Meet ISRO’s half-humanoid robot ‘Vyom Mitra’, which will travel to space

Space agency
ISRO has unveiled a robot which will travel to space as part of its unmanned
space mission to be launched this year as a priliminary to the manned Gaganyaan
mission. The half-humanoid robot, named ‘Vyom Mitra’ or a friend in the sky, is
capable of conversing with astronauts, recognising them, and responding to
their queries.

“In the run up to the first Human Space Mission by India at ISRO, Vyom Mitra, the humanoid for Gaganyaan unveiled. This prototype of humanoid will go as trial before Gaganyaan goes with astronauts,” Union Minister Jitendra Singh informed on Twitter.

Vyom Mitra
was the centre of attraction at the inaugural session of the “Human
Spaceflight and Exploration – Present Challenges and Future Trends”
seminar on Wednesday in Bengaluru, sources reported.

Monitoring
module parameters, alerting astronauts and performing life support operations
are among many functions it is capable of performing.

ISRO chief K
Sivan said Vyom Mitra will simulate human functions.

ISRO will
send two unmanned missions before the Ganganyaan mission. It will monitor how
the human system will behave in the environment control life support system.

Four Indian
Air Force pilots have been shortlisted for the manned mission. They are
currently undergoing an 11-month training programme in Russia.