NASA tests robots for hands-on space tasks

NASA’s 16-member Dexterous Robotics Team at Johnson Space Center in Houston develops hardware and software for jobs that require human-like hand movements. Its iMETRO facility gives NASA programmes and outside partners a place to test robots and components using simulations, spacecraft and habitat mock-ups, and an outdoor rock yard. [1]

NASA says a team from PickNik Inc used the facility to test software that enabled a robotic arm to recognise and open a spacecraft hatch, then move cargo bags between the hatch and a bin. In another project, a NASA intern tested software using a commercial arm and camera to inspect and maintain a freezer like those aboard the space station. These were tests at the facility, not operations in space. [1]