric screwdrivers.
Testing and validation
In tests it has helped workers with various jobs and been able to “do some simple and repetitive tasks along with astronauts and has the potential to help astronauts improve their onboard working efficiency,” the research team said in a paper entertainingly-titled “Taikobot: A Full-Size and Free-Flying Humanoid Robot for Intravehicular Astronaut Assistance and Spacecraft Housekeeping.”
Still “in validation phase” according to the team, “in the near future, space robotic assistants like Taikobot will certainly play an important role in the never-ending process of space exploitation and utilization and contribute to the development of space economy.”
Are humanoids better?
While the idea of robots in space may seem alarming, is it is not new. Recent experiments include a spherical camera drone in the Japanese Experimental Module, as well as cube-shaped bots. These camera drones save an astonishing 10% of astronauts’ working time by taking photographs on their behalf. But, say the Chinese, they lack the “flexibility, dexterity, and strength” of humanoid bots, which can also “accomplish a richer set of tasks”.
A Russian bot, Skybot F-850 was sent up to the ISS in 2019 and the first humanoid robot in space was NASA’s Robonaut-2, sent on a mission to the International Space Station in 2011. Robonaut underwent three years of testing and could push and turn knobs, but malfunctioned after seven years and was sent back to Earth. Not to get personal, but he also weighed about 200kg.
Taikobot weighs just 55kg. The Chinese team behind Taikobot point out that the consequences of not using robotic assistance as missions to space become more complex could be worse than any malfunctions, noting that “astronauts will become increasingly physically and cognitively challenged as missions become longer and more varied.”
In contrast, robotic assistants are potentially capable of working in inhospitable deep space environments, 24/7 and running on solar power alone. Just don’t tell their unions.
