NASA is packing up a 300-pound robot helper for a trip to the International Space Station later this year.The humanoid robot, called Robonaut 2, is not exactly riding first class into space. Instead of a seat alongside its human counterparts, Robonaut 2 is being packed into a foam-padded stowage unit for its planned November launch on the space shuttle Discovery, NASA's deputy Robonaut project manager Nic Radford told SPACE.com.
Radford and other members of the engineering team demonstrated the robots capabilities to reporters this week in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center the home port of the space shuttle fleet. Robonaut 2, or R2 for short, will launch on space shuttle Discovery as part of the STS-133 mission that is currently scheduled to lift off Nov. 1. It will be the first human-like robot to become a permanent resident at the space station. The robot even has its own Twitter account (@AstroRobonaut) where its human handlers are posting updates for the automaton's mission.
"Just powered down for the last time. Next time I power up will be on the ISS!" the R2 unit's handlers wrote for the robot Friday. The dextrous robot resembles a human and is specifically designed to operate like one. It consists of a head and torso with two arms and two five-fingered hands. Advanced control and sensor technologies allow R2 to operate as an assistant to the station astronauts.
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