Meet Robonaut 2, The Humanoid Robot That's In Space Right Now

NASA

The Robonaut 2 has been dormant on the International Space Station for 6 months, but astronauts powered it up yesterday, reports TG Daily.

Click here to see pictures of Robonaut 2 >

Robonaut 2 is a humanoid robot designed by NASA scientists, the first of its kind in space. It's currently only a torso with a head and arms -- no legs, although that's in the works. Standing 3 feet 4 inches tall, it weighs in at 330 pounds.

Astronauts wasted no time -- Robonaut 2 spent a couple hours in space yesterday without issue.

Nic Radford, deputy project manager of Robonaut, said, "Everything came alive. We started getting video out of Robonaut’s eyes. Everything worked exactly as we expected it to. It was a very, very exciting time."

Now that it's confirmed to work, NASA hopes to implement it to carry out simple tasks next year.

A human astronaut meets its replacement.

NASA

Building the Robonaut's arm.

NASA

Perfecting the Robonaut 2 in a NASA lab.

NASA

Putting on the flight suit.

NASA

It might not sound like much, but this 20-pound weight is 4 times what previous dexterous robots have been able to handle.

NASA

It looks like its fingers are dexterous enough to use an iPhone.

NASA

NASA astronaut Steve Lindsey holds a press conference to talk about Robonaut 2.

NASA

The robot will wait inside an electromagnetic chamber while not in use to make sure that its electronics don't interfere with those on the space station.

NASA

Robonaut 2 will actually be able to use the same tools as its human coworkers.

NASA

NASA is developing new technology all the time.

Buzzle

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