India's space agency has unveiled a robot that will travel to space later this year as part of an unmanned mission.

Scientists hope that it will be able to later assist astronauts in a manned space mission called Gaganyaan, which is scheduled for December 2021.

Isro will conduct two unmanned missions - one in December this year and another in June 2021 - before the Gaganyaan mission.

The robot, which has been named Vyom Mitra (which translates from the Sanskrit to friend in space) is designed to perform a number of functions including responding to astronaut's questions and performing life support operations.

Video footage by Imran Qureshi