The Russian robot used to dock unmanned spacecraft at 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 to pilot a Soyuz MS-14 carrying supplies to the ISS. Although his first attempt was aborted, the robot was successful after another try.
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).
