Astrobee is an autonomous robotic cube designed to fly around the International Space Station. Tomorrow, a pair of Astrobee robots (named Honey and Bumble) will launch to the ISS aboard a Cygnus cargo flight. After a bit of astronaut-assisted setup, the robots will buzz around autonomously, doing experiments and taking video, even operating without direct human supervision on occasion.
Each Astrobee robot is a cube about 30 centimeters on a side. The propulsion system is based around a pair of impellers that pressurize air inside of the robot, which can then be vented through a series of 12 different nozzles spaced around the robot’s body.
Astrobee also comes equipped with the onboard sensing and computing necessary for fully autonomous operation. Its flight software is based on ROS and is upgradeable on-orbit. The robot can carry a variety of modular payloads.
Source: IEEE Spectrum
Name of Author: Evan Ackerman