The International Space Station (ISS)'s Canadian robotic arm, named Canadarm2, is now trying to repair itself without any assistance from a human.
Dexter, Canadarm2's robotic helper, has been repairing Canadarm2 for the past week in order to move and fix cameras, The Daily Mail reported. Dexter has arms over 9.8 feet long that attach to power tools that play the role of fingers.
Canadarm2 and Dexter together form the ISS's robotic Mobile Servicing System, the very first robot self-repair space service.
Astronauts are hardly involved in the work that the robots are doing, CBC News reported. Scientists remote control the robots from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in Longueuil, Que., and NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.
"We've had to change cameras before, but we had to do it during spacewalks," Mathieu Caron, mission control supervisor at the CSA, said in an interview.
Dexter is currently moving a broken camera off Canadarm2 to the mobile base as a replacement. Afterwards, a new, spare camera will be installed in the robotic arm.
All the astronauts had to do for the operation was push the extra camera into the airlock so Dexter could grab it, The Daily Mail reported. Caron said this won't be the last robotic repair task to take place.
"Using the Canadarm2 and Dexter reduces the overall number of spacewalks, definitely," he said. "Spacewalks are very complex and use a lot of space station resources. They monopolize astronauts not only for the duration of the spacewalk, but in the weeks leading up to it for all their preparation."
Caron added that this takes up time astronauts could use for running science experiments, CBC News reported. Robots are also more flexible than humans because they don't have to ever return to the inside of the space station.
Spacewalks without astronauts are not ready just yet, since Dexter has limitations, such as only being able to handle bolts and screws that are "robotically compatible."
Caron said Dexter will replace a circuit breaker in June and repair equipment outside the space station to get ready for astronaut spacewalks later in the summer.
"The next year promises to be very busy from a Canadian robotics standpoint," he said.
