On august 22, 2019, Russia
will send the skybot F-850 — officially known as FEDOR — into space. The humanoid will take the spacecraft
commander’s seat and fly it to the international space station (ISS). This is an
exceptional flight as for the first time, the robot will move from the payload
compartment to the commander’s chair, like the American humanoid robonaut-2, transported
to the ISS some years ago.
The skybot F-850 is entirely
a robot. It is an automatic device that has a predefined program with elements
of artificial
intelligence. It can do tasks such as sustaining equilibrium,
decomposing common movements into distinct locomotor functions and deliver professional
support for the crew in a self-directed mode. Moreover, the robot can work in
an ‘avatar mode’, that is, under the full remote control of the operator.
The humanoid robot can also talk
on any topic run by its interlocutor. Before
the launch of the soyuz-2.1a rocket carrier, it will report on pre-launch
operations, and then while already in the launch and flight, it will be voicing
the flight constraints and witnessed events. At the stage when the spaceship arrives
in orbit, the robot will have to decide the value of the overload and the onset
of zero gravity.
“Like any person, skybot
f-850 is very sociable and has a sense of humor,” comments alexander bloshenko, and science counsellor
to roscosmos state space corporation’s director general. “As I have
mentioned before, it can support any topic of conversation and answer a variety
of questions: from welcoming remarks, continuing with a speech about its
creators and ending with the philosophy of space.”
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