It seems like outer space can be very dangerous because of things like radiation and extreme temperatures.
To help astronauts with boring and risky tasks, NASA is working with a company called Apptronik, which is in Austin. They make robots that look like people.
These robots might help astronauts on future trips to the Moon, Mars, and other places. They could also be like remote-controlled drones for people on Earth. NASA said this in a statement.
One of Apptronik’s robots is called Apollo. It’s about five feet and eight inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. It can work for four hours on one battery charge. Apptronik has also made other robots for NASA, like the older one called Valkyrie 2.
Right now, Apollo is used on Earth for simple jobs in places like warehouses and factories. The company also wants to use it to help older people or deliver things to homes.
But in space, these human-like robots could do more exciting things, like exploring caves on the Moon.
NASA and Apptronik have worked together to make Apollo a modular robot. This means it can change and have different abilities for different jobs. For example, it can walk on two legs or stay still on a platform.
There’s a video that shows Apollo in a warehouse. It can walk, move backward, and pick up things. But it might not be ready for really hard space missions yet.
NASA said they made sure Apollo is safe to use with people. They also made sure it could move around and use software without causing problems. They don’t want the robot to do something bad.
If these robots work well, they could help NASA a lot when they’re on the Moon or Mars. Space exploration is becoming more important, so having these robots could be a big advantage.