Fedor - Russian robot astronaut

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The Russian Foundation for Advanced Study has presented a new anthropomorphic robot, which in the future is planned to be used on manned spacecraft as an assistant to astronauts. He also knows how to drive an UAZ.

The device was named Fyodor (from the English abbreviation FEDOR - Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, the final experimental demonstration object of research).

In 2014, the Russian government presented a plan to resume the Soviet lunar exploration program, interrupted in 1976. The Russian lunar program assumes the launch of five automatic stations in 2019-2024, which will be engaged in researching the Earth's satellite. These vehicles are planned to be launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome.

The lunar program also provides for the possibility of colonizing the moon with the possible creation of the first permanent base on the moon in 2030. Thanks to the settlement of colonists on the moon, the authorities expect to conduct exploration of the Earth's satellite and select areas that are most profitable in terms of mining lunar soil and geological exploration. Robots will help people to establish a base and conduct reconnaissance.

Technical details about the new robot Fedor were not disclosed. The apparatus is made anthropomorphic. Judging by the video footage, the robot's internal algorithms have not yet been fully developed. This is evidenced by significant delays before the start of the task, as well as the general low speed of the apparatus.

It is difficult to draw unambiguous conclusions about the functionality of the robot from the video provided by the Foundation for Advanced Study. The fact is that the video demonstrates how the robot begins to perform certain tasks, but does not show with what result it completes them.

For example, the video shows that the robot can drive an UAZ SUV. This video sequence is cut off at the moment when the car under the control of the robot enters a sharp turn. For a successful turn, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel several times with a transfer of hands. However, the video does not show the process of turning the car itself, nor the process of turning the steering wheel by the robot.

In another segment of the video, Fyodor drills a hole in a foam concrete block using a drill, but for some reason the angle of the drill is clearly different from the straight one. It should be noted that at the moment when the drill passes through dense material and falls into the cavity in the foam block, the robot's automation works quite quickly: the device successfully stops the drill and does not lose balance.

For comparison, when performing similar tasks at the DARPA Robotics Challenge last year, robots created by American companies often lost their balance and fell.

The Russian robot Fedor is capable of acting both autonomously and under the control of an operator. The robot is taught movements both through a computer three-dimensional model, on which a trajectory of movement is set for each of its movable units, and through repetition of the movements of a human operator.

In the post of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on his Facebook page, it is argued that the new robot Fedor will be adapted to participate in the flight of a promising manned spacecraft. The adaptation will be carried out by specialists from the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation and a new design bureau. Flight tests of the robot Fedor on the ship are scheduled to begin in 2021.

In November 2013, another Russian anthropomorphic robot SAR-401 was presented at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. It was designed to be sent to the International Space Station. This apparatus has only the upper half of the body with a "head" and a pair of "arms" manipulators.

To control this robot, the operator uses a special suit - in it, the movements of a person, his hands and even fingers are transmitted to the machine. The operator receives information about what is happening in front of the robot from video cameras installed in the head of the device. The robot weighs 144 kilograms, and the robot is capable of lifting up to 10 kilograms.

Vasily Sychev