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Agence France-Presse

Russia launched an unmanned rocket on Thursday carrying a life-size humanoid robot which will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.
Named Fedor, for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research with identification number Skybot F850, the robot is the first ever sent up by Russia.
It blasted off in a Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft at 6:38am Moscow time from Russia’s Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz is set to dock with the space station on Saturday and stay until September 7.
Soyuz ships are normally manned on such trips, but on Thursday no humans were travelling so that a new emergency rescue system could be tested.

Instead of cosmonauts, Fedor was strapped into a specially adapted pilot’s seat, with a small Russian flag in his hand.
“Let’s go. Let’s go,” the robot was heard as ‘saying’ during launch, apparently repeating a phrase made famous by the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.
The silvery anthropomorphic robot stands 1.8 metres tall and weighs 160 kilograms.
It has accounts associated with it on Instagram and Twitter that describe it as learning new skills such as opening a bottle of water. In the station, it will trial those manual skills in very low gravity.
Nasa prepares for mission to Mars with a trip to Iceland
“That’s connecting and disconnecting electric cables, using standard items from a screwdriver and a spanner to a fire extinguisher,” the Russian space agency’s director for prospective programmes and science, Alexander Bloshenko, said in televised comments ahead of the launch.
“The first stage of in-flight experiments went according to the flight plan,” the robot’s account tweeted after reaching orbit.
Fedor copies human movements, a key skill that allows it to remotely help astronauts or even people on Earth carry out tasks while they are strapped into an exoskeleton.

Such robots will eventually carry out dangerous operations such as spacewalks, Bloshenko told RIA Novosti state news agency.
On the website of one of the state backers of the project, the Foundation of Advanced Research Projects, Fedor is described as potentially useful on Earth for working in high radiation environments and tricky rescue missions.
On board, the robot will perform tasks supervised by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, who joined the ISS last month, and will wear an exoskeleton in a series of experiments expected to take place later this month.

Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin showed pictures of the robot to President Vladimir Putin this month, saying it will be “an assistant to the crew”.
“In the future we plan that this machine will also help us conquer deep space,” he added.
Fedor is not the first robot to go into space.
In 2011, Nasa sent up Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot developed with General Motors and a similar aim of working in high-risk environments.
It was flown back to Earth in 2018 after experiencing technical problems.
In 2013, Japan sent up a small robot called Kirobo along with the ISS’s first Japanese space commander. Developed with Toyota, it was able to hold conversations – albeit only in Japanese.


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Russia

Russia launches its first-ever humanoid robot into space

Russian humanoid robot Skybot F-850, or Fedor, being tested in July. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This NASA photo obtained November 4, 2018 shows the International Space Station photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking. - NASA said on June 7, 2019, it will open up the International Space Station for tourism and other business ventures as of next year, as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab. (Photo by HO / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA/ROSCOSMOS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

(190822) -- HELSINKI, Aug. 22, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, together with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto (not in the picture), addresses a joint press conference in Helsinki on Aug. 21, 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin said here on Wednesday that Russia would like to see its relations with the European Union (EU) to "return to a fully-fledged basis". (Photo by Matti Matikainen/Xinhua)

This handout picture taken on July 26, 2019 and released by the official website of the Russian State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS on August 21, 2019 shows Russian humanoid robot Skybot F-850 (Fedor) being tested ahead of its flight on board Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. - Russia space agency Roscosmos is about to send a humanoid robot to the International Space Station. Skybot F-850 will be sent to the ISS on August 22 on board the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft, and will spend over two weeks there before returning to Earth on September 7. It's the first time that a robot will take the commander's place in a Soyuz — the Skybot will monitor and report on conditions during the otherwise uncrewed flight. (Photo by - / Roscosmos space agency / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / ROSCOSMOS / Space Center Yuzhny/TsENKI /" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Nasa prepares for mission to Mars with a trip to Iceland

Scientists work at the Nasa base on the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland. Photo: AFP

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 shows the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 shows scientists working at the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 Mark Vandermeulen, a robotics engineer from Mission Control Space Services, poses at the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

When Mahathir met Sophia: Malaysian PM tongue-tied by Hong Kong’s ‘social humanoid’ robot

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad meets Sophia, the social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics. Photo: DPA

16 July 2019, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: A studio worker (L) puts on some makeup on the face of Sophia (C), a social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics, before attending a live interview in the 'Nation Talk' in conjunction with the Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019. Photo: Wan Nur Amirah/BERNAMA/dpa

17 July 2019, Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (2-L) speaks with Sophia (2-R), a social humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong based company Hanson Robotics, during the Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre. Photo: Mohd Safwan Mansor/BERNAMA/dpa

Soyuz capsule touches down in Kazakhstan with astronauts from Russia, US, Canada returning from International Space Station

The Soyuz MS-11 capsule carrying the International Space Station crew landing in a remote part of Kazakhstan on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

A search and rescue team approaches the Soyuz MS-11 capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, after its landing in a remote area outside the town of Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan, on June 25, 2019. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / POOL / AFP)

A search and rescue team works on the site of landing of the Soyuz MS-11 capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency, in a remote area outside the town of Dzhezkazgan (Zhezkazgan), Kazakhstan, on June 25, 2019. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / POOL / AFP)

The Soyuz MS-11 near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Got US$50 million for a holiday? Nasa will soon let you stay at the International Space Station

The International Space Station seen from the space shuttle Discovery. Photo: Nasa via AP

In this image provided by NASA, NASA Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit speaks during a news conference Friday, June 7, 2019, in New York. NASA announced Friday that it will open the International Space Station to private astronauts, with the first visit as early as next year. The round-trip ticket will cost an estimated $58 million. And accommodations aboard the orbiting outpost will run about $35,000 per night, for trips of up to 30 days long. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP

In this photo released by NASA, astronaut Christina Koch onboard the International Space Station speaks in a video on June 7, 2019, during a briefing where NASA announced the agency’s five-point plan, at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City. (L-R seated) NASA's Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit, International Space Station Deputy Director Robyn Gatens, Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate William Gerstenmaier. - NASA said Friday it will open up the International Space Station to business ventures including space tourism -- with stays priced at $35,000 a night -- as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab. (Photo by Bill INGALLS / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA/Bill Ingalls" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

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The silvery anthropomorphic robot is named ‘Fedor’, for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research
It copies human movements, allowing it to remotely help astronauts carry out tasks while they are strapped into an exoskeleton



The silvery anthropomorphic robot named ‘Fedor’ copies human movements, which allows it to remotely help astronauts carry out tasks while they are strapped into an exoskeleton.


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Robotics