For some time now we have been tired of seeing humanoid-looking robots, even though many experts insist that it is not something very practical. The response from companies like Tesla seems clear: robots built to coexist with humans should resemble humans as much as possible. However, What would be most useful on the International Space Station?
That is the question that Voyager Technologies and Icarus Robotics seem to have wanted to answer. Basically, you don’t walk or roll in space, so their new model doesn’t have legs, wheels, or anything like that: it’s made to float in space. It is, therefore, a unique specimen of its kind. Hence it has gone viral.
A new robot for the International Space Station
The very name with which the robot has been baptized is also a declaration of pleasure: Joyride. Something that in English would mean a trip by car, or some other vehicle. The fact is that it is a model that its own creators have defined as «free flying». Or what would amount to the same thing, that the invention is not subject to anything. Fly freely.
In fact, it is designed precisely for that: to move freely inside the International Space Station without the need for constant physical contact with surfaces. Something that wouldn’t make much sense there, really. That’s why instead of walking or rolling, It uses small propulsion and control systems to orient itself and move in all directions.
Experts say that, thanks to its particular design, the robot has no limitations when it comes to navigating in three dimensions with total freedom. In a terrestrial environment, however, it would be quite useless. In some ways, it is more like a drone than a conventional robot, but with important nuances: it is fully adapted to the unique conditions of space.
In any case, if the robot floats (which is, in part, what its experts want to verify) would be very good. But, as often happens in these cases, it is not the only reason for the robot’s existence. Unlike other models more designed for the gallery (Tesla’s Optimus, for example), Joyride will have to prove that it is really useful. And for this it will take care of different tasks.
Float freely through space, but be useful
Among Joyride’s tasks, as they say in Reuters, will be those of checking modules and equipment (something fundamental in the International Space Station and in space in general), supporting maintenance tasks, transporting objects (not very large, that is also true) or monitoring internal systems.
Was Sam Altman referring to something like that when he said that robots would help colonize space? Probably not, since Joyride is not the typical robot that almost everyone has in mind in these times of artificial intelligence. But who knows, maybe it’s a start.