Vyommitra (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

;

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

:''Vyom Mitrā;'' ') is a female-looking spacefaring

humanoid robot A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other pur ...

being developed by the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

to function on-board the ''

Gaganyaan Gaganyaan (Sanskrit IAST: ''gagan-yāna'', ) is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgrad ...

,'' a crewed orbital spacecraft. Vyommitra was first unveiled on 22 January 2020 at the ''Human Spaceflight and Exploration symposium'' in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. It will accompany Indian astronauts in space missions and will also be a part of uncrewed experimental

missions prior to the crewed spaceflight missions.

Objectives and abilities

ISRO aims not to fly animals onboard experimental missions unlike other nations that have carried out human space flight. Instead, it will fly

humanoid robots A humanoid robot is a robot resembling the human body in shape. The design may be for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments, for experimental purposes, such as the study of bipedal locomotion, or for other pur ...

for a better understanding of what weightlessness and radiation do to the human body during long durations in space. Vyommitra is expected to be onboard uncrewed

missions to perform

microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

experiments, monitor module parameters, and support astronauts in crewed missions by simulating functions exact like human. It is programmed to speak Hindi and English and perform multiple tasks. It can mimic human activity, recognize other humans, and respond to their queries. Technically, it can perform environment control and life support systems functions, handle switch panel operations, and give environmental air pressure change warnings.

References

{{Reflist Indian Space Research Organisation Humanoid space robots

Objectives and abilities

See also

References