Russia to deliver anthropomorphic robot Teledroid to ISS on next cargo spacecraft in Nov - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. Sept 16 (Interfax) - The Teledroid anthropomorphic robot designed to help cosmonauts in extravehicular operations is scheduled to be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Progress MS-36 cargo resupply spacecraft in November, Roscosmos said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The Teledroid anthropomorphic robot will be delivered on the next cargo spacecraft," the statement said.

The Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle carrying the Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome earlier on Wednesday. The Teledroid exoskeleton, which the cosmonauts will use to control the robot, was sent to the orbit.

The launch of the next Progress MS-36 spacecraft is scheduled for November, the presenter said during the Roscosmos broadcast of the Progress MS-35 launch.

It was noted that the cosmonauts at the station will study the possibility of using the remotely controlled robot for operational support during spacewalks.

"The experiments aboard the ISS are expected to involve a number of operations, including removing objects from storage, simulating the transfer of tools to cosmonauts without interaction with them, simulating usage of tools, returning objects to storage," the statement said.

Anna Kikina was trained to operate the robot on Earth, it said.

The Teledroid anthropomorphic robot was developed by Scientific production association Android Technic, the organizer of the experiment is Central Research Institute for Machine Building (TsNIIMash).

The robot is designed to assist cosmonauts in works on the exterior of the ISS. It is capable of functioning in a situation of vacuum, radiation and temperature fluctuations.

The experiment is divided into two stages: robot control inside the station and installation on the exterior of the ISS on the Russian Nauka module. The Teledroid will operate in automatic and manual modes, and also with voice control.

In supervisory operation, a cosmonaut sets a task and the robot can take a hammer and give a key or other tools using technical vision.

Cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina are expected to install the external part of the robotic system on the ISS surface during a spacewalk. Once installed, it can be operated from inside the station.

The Russian predecessor of the Teledroid was the FEDOR robot (Skybot F-850). In 2019, it was sent to the ISS, where the cosmonauts checked its control and interaction with the operator. The experiments conducted were mainly associated with testing dexterity technology in weightlessness.