Russian humanoid robot completes simulation of spacewalk operations

In a series of trials held on board the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, Russia’s anthropomorphic robot Fedor successfully matched plug connectors to imitate operations done during a spacewalk.

"We began our training. I helped a cosmonaut, performing some technological manipulations, to pick up the right instrument. After that, I worked in the ‘avatar’ mode to match plug connectors, imitating the repair of cables on the station’s exterior surface," the robot said on his Twitter page on Friday.

"Right now, I’m having a friendly conversation with Alexei Nikolayevich [Ovchinin]," the robot added.

During the experiments, Fedor is guided by another Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, while Ovchinin oversees the process.

The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft with Skybot F-850 humanoid robot (previously called FEDOR - Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) on board docked with the International Space Station at 06:08 Moscow time on August 27.

The robot Fedor (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research or FEDOR) has been developed by Android Technology Company and the Advanced Research Fund on a technical assignment from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry.

The android robot has received its own name of Skybot F-850 where the letter F stands for its affiliation with the Fedor family of robots.