【En la intimidad】

Picture this: Astronauts floating in weightlessness sip cups of coffee while staring out the windows of the International Space Station. They're looking at a vaguely human-like figure as it scuttles around the outside of the station,En la intimidad suitless in the vacuum of space.

The humanoid robot is spacewalking to perform routine maintenance on the outside of the station. Perhaps it's re-connecting wires, taking down experiments, or making needed upgrades to the outpost.

It's dangerous work for a human, but not too terribly difficult for a robot.

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At the moment, however, that's not how things on the Space Station work.

Right now, human astronauts and cosmonauts are responsible for all tasks -- including experimentation, routine maintenance and cleaning -- on the orbiting space laboratory.

Instead of having a robot fix a toilet, for example, astronauts need to be trained as space toilet plumbers in case the lavatory on the station breaks down (which it often does).

NASA's Robonaut project, however, aims to change all of that.

The program, which is about 20 years in the making, is designed to develop a humanoid robot that could one day take over menial or dangerous tasks in space, like cleaning and spacewalking, freeing up astronauts to do more experiments and complex engineering tasks.

Robonaut 1, Robonaut 2 and beyond

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"All told, if a robonaut were doing all of these things, it could save them [astronauts] many hours a week," Julia Badger, NASA's robonaut deputy project manager, told Mashablein an interview.

The robotics program began in 1996, with the first robot -- known as Robonaut 1 (R1) -- built by 2000, according to NASA.

"The original thought and what we hold to now is that we want to create a robot that's able to do real work but with humans, in the vicinity of humans and being safe with humans," Badger added.

Robonaut 1 was designed to be controlled by astronauts or scientists remotely, while safely operating alongside human astronauts.

That particular robonaut -- designed with DARPA -- never made it to space, but it did pave the way for its successor, known as Robonaut 2 (R2).

R2 was produced as part of a joint venture between NASA and General Motors, and it's far sleeker than its predecessor. The General Motors partnership was formed when the company wanted to produce a robot that would work alongside humans on an assembly line, Badger said.

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R2 has made it to space, but in a piecemeal fashion. Its torso was launched to the station in 2011 with its legs following in 2014.

Not exactly a robot servant

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

R2 isn't exactly performing at the top of its game right now. The robonaut "ran into a snag" while astronauts were installing its legs on the Space Station 2014, Badger said. Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is currently on the Space Station, plans to do some troubleshooting with R2 in the coming months.

But even if R2 gets back up to full strength, it's not as if the robonaut will suddenly make life much easier for astronauts.

The robot still isn't able to autonomously move around the station performing tasks.

But one day another robonaut -- maybe an R3 unit -- could clean and maintain spacecraft taking humans to destinations in space. One day, a robonaut could even accompany humans on a Mars mission.

Scientists and engineers working on the project also hope to incorporate some kind of cognitive computer and learning into how the robonaut behaves, effectively making it smarter and more useful.

At the moment, engineers working with the program are hoping to program the robonaut to simply follow procedures.

It's "something that sounds extremely trivial, but robots are very dumb so you have to tell them everything," Badger said.

R1 and R2 aren't the only robonauts NASA has built.

The agency also has seven Robonaut 2s on Earth designed to serve various testing and certification purposes for the agency. Earth-bound R2s, for example, are being used to troubleshoot the robot on the station now, Badger said.

More than just creepy

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The humanoid design of the robonauts is about more than just looks.

The space robots owe their design to the fact that any robots sent to space for the express purpose of helping to clean and maintain spacecraft should be able to use the same tools humans use to do their jobs.

"Since this robot is meant to work around humans and with humans, it's important that it can use the same tools as humans," Badger said.

That doubling up is also smart way to save weight on expensive trips to orbit and beyond.

"Because weight, mass is an important consideration for spaceflight," Badger said. "It's hard to send up a lot of different things."

While that weight-saving may not seem like much, it's actually incredibly important when launching a mission to a far-off destination like the moon or Mars.

Everything that travels to space currently needs to launch from Earth, and when launching a high-powered rocket, every ounce matters.

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