Robonaut and Astrobee Will Work Together on Space Station

NASA has two robots that will, hopefully, be operating on the International Space Station (ISS) this year. There’s Robonaut, a humanoid (complete with legs) that will be on its way up there later this year, as well as Astrobee, a family of three free-flying robotic cubes that are already on the ISS as of a few weeks ago.

Astrobee and Robonaut are totally different in both form and function, but that just means that they have skills and abilities that complement each other, and the teams working on these robots have been making plans for on-orbit teamwork. To learn more about this collaboration, we spoke to Astrobee technical lead Trey Smith and Robonaut project manager Julia Badger.