Meet Vyom Mitra - ISRO's first robot ‘astronaut’

The path-breaking Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has introduced Vyom Mitra, a half-humanoid to an international gathering on January 23, 2020, in Bengaluru. The introduction was done by ISRO Chairman K Sivan and Principal Scientific Adviser K VijayRaghavan at the symposium "Human Spaceflight and Exploration - Present Challenges and Future Trends".

Before sending astronauts on India's first manned mission to space in 2022, ISRO will send Vyom Mitra - a combination of two Sanskrit words Vyoma (space) and Mitra (friend), in the unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft.

Informing the gathering that the half-humanoid has been developed at ISRO’s Inertial Systems Unit in Thiruvananthapuram, Sivan added, “It will simulate the human functions required for space before real astronauts take off before August 2022. Two trial flights without crew will take place with a humanoid — the first around December 2020 and the second around July 2021.”

The Gaganyaan project, which was announced by PM Narendra Modi in his 2019 Independence Day address, is an ambitious plan of sending Indians to space. Four pilots from the Indian Air Force have already been shortlisted for the mission.

As per the half-humanoid capabilities, Vyom Mitra told the visitors, “I can do switch panel operations, ECLSS [environment control and life support systems functions, be a companion, converse with the astronauts, recognise them and also respond to their queries.”

Finally, ISRO officials informed that Vyom Mitra is called a half humanoid because it doesn't have legs, and can bend only sidewards and forward.

-TIN Bureau