One giant leap for robot-kind? Russian humanoid robots slated for spacewalks & moon missions

The Russian robot that traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) could soon be upgraded to carry out spacewalks and even participate in missions to the moon.

The Skybot F-850, also known as FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research), was used back in August when he came on board the Soyuz MS-14 carrying supplies to the ISS.

According to Yevgeny Dudorov, executive director of Androidnaya Tekhnika, the company which developed the robot, Fedor has bigger things ahead of him.

The executive said that a robot similar to Fedor will be used to conduct maintenance on ISS’ hull, adding that the human-like machine could even be fitted with wheels to traverse the moon.

Dudorov told Russian media that such missions could take place as early as 2022.

During its mission aboard the ISS, the robot participated in simulated repairs of the station’s hull. The high-tech machine can currently carry out pre-programmed tasks, and can also be operated remotely by a human.

The robot is 182cm (5.9 feet) tall and weighs some 100kg (220 pounds).

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