On her first visit to orbit, NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers has just introduced herself to three robots stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
“We hit the ground running (or floating??) here on the space station,” Ayers, who arrived at the ISS just over a week ago, wrote in a post on X. “In addition to data collection for one of the studies, I got to help load some software onto the Astrobees. This is Bumble!”
We hit the ground running (or floating??) here on @Space_Station! In addition to data collection for one of the studies, I got to help load some software onto the Astrobees. This is Bumble!
These robots are a technology demonstration meant to help astronauts with routine… pic.twitter.com/RBTQPkphyx
— Nichole “Vapor” Ayers (@Astro_Ayers) March 24, 2025
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As Ayers said in her post, the Astrobee robots are a technology demonstration and are designed to assist the ISS astronauts with routine duties that include taking inventory, documenting experiments, or moving cargo, freeing up the astronauts to take care of tasks “that require a human touch.”
The compact, cube-shaped flying robots were developed and built at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and were sent to the orbital outpost in 2019.
The floating bots include various cameras and sensors for navigation, and also come with a touchscreen, speaker, and microphone. They even have a mechanical arm to which various tools can be attached.
Instead of floating freely, the Astrobee robots use a fan-based propulsion system to move in a specific direction, with power for the fans and the rest of the robot provided via an onboard battery. When power runs low, the robot automatically navigates to a nearby dock to recharge.
“Robots will play a significant part in the agency’s mission to return to the moon as well as other deep space missions,” NASA says on its website. “Robots such as Astrobee have the capacity to become caretakers for future spacecraft, working to monitor and keep systems operating smoothly while crew are away.”
One of the space station’s best known robotic devices is the Canadarm2, a 17.6-meter-long robotic arm that’s been attached to the exterior of the ISS since 2001, performing tasks such as moving supplies and equipment, and assisting with spacewalks. Earlier this year, NASA shared video footage of astronaut Suni Williams taking a ride on the Canadarm2 during a spacewalk 250 miles over London, England.