R2 makes repairs on International Space Station

Robots have been seen as a possible way to reduce risk to human life and to help humans so that their time can be freed up for more useful ventures. Many robotics based science projects have these two points in part of their aim. So the first space going humanoid robot the R2 would be expected to keep to these aims.

The Robonaut 2 is a humanoid robot which has a torso and arms but no legs. It moves on tracks and has been designed to work besides humans in outer space. The R2 went up to the International Space Station in the last trip of the space shuttle Discovery. It has been reassembled by the scientists in the space station recently.

Now the R2 has just completed its first mission. It carried out repair work on the exteriors of the International Space Station which involved replacing a faulty electrical circuit. Th repairs tool nearly two days to complete, but the robot saved one of the astronauts on the space station a spacewalk.

It is considered a good likelihood that in the future the robonauts will be able to handle such standard repairs all the time leaving the human scientists and researchers free to pursue their experiments and conduct their research. The R2 is the future of robotic personal help and the science project is bound to improve as it goes along the way.