Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research (FEDOR)

GS-III: Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research (FEDOR)

News

Russia has launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.

Fedor

FEDOR is a Russian humanoid that replicates movements of a remote operator as well as performs a limited set of actions autonomously.
Named Fedor, short for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, the robot is the first ever sent up by Russia to the International Space Station.
Instead of cosmonauts, Fedor, also known as Skybot F850, was strapped into a specially adapted pilot’s seat, with a small Russian flag in hand.
“ The robot was heard saying during launch, repeating the famous phrase used by first man in space Yuri Gagarin”.
The silvery anthropomorphic robot stands 1.80 metres (5 foot 11 inches) tall and weighs 160kg (353 pounds).

What’s so special with Fedor?

Fedor copies human movements, a key skill that allows it to remotely help astronauts or even people on Earth to carry out tasks while the humans are strapped into an exoskeleton.
Fedor is described as potentially useful on Earth for working in high radiation environments, demining and tricky rescue missions.
Though initially developed for the emergencies ministry, Fedor can also be seen shooting at targets with two handguns in a video posted by the Russian space agency.
On board, the robot will perform tasks supervised by Russian cosmonaut and will wear an exoskeleton and augmented reality glasses in a series of experiments later this month.
Since Fedor is not trained to grab space station handles to move about in microgravity conditions, its legs will be immobilised on the space station.

Fedor is not the first

Fedor is not the first robot to go into space.
In 2011, NASA sent up Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot developed with General Motors that had 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.

Source: The Hindu

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