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If you are wondering if the crew from the space missions needs robots, then the answer is yes. NASA sent last year a robotic assistant named CIMON (Crew Interactive Mobile Company) to help ISS crew with different tasks from schedule keeping to essential maintenance around the spacecraft. The family is getting more significant with the new robots that have been sent with Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station. They are named Astrobees by NASA, and they have the purpose of streamlining daily activities for the astronauts.

What Are the New Robotic Bees Called Astrobees?

Astrobees are the new free-flying robotic system sent by NASA to help the crew to reduce time with the daily routine duties. In that way, the astronauts can focus on more on the task that human can do. Those kinds of robots are designed to do chores as taking inventory and documenting experiments conducted by astronauts. They have a built-in camera, and they are working together with the crew to move cargo through the station or out of it. Robots are used by astronauts, flight controllers or researchers from the ground in more ways depending on how they are built: autonomously or by remote control.

Moreover, NASA plans to use those robots even on Earth for surveillance of the space station or to observe different activities from the spacecraft. NASA wants that in the near future, robots to become integral parts of space station crews. In that way, astronauts can conduct their science missions, and the robots can take in the other tasks and chores.

Finally, the two Astrobee robots have traveled alongside other instruments and supplies from Earth through the ISS with the Cygnus spacecraft on Wednesday. With the help of Cygnus, NASA can send time-sensitive experiments into space without delays that could affect the condition of those material or experiments.