Robotic bees are joining the International Space Station

"There are some things only humans can do in space. The rest can be left to robots." The NASA team is showcasing how to put that simple observation into interesting practice with their development of Astrobees.

Astrobee is "a compact one-foot-cube of a robot in development at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. This robot is designed to work autonomously without astronaut supervision, or to be remotely operated by mission controllers." All in all, from inventory checking to monitoring noise levels and more, the robotic bees are all set to be helpers, and they will serve as the crew's extra eyes and ears.

Three Astrobee helpers will be joining the Space Station crew—and two of the bees are scheduled for launch soon. They have been given cameras and sensors for navigating inside the space station and avoiding obstacles. The robots will be empowered by fans as well as their vision-based navigation.

Read more at Tech Xplore

Image Credit: NASA

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